California trip | Collections | The Huntington

California trip | Collections | The Huntington

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Edward King diary of a trip to Japan and China
Manuscripts
In his diary, King writes about his travels across Japan and China beginning with his departure from Shanghai to Nagasaki in March 1859. He writes in detail about his journey including the food on board, Japanese officials, local customs, the difficulty of changing money, and his visits to Nagasaki and Dejima. King's diary also covers his travel to Ningbo, China where he also writes in detail about the people and culture. The diary also includes a 2-page list of English-Japanese vocabulary, a fold-out map of Nagasaki, a Japan treasury certificate, and 25 pages of Japanese colored woodblock prints.
mssHM 84029
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L. Benedict diary of a trip to California and the Pacific Northwest
Manuscripts
In the diary, Benedict describes his travels by train through the American West and Canada. He begins in Chicago, travels to San Diego, then heads north along the Pacific Coast to Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia, and finally travels through Canada back to Ontario. Benedict talks about the different regions he passes through and the various scenic attractions, and the populations found in western cities, including Chinese districts and Mormons in Salt Lake City. He also makes comments on the large numbers of gold seekers in San Francisco, Portland, and Tacoma, waiting to depart for the Klondike gold rush. Loose in the diary are three items including notes, Benedict's business card, and a promotional booklet for Riverside, California entitled "The Greatest Orange Growing City in the World."
mssHM 84028
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This is my trip from Texas to California
Manuscripts
This typescript of Edward Hawkins Rogers' diary details his overland trip to California from Denton County, Texas. His group, which includes his wife and son, as well as several other emigrants, takes the Butterfield Overland Trail through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Rogers mentions the Butterfield Overland Stage Line stations as his group passes them. He talks about the hardships of the trail including the birth and death of his infant daughter, lack of food and water, and fear of attacks by Indians.
mssHM 66498
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Account of a trip from Missouri to California
Manuscripts
Written to his father and mother by T.J. Ables, this manuscript is an account of Ables' overland journey from Boonville, Missouri to California by way of the Oregon Trail. He arrived with friends after a journey of five months and two days, having departed Boonville on May 7. He writes of his slavery discussions with locals while in Kansas, his travels through Nebraska, and how he inscribed his name on Independence Rock. In Utah, his party's cattle were driven off by hostile Indians, and Ables and his companions pursued the Indians, eventually recovering thirty-six head. This was the only direct encounter Ables had with the Indians, but he heard of many others, including one woman who survived a scalping. Typescript copy.
mssHM 16763
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Account of a trip on horseback from San Francisco to Santa Barbara
Manuscripts
Joseph Booth writes of his experiences traveling through California during 1869. He became determined to ride his mare, named "Pet," from San Francisco to Los Angeles, in an attempt to ease his mind of an unidentified physical ailment that cause him to lose weight "to scant 120." His diary describes the weather, his accomodations at the various towns and public houses, and people he met along the way. He is automatically suspicious and afraid when meeting Indians, or, as he writes, "or what they call by that name here (a native)." There is a partial list of his expenses on the final page. The last two pages are damaged and incomplete. Original pages rebound and repaired with backing sheets. With two typewritten letters, dated 1946, July 31 and August 12, from George E. Beers to Josephine W. Beers explaining some details of the Booth family history, and an undated fragment of a third letter with similar geneaological information.
mssHM 26657
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Diary - California trips
Manuscripts
Two diaries, one documenting Mortimer Chester's first trip to California in 1912 and his permanent move there in 1914, and another describing his experiences with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the Depression. His travel diary chronicles two cross country trips from Boston and demonstrates how he became convinced to move to California. Chester's account of the CCC camps describes camp operations, living conditions, and the character of the workers there. Photographs are undated but depict people and buildings, and some are labeled with locations, including Texas, Arizona, and Utah. Other photos are most likely of the CCC camps in the Sierra Nevadas, and depict snow removal and camp personnel, including a group of Black workers.
mssChester