Manuscripts
Anonymous travel diary
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Jacob W. Waldsmith letter to John Waldsmith
Manuscripts
A handwritten letter (ink on paper) by Jacob Waldsmith to his father John Waldsmith, conveying news from Waldsmith's travels through the Midwest and Great Plains in the autumn of 1857, visiting Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska territories. In the letter, he comments upon the agricultural and economic potential of the region and the turbulent political condition following the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. While in Missouri, he describes "The land is rich and productive...This I verily believe would soon be one of the foremost states in our union for agriculture if it was not for the damnable curse called slavery, the agitation of which has been rageing in this part of the country..."
mssHM 75847
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Anonymous diary
Manuscripts
This small diary was kept by an unknown man, probably living in southern California in 1930. He seems to be a boxer and talks about "bouts" and training at the gym.
mssHM 77964
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J.H. (James Hervey) Simpson letter to Richard H. Kern
Manuscripts
J.H. Simpson writes of his travels to and arrival at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and of details of other troops.
mssHM 20646
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Billy Newbanks letter to Maggie Newbanks
Manuscripts
An autograph letter written by a young man to his sister living in Monmouth, Illinois. He comments on her education, plans to get an organ, and learning to dance while he also discusses his loneliness, family matters and sends greetings to various friends. He mentions the social life of the fort, the "colored soldiers in other words Negros" and the Native Americans living near the Fort. Newbanks had arrived at Fort Sill just three years after the post was established to prevent Native American attacks upon Euro-American settlements in Kansas and Texas. The letter has slight foxing, with an addressed, postmarked envelope.
mssHM 83796
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Richard C. Backus travel diary
Manuscripts
The travel diary documents Richard C. Backus' road trip from New York to Los Angeles with typewritten notes and labeled photographs. The diary includes details regarding their trip and the various people and places they visited along the way through Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The typewritten notes include details about miles driven, car trouble and repairs (the group traveled in three vehicles), and road and weather conditions. The diary also includes a hand-drawn map of the group's driving route.
mssHM 84014
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Diary of travels through California
Manuscripts
Diary details travels by train and driving excursions (by horse-drawn vehicles) around California from February to April 1898. The diarist first journeys along the Pacific coast to Santa Barbara, where he describes the weather and climate, the town, and a visit to a local mission. He takes excursions from Santa Barbara to nearby Montecito, Carpinteria, Ventura, Goleta, and Naples, observing the homes of wealthy Easterners, large grapevines, the oil industry, cattle ranches, and the drought. He then travels to Fresno, where he writes about the city, malaria, heat and drought, water supply, the fruit industry, and a visit to the city's Chinatown. From Fresno, the diarist travels to the Monterey Peninsula via Tracy, Livermore, and San Jose. He describes the weather, land prices, and the towns of Pacific Grove and Monterey, and visits a giant live oak tree. The traveler then moves on to Southern California, stopping in Pasadena and Santa Monica before spending several days in San Diego, where he stays at the Coronado Hotel and writes of the weather, and the houses, streets, and landscape of the city, which he dislikes; he also visits La Jolla and the "Ramona House" adobe (possibly the Casa de Estudillo in San Diego). After a brief side trip to Tijuana, the diarist travels to San Bernadino County and the towns of San Bernadino, Riverside, and Pomona, with an added excursion into the mountains. Entries discuss the area's landscape, citrus groves, and the challenges of the orange industry. He ends his California journey in Los Angeles, leaving on April 8 and arriving in New York 10 days later. Final entries discuss the weather and scenery enroute and include some detailed description of the Colorado Springs area. The Southern Pacific Railroad is mentioned several times in the journal. The diary is in pencil, written in a bound "Memoranda" notebook. Also present is a second, unbound journal by the same author detailing an October 1898 hunting trip, most likely to Maine, which primarily contains descriptions of the weather (17 pages). In addition, there are three unused postcards depicting Los Angeles area real estate subdivisions, the Pacific Grove bathing beach, and the Riverside Salt Lake Railroad viaduct.
mssHM 84034