Jack Vari Berger autobiography | Collections | The Huntington

Jack Vari Berger autobiography | Collections | The Huntington

You might also be interested in

Image not available
Sanford L. Berger papers
Rare Books
The Sanford L. Berger papers consist chiefly of research material relating to the activities of California architect Sanford L. Berger, from the mid 1960s to the late 1990s, as a collector, student, and enthusiast of objects and knowledge related to 19th century English artist, decorator, poet, and printer William Morris and his circle. This finding aid provides a preliminary inventory of the collection and has been broadly arranged into eleven series. This collection contains a wide assortment of materials of varying research value. Because most items remain in the original order in which the Huntington received them, there is some overlap among series. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence between Berger and prominent individuals in Morrisian scholarly, academic, special collections libraries, book trade and museum circles in the United States and England (Series 1), as well copies of articles, clippings, ephemera, and research materials related to Morrisian topics (Series 2 and Series 5). The collection also contains administrative documents and ephemera related to museum exhibitions that included material from the Bergers' collection (Series 3), and specific research and travel files related to the story of Cupid and Psyche as recounted in Morris's The Earthly Paradise (Series 8); ecclesiastical stained glass installations of Morris & Co. visited by the Bergers (Series 9); and the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (Series 7). Miscellaneous ephemera (Series 4) in the collection includes fine press book announcements, exhibition posters, postcards, clippings, photocopies and photographs of Morris designs, correspondence, notes and inventories made by Berger, 238 bifolios from The Golden Legend (Series 4, Box 64), and loose gatherings and separated leaves from miscellaneous imprints (Series 4, Box 65). Complimentary materials in the collection include items related to Berger's interest in contemporary and historical fine press printing, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area (Series 6) and two film reels from the 1970s (Series 10).
633396
Image not available
Autobiography and journal of James Holt
Manuscripts
The first part of the manuscript is an autobiography recorded by James Holt which covers the years from approximately 1824 until the late 1840s. It recounts his childhood experiences in England, including his time as a printer's apprentice, his religious background, his introduction to Mormonism through one of his printing masters, his disappointment that his family did not share his zeal for the new faith, his receiving word of the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith ("massacred by a mob in Carthage Jail...although many false reports had...been circulated, this we felt to be true," he wrote), a copy of his patriarchal blessing, a blessing for Sarah Rostron, parody song lyrics (I am Brave Old Oak), some family genealogy, and an extract from a work on "Apostolical [sic] succession." The second, brief part of the manuscript is a diary kept by Holt while he was living in Salt Lake City in 1853. He writes of training with the Nauvoo Legion (although he was probably already in Utah at the time) and of "suspicious appearances among the Indians" leading a group of mounted men going south to arrest all "strolling Mexicans, Spaniards and other strangers" who may have been supplying the Indians with guns "in exchange for Indian children." The final paragraph of the diary was written in an unknown hand and recounts Holt's death in 1856. Included with the manuscript are notes on the Holt family, a sketch, and two maps.
mssHM 35255
Image not available
Lyman Belding autobiography
Manuscripts
The autobiography begins with Belding's childhood in West Farms, Massachusetts (near Amherst College). He recalls his early days of school, camping at a nearby lake, and his first crush on a girl. Of his life in Wyoming Valley, Pennyslvania, Belding talks about his bout with typhoid fever in 1846 which led his doctor to advise him to go on a sea voyage. He talks about his first voyage on the ship Zion and his first long voyage on the whaling ship Uncas (going to the Arctic for whales). Of his voyages, Belden talks about the conditions of life on the ship, their food and drink, stops along the way, sea animals they saw, and the whales they killed. Belding also talks about hunting in the Sierra Nevadas, a meeting with Mark Hopkins, and a bird collecting trip he took to Baja, California.
mssHM 75097
Image not available
Hosea Stout autobiography
Manuscripts
This is a typescript of the autobiography written by Hosea Stout in 1845 for the Eleventh Quorum of Seventies in Nauvoo, Illinois. In it he describes the early period of his life from his childhood to his service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He includes his move from Illinois to Missouri to join the Mormons in Caldwell County as well as providing details about his participation in the Battle of Crooked Creek, covering the attack, the death of David Wyman Patten (ca. 1800-1838), and the escape of the Mormons into Iowa
mssHM 66521
Image not available
Edwin Eells autobiography
Manuscripts
HM 80829: Autobiography of Edwin Eells, Book I (copy). This notebook appears to have been copied from Edwin's original diary and the remainder of the volumes were edited by his daughter, Ida Myra Eells (b. 1872) using his original accounts, now apparently lost. Eells begins his autobiography by mentioning the gift of a pocket diary from his father, Cushing Eells, and states that it has helped him to recall events from his past. Following his introduction, as a backdrop, is a history of Dr. Marcus Whitman's visits to the Nez Perce people in the early 1830s. This provides an explanation of how his father came to the territory in 1838. Eells recalls a monotonous early life. He had fond memories of horseback riding and yearly trips to Walla Walla County, Washington. During the family's absence, "...we left our houses in the care of the Indians, who were faithful and honest, and nothing was lost" (p. 17). He provides lengthy accounts, which include how they built their settlement, changes in the Mission of the American Board, "The Great Migration of 1843", the harsh winter at Tshimakain of 1846-1847, and how Whitman was eventually massacred by the Indians on November 29, 1847. Eells cautions that the subject of the Whitman killings was the topic of fireside conversation by others as he was too young to understand at the time.
mssHM 80829-80834
Image not available
David Osborne autobiography
Manuscripts
Typescript of an autobiography begun by David Osborne (also spelled Osborn) in February 1860. Osbourne recounts his childhood in Virginia, his conversion to Mormonism, persecutions against the Mormons, the Osbournes' travels throughout Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, the deaths of his wife and several of their children, and his life in Utah. The autobiography covers the years from 1807 to 1870. A note written by David A. Osborne records the death of his father in 1893.
mssHM 27971