Manuscripts

Notes on a trip to Yosemite Valley

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Description: This manuscript is a collection of observations by Brantz Mayer concerning the Yosemite Valley. Written on a variety of sizes of paper, the majority of these being printed stationary for A. L. Bancroft & Company, these notes are largely descriptive with a poetic bent. Many are titled, such as "Yosemite Silence & Seclusion," "Yosemite's Water," "Yosemite Power of Perspective," and "Yosemite & Big Trees." Mayer writes in glowing fashion of the majesty of the meadows, mountains, and people of the area, and declares its overall beauty "unphotographable." Also included is a one-page printed pamphlet advertising a newly opened trail from Yosemite to Glacier Point, which proclaims "When you have been to GLACIER POINT you have seen the Yosemite Valley." The pamphlet also contains altitude measurements at various Yosemite Valley waterfalls, which are described by both Indian and American names.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1872.
Call number: mssHM 4279
Creator

Brantz Mayer letters to Cornelia Poor Mayer

Manuscripts

Three letters sent by Brantz Mayer in California to his wife Cornelia Poor Mayer in 1872. In the first letter, dated June 17 and sent from San Francisco, Mayer writes of speaking to various individuals about his plans to travel to Yosemite, of other groups who have traveled there, and notes that "about 999 Japs came out of the Hotel [the Grand Hotel, San Francisco] today, from the just arrived China Steamer." In the second letter, dated June 23 from Calaveras County, California, he writes of traveling from San Francisco to Murphys, California, with the Sawyer family and others. In the final letter, dated June 28 in Yosemite Valley, Mayer writes extensively of his travels from Calaveras to Yosemite, of his encounters with locals and tourists, of the scenery, of transportation in the Valley, of expenses, and his conclusions that "as to this Yosemite Journey, I have to observe that it is so fatiguing when quickly & cheaply made, that I might almost say a poor man has no right to undertake it." The letter was completed in San Francisco on July 2, and mentions William W. Belknap and Reverdy Johnson, Mayer's general travels in California, and of Mayer's being "quite fatigued yet, and very generally demoralized by the journey."

mssHM 21311-21313

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Photograph album of Yosemite Valley

Visual Materials

An album with 48 commercial views by an unknown photographer of Yosemite National Park, including El Capitan, Glacier Point, and several waterfalls. Buildings shown include Black's Hotel, Casa Nevada, Cosmopolitan Bath House, Rock Cottage, and the Sunday School Chapel.

photCL 317

[Glacier Point, Yosemite]

Visual Materials

[Watkins no. 68] Signed in ink below print "No. 68" and "C. E. Watkins." Written in pencil at bottom of mount: "Glacier Point. No. 68, Yosemite."

photCL Watkins 73

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[Glacier Point, Yosemite]

Visual Materials

[Watkins no. 68] Signed in ink below print "No. 68" and "C. E. Watkins." Written in pencil at bottom of mount: "Glacier Point. No. 68, Yosemite."

(photCL Watkins 73)

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Stereoscopic views of Yosemite Valley, California

Visual Materials

Stereograph views of waterfalls and mountains in Yosemite Valley, California, from the series "Glories of the Yosemite, California," published by E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., including the following titles: Apex of the Three Brothers (#53); From the Top of Vernal Falls. Glacier's Point, 3705 ft. high, in the distance (#54); Sentinel Rock, 3270 feet high. From Mariposa Trail (#59); View on the Merced. Hutchings' Hotel and Bridge. Sentinel Rock in the distance (#63); View at the foot of Bridal Veil Falls (#70); The Three Graces, 3750 ft. high (#72); Cap of Liberty, 4240 ft. high (#87); West Mountain (#105); Eagle Cliff (#106); Leydig's Hotel (#117); Yosemite Falls, 2634 ft. high (#147); Mt. Watkins. From Cloud's Rest. Little Yosemite Valley (#183).

photST Anthony

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[Yosemite trip]

Visual Materials

Views of desert landscapes, including Yosemite Valley, the Ahwahnee Hotel (see project 1180), and Parker's children and unidentified individuals.

photCL MLP 4141

Notes on a trip to Yosemite Valley

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Admission Info and Tickets

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