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Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Robert Selden Garnett letters
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- Description
- These are two letters written by American officer Robert Selden Garnett. HM 46544, dated 1849, August 23, is addressed to A. Somervail Garnett ("My dear Somervail," Robert writes), and is written following the wrecking of the ship Edith off the California coast. Robert assures Somervail that he will do all he can to keep Somervail enrolled at Harvard until his education is completed, and gives Somervail advice concerning his chosen occupational path, particularly the importance of mathematics and surveying. Robert urges Somervail to be steadfast in his studies, but not at the expense of his social life, which Robert considers as important as school. Robert closes by saying he hopes to return to Washington by December 1. In the second letter (HM 46545, dated 1849, September 30), Robert writes to Caleb Lyon concerning the authorship of a proposed "seal or coat of arms for the new state of California" as well as a constitution for the pending state. Robert claims to be the sketcher of the original seal, and gives Lyon the authority to reveal him as such, should he deem it proper.
