Manuscripts
Ben Field papers
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Eugene Field papers
Manuscripts
Collection of manuscripts by Eugene Field, mostly autograph copies of his own poems, and letters written by and to Field. Contains a large number of letters from Field to his wife, both before and after they were married, many dating from his trip to Europe in 1873.Collection also includes the following manuscripts: Beard and Baby, HM 19409; Bethlehem Town, HM 19876; Bethelehem Town II, HM 19877; A Birthday Wish, HM 19891; Boccacio, HM 19410; Casey's Table d'Hote, HM 19878; The Dead Babe, HM 19411; Dear Old London, HM 19412; The Dreams, HM 19413; Echoes from the Sabine Farm, HM 19414; Go, missive mine, as valentine..., HM 19879; The Hawthorne Children, HM 19415; Human Sympathy on the Sinin Farms, HM 19416; Hymn. Xmas. 1888, HM 19880; Memoirs of Mrs. Ruth Gray, HM 19418.
mssField
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Peter Andrew Clapsaddle diary
Manuscripts
In this diary, Clapsaddle writes daily entries while on his voyage from New York to San Francisco. In it. he talks about life on board the ship, seasickness, his asthma, three passengers dying on board, church services he attended and the meals he ate. He also gives the ship's position and course. He briefly mentions the ship's stops in Panama and Guatemala, the arrival in San Francisco and a job he obtained with the Evening telegram. With the diary is a typed biography of Clapsaddle, outline of his voyage, map of his voyage and typescript of the diary.
mssHM 75101
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Edward H. Miller papers
Manuscripts
Although the majority of the letters were written by Edward H. Miller to his sister Sally, other addressees include his sister Ellen and his parents. There are also a few letters by his brothers Elisha and David. Miller's letters describe in detail his voyage to California on board the ship Pacific; his attempt at mining and the hardships involved; conditions in California mining camps; life in Sacramento and San Francisco; his business with Mark Hopkins; damage done by fires and floods; vigilance activities in Sacramento; and his opinion about the Civil War, abolitionists, and slavery. Also included with the correspondence is a short manuscript account of Miller's voyage to California on board the ship Pacific, presumably written by Miller, and an obituary for Miller written by an unknown author.
mssHM 67920-67957
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Rosario Curletti Collection of A. M. Ebbets Papers
Manuscripts
This collection was donated in honor of Southern California anthropologist Rosario Curletti. The collection consists of the 1849 sea voyage diary of Arthur Mercein Ebbets (121 pages) and supplementary material, including six letters by Charlotte White Penniman Ebbets, written while during her 1853 voyage on the steamer Tennessee (which ran aground near San Francisco); 14 folders of biographical manuscripts about Arthur written by his daughter Charlotte Penniman Ebbets; other family manuscripts, including family trees; and correspondence of Rosario Curletti regarding the diary and letters. It was Charlotte Penniman Ebbets who who supplied Rosario Curletti with several items in the collection. Nineteen pages of pencil drawings by Arthur Ebbets, depicting scenes from his 1849 voyage, accompany the diary. Seven other early California and Panama items supplement the Ebbetts items, including drafts of short stories or memoirs by K. V. Hastings ("A Visit to Acapulco," "A Day on Shipboard," and "From Panama to Aspinwall"), a copy of a long letter by Elizabeth Whitney Putnam detailing her journey west (she and her child sailed aboard the Tennessee and the Georgia on the same voyage as Lottie Ebbets), and Spanish and English versions of the diary of Pablo de la Portilla, a Mexican captain attached to Santa Barbara Presidio who led an unsuccessful 1824 expedition against a group of Chumash Indians who had rebelled against the San Buenaventura mission. Finally, the collection originally included a photocopy of the Augustin W. Hale diary, the original of which the Huntington holds in the Hale papers. Hale also sailed to California on the Pacific in 1849, and the he and Ebbets were apparently friendly. Details and references in the two collections overlap occasionally. In addition, the ships Pacific and Tennessee are both discussed in detail in the John Goodman Papers at the Huntington.
