Manuscripts

Berenice J. Scoville letters to Anne Kerckhoff

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Description: In these two letters, Berenice J. Scoville describes her experience in the San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath. Shortly after the earthquake, Scoville and her family were forced to evacuate their house on Pacific Avenue; their house was saved and they were later allowed to move back. She describes the destruction around her, including the building in which she worked, which was one of the first buildings to burn down, the conditions in the city, and the continued threat of fire.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1906.
Call number: mssHM 67916-67917
Creator: Scoville, Berenice J(Opens in new tab)
Provenance

Mary Ann Standlee's reminiscences of life in Southern California

Manuscripts

The author's recalls life in Southern California where she first lived on the Ballona or Malaga Ranch where her father was a sheep and cattle rancher. When she was four years old, they moved to San Gabriel and lived on the estate of De Barth Shorb when her father was appointed overseer of the Benjamin D. Wilson Ranch. She describes the ranch, its inhabitants and the San Gabriel Valley. In 1868 her parents bought land from John G. Downey in Los Nietos Valley near what is now Pico Rivera. Their ranch home was on the banks of the Rio Hondo River across the river from one of the Able Sterns ranchos. Standlee describes pioneer life; agriculture including orange, lemon and walnut orchards; dairy farming; stock ranching, schools and the coming of the railroads. Mrs. Standlee documents her marriage to Joel W. Standlee and the birth of her children. Some place names mentioned are: Los Angeles, Wilmington, San Gabriel, [Pico] Rivera, El Monte, Pasadena, Montebello and Downey.

mssHM 27978

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Mary Ann Hafen reminiscences

Manuscripts

This small group consists of three letters Mary wrote to her children and relatives as well as two versions of reminiscences of her family's voyage from Switzerland to New York City and then on to Utah in a handcart company. In these accounts she describes the harsh conditions of their journey to Utah and the struggles of frontier and pioneer life. With the help of her son, Le Roy Reuben Hafen (1893-), his wife Ann W. (Ann Woodbury) Hafen (1893-1970), and granddaughter, Juanita Brooks (1898-), Mary was able to publish her life story, "Recollections of a handcart pioneer of 1860: with some account of frontier life in Utah and Nevada" in 1938.

mssHM 66379-66383

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Hannah Penney Green letters to John Witham Penney

Manuscripts

This collecton contains twenty-one letters from Hannah Penney Green to her brother, Green talks about her difficult life: she does a variety of jobs to earn money, she often worries about money and obtaining her husband's pension (she hired a lawyer), family problems, moving often for work, etc. She also talks about vising a tin mine near Perris and, in her last letter, she describes her experience with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

mssHPG

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Mollie J. Jones journal

Manuscripts

The journal opens on Jan. 1861, when Mollie, a vivacious and well read young woman who thoroughly enjoyed her life as a local society belle, set out to "endeavor to keep a record of passing events, and jot down thoughts as they occur." She vividly describes her friends and beaux, in particular an exciting month she spent in New Orleans in February and March of 1861, going on "shopping excursions," and attending dances, theaters, (she was smitten with a Varieties Theater production of Jeannie Deans, starring Charlotte Thompson (1843-1898) and Fanny Brown (1837- after 1870) and opera performances with Adeline Patti (1843-1919), parties, parades, and other diversions, including a visit to the studio of Alenson G. Powers (ca. 1817 - ca. 1867), the renown New Orleans portraitist. The diary follows Mollie's tortuous romance with Richard J. Hancock, 3rd Lieutenant of Co. D of the 9th Louisiana Infantry, her feelings about the war and growing anxiety in the wake of the taking of New Orleans, and devastating family news. The diary breaks off in October 1863, on the last night Mollie Jones spent in Sunny Dell. An entry, in another hand, records her death, along with deaths of friends and family members.

mssHM 62472

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Leonora J. Wendell letters

Manuscripts

Two letters, one dated 1857 January 28, from Crescent City to "Dear Sarah," the other undated and written from "Thursday School Roome [sic]." In the letters, Wendell talks about the differences between the coast of Maine and California. She also mentions the recent death of the local lighthouse keeper who got swept away to sea. Much of her letters talk about the local California Indians, their customs and superstitions and the supposed dangers that they represent to white settlers. The letters are accompanied by typescripts.

mssHM 83841-83842

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Sara J. Ballard diary

Manuscripts

The diary begins with Ballard's trip from Maine to California in September 1892. Along the way she stops in Chicago to see the World's Columbian Exposition and while in California she visits Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Palm Springs. In her entries, she gives details regarding the sights she sees, such as her visits to several of the Spanish missions, and the people she meets. She seems to have left to go back home in May 1893. The diary picks back up in 1894 when Ballard is back in San Francisco, and in the last entry dated August 26, 1895, she is still in northern California.

mssHM 64275

Berenice J. Scoville letters to Anne Kerckhoff

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You might also be interested in

Mary Ann Standlee's reminiscences of life in Southern California

Mary Ann Hafen reminiscences

Hannah Penney Green letters to John Witham Penney

Mollie J. Jones journal

Leonora J. Wendell letters

Sara J. Ballard diary