Manuscripts
Anonymous autograph diary written aboard the ship Herculean and in California
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Sheldon Young diaries of his trip to California
Manuscripts
Two diaries kept by Sheldon Young as he traveled from Illinois to California in 1849. The first, brief diary covers March 19-28 and begins with Young's departure from Joliet, Illinois, with Hiram White and Pears G. Pearson. It records their travels as far as Galesburg, Illinois. The second diary picks up on May 19 (the pages for March 29-May 18, June 21-July 1, and October 14-November 8 are missing). The near daily entries record miles traveled, buffalo hunting, deaths from cholera, and the lack of food and water. The diary specifically mentions stopping at Fort Kearney, seeing Castle Rock, crossing the Platte River on a raft, following the Green River, stopping at Fort Bridger, encountering Snake and Piute Indians, traveling through Little Salt Lake City, the departure of the Bug Smashers, the abandonment of wagons after Christmas 1849, arriving in the Mojave Desert, a cattle stampede, and the arrival in San Francisquito on February 4, 1850. The final few pages of the diary recount Young's arrival in San Francisco on February 26, 1850, reaching Sacramento in early March, and departing San Francisco on board the Swift on October 13, 1850. Young recounts the shipboard deaths of several passengers, including his traveling companion Wolfgang Tauber, who had also been with Young in Death Valley. He concludes with the Swift's arrival in Panama in December 1850.
mssHM 75663-75664
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Diary of a trip to California
Manuscripts
The diary chronicles Margaret's travels from June 10 to August 27, 1911, primarily in Northern California. The first week of the journal details her trip alone by train from Niagara Falls to California, with descriptions of Niagara Falls and sites in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona including Cripple Creek, Albuquerque, and the Grand Canyon; some entries include observations of local Native Americans. The rest of the journal consists of descriptions of travels by train and car in California. Locations visited in Southern California include Los Angeles, Pasadena, Venice Beach, Pomona, and Santa Barbara. After June 23, Margaret was based in the Bay Area town of San Rafael with multiple excursions to San Francisco and around Northern California. Her entries describe people met and interacted with, travel methods, homes and architecture, local landmarks and history, flora and landscape, missions and churches, and weather. There are frequent mentions of Aunt May and Uncle Will, who met her in Pasadena and possibly lived in San Rafael; Aunt May, and occasionally Uncle Will, usually accompanied her on her excursions to San Francisco and around California. Entries regarding San Francisco mention Ethel Barrymore plays, the Cliff House restaurant, Golden Gate Park and its zoo and Japanese Tea Garden, Chinatown, and the effects of the 1906 earthquake. She briefly describes attending a women's suffrage event (an Equality Tea) on August 4 and rally on August 25 and mentions a suffrage amendment on the ballot that year in California. Sites traveled to in Northern California include St. Helena and the Chabot estate vineyards; the Guerneville area and the Russian River; Santa Rosa, including a visit to Luther Burbank and his gardens; a fruit farm in Los Gatos; and Eureka and other areas in Humboldt County. The journal also includes a draft or copy of a letter from Margaret to her mother written in San Rafael and dated August 27. The final nine pages of the diary are additional notes on travels in Humboldt County, many of which are crossed out. There are also several pages of loose notes, two envelopes, and a receipt. The journal is unbound and is handwritten in ink on loose paper.
mssHM 84033
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Isaac Wilde diary
Manuscripts
A small pocket diary, with entries running from Feb. 21 to Nov. 21, 1862; the bulk penned between Apr. 4 and the late May. The brief entries cover the advance to Manassas, Va. (Mar. 10-15), Howards Mill (Apr. 4), Warwick Road (Apr. 5), Siege of Yorktown (Apr. 5-May 4), Battle of Williamsburg (May 5), Expedition to James River (May 25-26), and the Battle of Fair Oaks (May 31-June 1). The entries for June 25 ? July 1 (Seven Days before Richmond) are blank except for a short entry on June 28. The rest of the occasional entries are mostly miscellaneous notes and accounts.
mssHM 68425
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Anonymous travel diary
Manuscripts
This pocket diary documents the travels of an anonymous New Englander traveling throughout the Old Northwest and the Great Plains regions, possibly seeking investment opportunities. He visits Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, offering frequent comments upon communities from Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Leavenworth, Kansas, including comments upon religious practices, as well as encounters with different Indigenous peoples and Mormons leaving Utah. The author also comments on Mr. Chase, the owner of the Virginia Hotel in Jefferson City, Missouri, stating: "...owns quite a number of slaves -- quite a slave breeder." Along the way he meets William H. Russell (one of the founders of the Pony Express).
mssHM 83443
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Anonymous diary
Manuscripts
This small diary was kept by an unknown man, probably living in southern California in 1930. He seems to be a boxer and talks about "bouts" and training at the gym.
mssHM 77964
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Moses Kingsbury diary
Manuscripts
A small pocket diary for 1864 with very brief entries, including rather laconic mentions of the demonstration on the Rapidan (February 6-7, 1864), battles of the Wilderness (May 6-7), Laurel Hill (May 8), Spottsylvania (May 8-12), Jericho Ford (May 25), Totopotomoy (May 28-31) and Cold Harbor (June 1-12). The diary fills about half of the Pocket Diary for 1864 (New York: Willy Wallach); the entries from June 19 on are blank.
mssHM 68428