mssHM 69651-69707
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Ben R. Rich papers
Manuscripts
This collection contains the papers of aerospace engineer Ben Rich (1925-1995), who served as the second director of Lockheed's Skunk Works in Southern California and was involved in the development of the F-117 stealth aircraft. The collection contains approximately 1,000 items and has been organized by subject, although some subjects can be found throughout the collection. Chronological coverage is from the 1950s to 1990s; much material is from the 1980s and early 1990s, save for selected documents and the Technical Notes and Data series from the 1950s. The files contain many clippings and speeches; there is relatively little daily correspondence, except for scattered letters in the Personal and Projects series. The Technical Notes and Data series contains binders of detailed lecture notes, handwritten calculations, technical articles, data tables, and graphs. This material is from the mid to late 1950s, when Rich was working on the U-2, SR-71, and other reconnaissance aircraft. Much of the collection otherwise involves few technical details, except for a few technical articles under Publications and a few blueprints under Projects. There is a separate series for Rich's memoir, Skunk Works. This includes research material, draft chapters, published reviews and private feedback, discussion of potential co-authors, and classification issues. Talks are filed by subject and date in the Speeches series. Photos have been organized in a separate series; these include images of various aircraft, Lockheed events, and portraits of Rich at various phases of his career. Many photos are unlabeled. An Oversize series includes large photos and binders of notes from his retirement events. Articles on particular aircraft are filed under the Projects series instead of Publications. For Projects, note that aircraft often had different designations at different times. The D- 21 drone was also known as Q-12 and Tagboard. The A-12 was also called Oxcart, A-11, F-12, R-12, and SR-71. The CL-400 started under Project Suntan. Project names mentioned for Stealth aircraft, what became the F-117A, include XST (Experimental Stealth Testbed), Harvey, Have Blue, Tacit Gold, Girlfriend, and Boyfriend. A Stealth cruise missile program was known as Senior High and Senior Prom (the Kelly Johnson folder includes a small card with the note, "I bet Ben on Prom launch, my $5.00 vs this quarter May 17 '80—I won"). The Sea Shadow project, for Stealth ships, is referred to elsewhere in the files by the name of Ugo Coty, who was Lockheed manager for Navy programs. Similarly, initial plans for a Trans Atmospheric Vehicle in the early 1980s referred to a single-stage-to-orbit reconnaissance aircraft designed to make a couple orbits and then land on an airstrip. This concept then shifted to the National Aerospace Plane, or NASP, which was sometimes conflated with, sometimes differentiated from the Orient Express. The SR-71 folder includes material linking SR-71 design concepts to NASP (and its predecessor, the SST); since some NASP designs contemplated liquid-hydrogen fuel they also drew on CL-400 experience. Also, in addition to the "Projects—Cost" file, there is cost information in the files for particular projects. There are a few items of particular interest. The F-117 file includes an "XST log" by Rich, with brief entries describing the development of Stealth on an almost daily basis from March 1975 through December 1977. Similar logs or handwritten histories are in the folders for the D-21 drone and Senior Prom cruise missile. The Kelly Johnson file includes the document "Sighting of a flying saucer by certain Lockheed Aircraft Corporation personnel on 16 December 1953." "Lockheed in 1951," in Speeches, describes the increase of women in the workforce owing to the Korean War buildup; there is also some discussion of women in the military in the Sheila Widnall speeches in the file for ProjectsDefense Planning. The collection included cassette tapes of several interviews and two DVDs: "Blackbird: the Movie," and "Ben Rich: Father of the Stealth Fighter." The interviews will be transcribed and listed in the Huntington catalog. The collection also includes ephemera, such as trophies and plaques, which have been omitted. The technical notes also included a well-worn copy of Ralph G. Hudson, The engineers' manual, 2nd edition (New York, 1945), likewise omitted.
mssRich
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Journal for the year 1854
Manuscripts
This diary contains daily descriptions of an ocean voyage on the barque Auckland, which left Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 12, 1854 and arrived in San Francisco, CA, on May 7th of the same year. The author daily describes the ship's position and the wind conditions but the poor condition of the food on board the ship and subsequent fighting on the ship dominates many of the author's entries. There are also descriptions of stops in Tahiti, the Hawaiian Islands and Sydney, Australia
mssHM 60318