Manuscripts

Frederick G. Niles diaries

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Description: In these four diaries, Niles details his life through a variety of jobs and journeys. Before his adventures west, Niles talks about his religious beliefs, his Sunday school teaching, his daily life and his aspirations for the future. As he heads West to the Kansas Territory, Niles describes the prospectors and emigrants he meets along the way. He discusses the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians he sees, the Mexican cattle drivers, and the landscape he encounters in his travels. In April 1865, Niles writes about the assassination and funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Niles' diaries also include detailed budgets and personal financial information as he struggled to make money. In the diary that deals with his sea voyage home, Niles includes details about daily life on the ship and the places he visited along the way.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1858-1870.
Call number: mssHM 70278-70281

Peter Frederick Hummel letter to "Dear Wife & Children,"

Manuscripts

In this 3-page letter, Hummel describes his overland journey to California from Illnois. He talks about arriving in Fort Laramie and describes in detail the bad weather he encountered, the deaths of mules, cattle and horses along the way, and the physical landscape of the desert and the Sierra Nevadas. He also talks about his life in Sacramento, the gold he has found at Sutter's Mill and the difficulty of gold mining. Hummel gives prices for items and suggests that his wife and children come to California to be with him and states that they "could get rich in 2 years time." The letters is on letterhead from "J. M. Hummel Wholesale and Retail" in Sandwich, Illinois.

mssHM 70759

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John Henry Frederick Ahlert diary

Manuscripts

The diary covers the first trip Ahlert made to the Klondike. In it he describes his journey from Los Angeles to Dyea, including accounts of traveling conditions as well as descriptions of his surroundings. He also talks about the difficulties in mining gold as well as the frustration he experienced in registering claims along the rivers and creeks. In the last half of his diary, Ahlert describes Dawson and his life there.

mssHM 64258

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W. Frederick Mayes diary

Manuscripts

This diary, kept by W. Frederick Mayes, begins on November 22, 1869 and continues to November 27, 1870. Mayes kept this diary while he was in Honduras building a railroad. He talks about the railroad, his fellow employees, the local people, the villages he comes to, the weather, the geography, etc. He specifically talks about Chamelecón, the Chamelecón River, and the villages of El Chapparo and El Espino, Honduras. Mayes drew several sketches in his diary. These sketches include scenery, villages and people.

mssHM 52253

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Frederick Moulton Shaw diary

Manuscripts

Diary kept by Frederick Moulton Shaw from approximately 1886-1891 while he was living in Laurel Canyon. His entries include notes on weather conditions, water supply, felling wood, bee keeping, quotes from various books, religious musings, a story about killing rattlesnakes that was later published in the Times, and a few sketches and maps. While these entries are pedestrian, Shaw's eccentricities frequently emerge. A recurring theme is his disputes with his neighbors, specifically a man named E.C. Watson, whom Shaw accuses of trying to a hire a man to have him killed, of shooting at Shaw several times, stealing his horses, trying to sell his bees, accosting him in the street, prowling around his house at night, and "threatening death and destruction...[Watson] Swears he will kill six or seven persons yet before he is done." Shaw also writes of run-ins with his other neighbor E.W. Doss, who "sympathize[ed] with me in my affliction of the head but could not stand any of my 'jaw.'" Another entry includes a drawing of a skull and crossbones and the note that he would place the image on his card until "they quit calling me Doctor...I do not object to being called physician but a doctor is another thing!! The paid Thugs of Society!!!" In the same entry Shaw also says that "I have been the means of saving many thousands of lives by my treatment." Also includes four photographs (1914) and a postcard of land in Laurel Canyon.

mssHM 75011

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Diaries and Sketchbook of James Haggerty

Manuscripts

The first of the three Haggerty volumes covers his journey from Arizona to San Diego, with six fellow ex-soldiers, as well as his voyage to San Francisco and his brief stay there in 1870. In this volume he describes his experiences in Arizona, a party he goes to in Tucson, the Arizona landscape, the various post stations he passes, and the native peoples he encounters. Haggerty also discusses in detail the amount of alcohol he and his "buddies" drink along the trail which often results in them being hung over and losing their way. Haggerty also talks about San Diego, San Pedro and San Francisco.

mssHM 70394-70396

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John Neff diary

Manuscripts

In this day-to-day diary of Neff's trip he talks in detail about the weather, landscape, cattle and horses being stolen, problems with Indians, hunting along the way, members of his group getting sick, and fights amongst members of his group. The diary only covers the trip from Ohio to Salt Lake City (1854, April 11 - August 9). It includes a forward by John L. Ford and map showing the route Neff took from Ohio to California.

mssHM 75111

Frederick G. Niles diaries

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Peter Frederick Hummel letter to "Dear Wife & Children,"

John Henry Frederick Ahlert diary

W. Frederick Mayes diary

Frederick Moulton Shaw diary

Diaries and Sketchbook of James Haggerty

John Neff diary