Manuscripts

Diary of an early motorist in Southern California

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Description: Diary by an unnamed female author detailing daily life during her stay in Southern California. It includes descriptions of the rail trip from the East Coast to Los Angeles, a journey with her mother to the Southwest that lasted several months, and numerous entries about the family's automobiles. These include: a traffic collision with a streetcar, a major traffic jam en route to the Pasadena Rose Parade, parking and speeding tickets, auto maintenance, and various excursions with "the machine." An interesting glimpse into the early days of America's ongoing love affair with automobile travel.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1920-1921.
Call number: mssHM 70173
Provenance: Purchased from Bea and Peter Siegel Books, May 2006.
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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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Diary of travels through California

Manuscripts

Diary details travels by train and driving excursions (by horse-drawn vehicles) around California from February to April 1898. The diarist first journeys along the Pacific coast to Santa Barbara, where he describes the weather and climate, the town, and a visit to a local mission. He takes excursions from Santa Barbara to nearby Montecito, Carpinteria, Ventura, Goleta, and Naples, observing the homes of wealthy Easterners, large grapevines, the oil industry, cattle ranches, and the drought. He then travels to Fresno, where he writes about the city, malaria, heat and drought, water supply, the fruit industry, and a visit to the city's Chinatown. From Fresno, the diarist travels to the Monterey Peninsula via Tracy, Livermore, and San Jose. He describes the weather, land prices, and the towns of Pacific Grove and Monterey, and visits a giant live oak tree. The traveler then moves on to Southern California, stopping in Pasadena and Santa Monica before spending several days in San Diego, where he stays at the Coronado Hotel and writes of the weather, and the houses, streets, and landscape of the city, which he dislikes; he also visits La Jolla and the "Ramona House" adobe (possibly the Casa de Estudillo in San Diego). After a brief side trip to Tijuana, the diarist travels to San Bernadino County and the towns of San Bernadino, Riverside, and Pomona, with an added excursion into the mountains. Entries discuss the area's landscape, citrus groves, and the challenges of the orange industry. He ends his California journey in Los Angeles, leaving on April 8 and arriving in New York 10 days later. Final entries discuss the weather and scenery enroute and include some detailed description of the Colorado Springs area. The Southern Pacific Railroad is mentioned several times in the journal. The diary is in pencil, written in a bound "Memoranda" notebook. Also present is a second, unbound journal by the same author detailing an October 1898 hunting trip, most likely to Maine, which primarily contains descriptions of the weather (17 pages). In addition, there are three unused postcards depicting Los Angeles area real estate subdivisions, the Pacific Grove bathing beach, and the Riverside Salt Lake Railroad viaduct.

mssHM 84034

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William Young Empey diary

Manuscripts

This incomplete manuscript provides a partial glimpse of the experiences of the first Mormon party that traveled to the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847 under the direction of Brigham Young as well as the operation of the first Mormon ferry on the Upper Crossing of the North Platte River.

mssHM 52586

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The Story of My Early Life in California

Manuscripts

A brief account of Clara Shaw's life in California, including a description of traveling to California from Wisconsin in 1858. Shaw also discusses her experiences with Indians, and describes her life as the wife of a rancher in Adobe Meadows, California.

mssHM 70165

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Eliza Ann Otis diaries

Manuscripts

Eliza Ann Otis' first diary dates from January 1, 1860 to June 1, 1863, covering the early years of her marriage to Harrison Gray Otis in Louisville, Kentucky, with later stays in Lowell, Ohio, and Charleston, West Virginia, during the Civil War. Entries discuss her family, marriage, religious beliefs, church attendance, and visits to various houses of worship around Louisville, including a Catholic church, Jewish synagogue, and an African American church on March 4, 1860. Otis also mentions current politics and issues, including the 1860 presidential race, the Republican Party and slavery. Some activities and outings in Louisville are described, such as social visits, concerts, and painting lessons. Several entries discuss the birth, death, and mourning of her first child, Harry Jr. (March 1861-February 1862). Following the outbreak of the Civil War and Harrison Otis's enlistment in the Ohio infantry, Otis writes of reports about the war from newspapers, her husband, and others; many entries also include copies of outgoing letters sent to soldiers and other recipients. The second diary details two 1863 excursions to West Virginia to visit Harrison Otis during the war: the first to his regiment's camp in June and the second a journey through the Kanawha Valley with a traveling companion enroute to visit her husband in September. These entries describe landscape and scenery, civilians encountered while traveling, and Union soldiers. The first journal is a bound volume and the second an unbound manuscript; both are handwritten in ink. Also present is a transcript of the diaries created by donor Gwen Babcock, which does not include the Kanawha Valley trip.

mssHM 84037

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Photograph album of motor sports in Southern California

Visual Materials

A photograph album of people with their motorcycles and automobiles, on outdoor excursions in Southern California in the early-20th century. Most images have writing on the back and feature a group of two men and two women named Eleanor, Hazel, Otto, and Russell (surnames unknown). In one photograph, they stand next to their motorcycles, wearing goggles, with pennants reading: "1915 San Francisco," "Riverside," and "Redlands," presumably in the midst of a road trip. Otto is also seen standing in front of a "New Era Motor Cycle" store in Redlands, California, and pushing his motorcycle with a spare tire strapped to the front. Other images include riders in an automobile in Tijuana, Mexico, 1915; visiting Big Bear Lake and dam; and a caravan of automobiles driving up a mountain road. Three photographs at Lake Arrowhead feature an Essex Motor Company automobile painted with advertising reading: "The N-Durance Essex, driven by Charles H. Holdson," 1923.

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Diary of an early motorist in Southern California

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