Manuscripts

Jacob Whitman Bailey correspondence

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Description: The majority of the letters were written by Bailey to his step-father, Professer George Washington Keely, who was a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Waterville College, Maine. The first letter was written by Bailey while a cadet at West Point, but by the second letter he was already assistant professor at West Point. There are five (5) letters by Bailey to his mother Jane Keely and one to his sister Eliza Keely. Many of Bailey's letters contain hand-drawn sketches. Subjects of his letters include his work, experiments, and teaching; microscopes; botany and botanist John Torrey; his personal life (marriage, children, etc.); working with Louis Agassiz; algae; chemistry; and trying his hand at daguerreotypes.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1829-1851.
Call number: mssHM 80710-80734
Creator

Jacob Whitman Bailey botanical drawings and letters

Manuscripts

This material includes a series of botanical drawings by Jacob Whitman Bailey (HM 83530-83533); some of the drawings are dated 1832 and include carefully labeled, detailed drawings of cryptogamia and phenogamia, some with extended descriptions. The autograph letters by Bailey (HM 83534-83537) are dated 1833, January-July, and are written to his step-father, Professor George Washington Keely in Waterville, Maine. The letters are written when he was stationed at Moultrie, South Carolina and Bellona Arsenal, Virginia as an Army lieutenant; the letters are written at the time of the Nullification Crisis and discuss the crisis as well as slavery in South Carolina and Virginia. Also included is the original cover (HM 83538) of the volume which contained the Bailey material; the cover has the original pasted down paper label with an autograph list of contents, written in an unknown hand.

mssHM 83530-83538

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L.L. Whitman correspondence

Manuscripts

The Whitman correspondence begins on May 28, 1903 in Pasadena, California. Whitman writes to his mother about a potential automobile trip from San Francisco, California to New York and introduces her to his driving partner, E.I. Hammond. The duo will be trailing several hundred miles behind E.T. Fetch and M.C. Krarup, another pair on their way to New York. Whitman writes that he has more faith in his 4.5-horsepower Oldsmobile than the 1903 Packard, which Fetch is driving. Postcards and letters concerning his trip east are sent from various locations including Lovelock and Elko, Nevada, Ogden, Utah, Rawlins, Wyoming, and Elwood, Nebraska. On the road, Whitman and Hammond face mechanical issues, rugged roads, and harsh weather conditions. In one letter, Whitman writes about frightening a lone Indian to death when they approached him in their "machine." In another event, they recruited the help of two cowboys, who used "their lassos to pull us up a bank some 15ft high..." (July 20, 1903). When driving through the country side, the undeveloped roads prove to be difficult: "The country is all mud, terrible. We can make but little progress. This mud is the black adobe like lard and dries hard as flint" (Aug. 13, 1903). In Detroit, Michigan, Whitman meets Ransom E. Olds and appears to be an honored guest at an automobile race with 10,000 people in attendance. Whitman speaks too soon when he writes "I don't want any more endurance runs..." because he dashes across the continent again in 1904, 1906, and 1910 at record-setting rates, which include breaking Fetch's record. Whitman reflects that his automobile trip "helps to season and spice the short life we stay on this earth" (Oct. 18, 1903)

mssHM 81903-82022

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Brooks, Mabel Whitman (Baker). 2 pieces. To Bailey Willis

Manuscripts

The collection consists of letters, manuscripts (including diaries and scientific reports), documents and photographs related to the life and interests of geologist Bailey Willis. Subject matter includes: the work, travels and family of Bailey Willis; geology, especially earthquakes; scientists and scientific institutions. There are also early photographs of China (1903-04) and Argentina (1911-13). Persons represented by over twenty pieces in the collection include: Charles Peter Berkey, Eliot Blackwelder, Rollin Thomas Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, Arthur Louis Day, Frederick Putnam Gulliver, Charles Willard Hayes, Stephen Joseph Kubel, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Albrecht Penck, Raphael Pumpelly, Rollin D. Salisbury, Charles Schuchert, George Otis Smith, George Willis Stose, Charles Richard Van Hise, Charles Doolittle Walcott, Bailey Willis, Cornelia Grinnell Willis, Margaret Delight Baker Willis, and Robert Simpson Woodward. Also present is a typscript letter signed from William H. Taft to Bailey Willis, 1908 December 12.

mssWillis

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Jackson, Jacob Hugh. 1 piece. To Bailey Willis

Manuscripts

mssWillis

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Willis, Bailey. 1 piece. To Jacob Bertha Levison

Manuscripts

mssWillis

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Levison, Jacob Bertha. 2 pieces. To Bailey Willis

Manuscripts

mssWillis

Jacob Whitman Bailey correspondence

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Jacob Whitman Bailey botanical drawings and letters

L.L. Whitman correspondence

Brooks, Mabel Whitman (Baker). 2 pieces. To Bailey Willis

Jackson, Jacob Hugh. 1 piece. To Bailey Willis

Willis, Bailey. 1 piece. To Jacob Bertha Levison

Levison, Jacob Bertha. 2 pieces. To Bailey Willis