Manuscripts
Vishwanath Singh letter to Sir Henry Rider Haggard
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H. Rider Haggard correspondence
Manuscripts
A collection of 303 letters to and from Sir Henry Rider Haggard, as well as manuscripts, legal documents, and ephemera. A frequent subject of discussion is the fortunes of the British Empire, particularly in South Africa and Rhodesia. Some other letters discuss the alleged plagiarism of Haggard by a Frenchman. Correspondents include: Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell; Arthur James Balfour, Earl of Balfour; Sir Walter Besant; George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess of Curzon; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Edmund Gosse; Rudyard Kipling; and Theodore Roosevelt. Also includes 1 folder of printed material, legal documents, autograph notes, and clippings.
mssHM 43398-43700
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William Halley letter to Henry J. Morgan
Manuscripts
This letter by William Halley, which is on letterhead for The sun printing and publishing company, is written to Canadian author Henry J. Morgan. In it, Halley mentions his book Hand-Book of the California Legislature and asks Morgan for a copy of his most recent handbook publication. Halley also talks about the California Constitutional Convention planned for the fall of 1878. He says "I think there are many things in the Canadian system that could be introduced here with advantage...." He also asks Morgan to send him a copy of the statutes of Canada "if they do not cost too much." Halley also states "I believe Canada is far ahead of California in the possession of just and equitable laws."
mssHM 72877
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Letter to Evelina B. Bailey
Manuscripts
In this letter, the pioneer identified only as "Hume" writes to his sister that he has relocated his store to Pigua, Ohio, "80 miles from here where I plan to reside," and asks her to make plans to come stay with him a while. He also tells her he has "several thousand dollars of Texas Treasury Notes" which he is willing to give to her to pass along to her "boys in Texas."
mssHM 46546
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Letters to Seid Back Jr
Manuscripts
Three letters from students thanking Chinese-American businessman Seid Back Jr. for hosting them on a summer boat trip from San Francisco, as well as a letter to Back from police Detective Sergeant H.H. Hawley in Portland, Oregon. The three student letters to Back, all dated 1916, include one from K. Young, who notes "I haven't seen any of our Chinese friends and merchants to [sic] treated our boys as you"; one from K.H. Chiu of the Chinese Students' Christian Association who notes that many of the students Back hosted have already gone back to work or summer school, and asks him to keep a university pennant as a memento of "your Christian brother Chiu and 'California'"; and one from Stephen Mark, who writes from onboard the S.S. "T.C. Walker" that the summer class session has emptied his savings and "I am dead broke, knowing hardly [if] I am to return to college...as each year comes I find it much more difficult to work and study at the same time," and notes that several Chinese students are leaving Berkeley but will probably be replaced with others, although "the requirements are so strict here that many a one finds it necessary to transfer to some other university in order to graduate in due time." The letter from Sergeant Hawley is dated 1913 and asks Back for a contribution toward a dinner for the "poor unfortunate girls" in the Home of the Good Sheppard.
mssHM 80446-80449
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Ella P. Starkweather letter to "Mrs. Dwight and Family,"
Manuscripts
This letter was written by Ella P. Starkweather, a school teacher, living in the town of Bridgewater, now part of South Dakota. Starkweather describes her experiences in Dakota Territory to her friends back home. To her surprise, she likes the school where she is teaching. There are new series of books, a school room that is large and pleasantly furnished. She writes that some of her students could benefit from a lesson on cleanliness: "...a few would be rendered much more attractive by a vigorous application of soap suds..." Regarding life on the frontier, she writes: "You may imagine the people here are sick of the country, and I can hardly give you an idea how happy and contented they all seem to be. They say the most scant time for provisions they have known is since I came and I know of no one suffering." She also touches upon the weather and the farmers. "The country looks lovely, farmers who had seed here and sown find everything encouraging." Near the end of the letter, she describes her layover in Sheldon, Iowa for five days and her amusement regarding a car half-filled with Bohemian immigrants.
mssHM 80839
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Josiah Royce letters to Henry L. Oak
Manuscripts
This group of manuscripts is a series of letters from philosopher and historian Josiah Royce to Henry L. Oak, a librarian in California who was part of the founding of the Bancroft Library, which was known as the Pacific Library in its early years. The letters are dated between 1884 and 1886. In HM 20132, Royce writes of the book on California history that he is writing, with advice from Oak. Details of Royce's interview with General John C. Frémont and a possible conspiracy are in HM 20147 and HM 20133. Royce tells of his trip to Washington D. C. to search for "the Frémost documents" in HM 20134, where he failed to find a trace of "any secret instruction" for Frémont. It appears that Royce may have found such evidence in Oak's collections at the Bancroft Library, and considers presenting it to Frémont to gauge his reaction. Royce gives Oak permission to use whatever information from the interview he may find interesting for his own purposes. In his own book, he has included "an elaborate attack on Frémont's honor." Most of the letters are concerned with Frémont's apparent indiscretion and Royce's pending book on the matter, and Royce is keeping Oak informed as Oak's information played an important role in Royce's developing story. HM 20138, dated 1885, August 29, has cross-hatch writing on the first page. By mid-1886 (HM 20143, June 20), Royce's book has been published, and he discusses the resulting reviews and criticism. In July, Royce is happy to accept a list of suggestions from Oak to improve a future edition of his book (HM 20144, July 26), and upon the finding of a mistake in his book, asks Oak to "keep this on file as record of my discovery of my own blunder" while also requesting him to "let me know in case there should be any noteworthy attack on my book from any respectable source" (HM 20145, July 29).
mssHM 20132-20147