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1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
Letter from Charles A. Goodwin to his wife Jennie M. Goodwin, sent from Port Townsend, Washington, while Charles was en route to the Klondike. He begins by describing the harbor at Port Townsend, where he is waiting for the ship Alki to arrive. He also writes of boastful local gold miners who spoke of the ease of making a fortune in Alaska, notes that he is well equipped with cold-weather gear, and asks after his children. He briefly mentions his fears of being unsuccessful, but is ultimately optimistic about his future mining prospects.
mssHM 78064
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Manuscripts
This letter written by Charles Hoffman to William King was about guano, the excrement and urine of seabirds and bats, which was just being widely recognized as an excellent fertilizer and an important source of nitrates for gunpowder and explosives. It was primarily gathered off the coast of Peru, but Hoffman, who owned many vessels that regularly traded in peanuts and palm oil with West Africa's coast, was apparently the first American entrepreneur to find a source on the island of Ichaboe, now in Namibia.
mssHM 80484
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Manuscripts
Letter from Jonathan Trumbull to Major General Charles Lee who was raising volunteers for the defense of New York. The letter concers with the organization of Andrew Ward's regiment of Connecticut militia.
mssHM 69938
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Manuscripts
Accounts of expenses while on the Grand Tour in Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice. Also includes expenses from London.
mssHM 814
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Manuscripts
In this letter, written to English botanist John Ralfs, Darwin talks about his experiments and observations on insectivorous (carnivorous) plants, and his forthcoming book, Insectivorous plants, which was published in 1875. The letter was dictated to Darwin's son Frank, but is signed by Charles Darwin.
mssHM 76527
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Manuscripts
Sixteen of the seventeen letters are addressed to Charles Lummis. The authors include: Anthropologist Adolph Bandelier (written from Bolivia), writer Ella Higginson, historian and author J. Franklin Jameson (asking Lummis to write an article on Mexico), Lummis' second wife Eva, Henrietta Lungren (wife of Southwest artist Fernand Lungren), surgeon, ethnographer, and linguist Washington Matthews (about his book Navajo legends), author Grace Ellery Channing Stetson (and wife of artist Charles Stetson), Wells Fargo & Company president John J. Valentine (regarding U.S. politics), and stage actress Louise Wakelee Elliott. There is one letter by Charles Lummis to his wife Eve. This letter was written in 1896 while he was in Mexico.
mssHM 79080-79096