Manuscripts
Diary of travels through California
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L. Benedict diary of a trip to California and the Pacific Northwest
Manuscripts
In the diary, Benedict describes his travels by train through the American West and Canada. He begins in Chicago, travels to San Diego, then heads north along the Pacific Coast to Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia, and finally travels through Canada back to Ontario. Benedict talks about the different regions he passes through and the various scenic attractions, and the populations found in western cities, including Chinese districts and Mormons in Salt Lake City. He also makes comments on the large numbers of gold seekers in San Francisco, Portland, and Tacoma, waiting to depart for the Klondike gold rush. Loose in the diary are three items including notes, Benedict's business card, and a promotional booklet for Riverside, California entitled "The Greatest Orange Growing City in the World."
mssHM 84028
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Diary of a trip to California
Manuscripts
The diary chronicles Margaret's travels from June 10 to August 27, 1911, primarily in Northern California. The first week of the journal details her trip alone by train from Niagara Falls to California, with descriptions of Niagara Falls and sites in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona including Cripple Creek, Albuquerque, and the Grand Canyon; some entries include observations of local Native Americans. The rest of the journal consists of descriptions of travels by train and car in California. Locations visited in Southern California include Los Angeles, Pasadena, Venice Beach, Pomona, and Santa Barbara. After June 23, Margaret was based in the Bay Area town of San Rafael with multiple excursions to San Francisco and around Northern California. Her entries describe people met and interacted with, travel methods, homes and architecture, local landmarks and history, flora and landscape, missions and churches, and weather. There are frequent mentions of Aunt May and Uncle Will, who met her in Pasadena and possibly lived in San Rafael; Aunt May, and occasionally Uncle Will, usually accompanied her on her excursions to San Francisco and around California. Entries regarding San Francisco mention Ethel Barrymore plays, the Cliff House restaurant, Golden Gate Park and its zoo and Japanese Tea Garden, Chinatown, and the effects of the 1906 earthquake. She briefly describes attending a women's suffrage event (an Equality Tea) on August 4 and rally on August 25 and mentions a suffrage amendment on the ballot that year in California. Sites traveled to in Northern California include St. Helena and the Chabot estate vineyards; the Guerneville area and the Russian River; Santa Rosa, including a visit to Luther Burbank and his gardens; a fruit farm in Los Gatos; and Eureka and other areas in Humboldt County. The journal also includes a draft or copy of a letter from Margaret to her mother written in San Rafael and dated August 27. The final nine pages of the diary are additional notes on travels in Humboldt County, many of which are crossed out. There are also several pages of loose notes, two envelopes, and a receipt. The journal is unbound and is handwritten in ink on loose paper.
mssHM 84033
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Anonymous travel diary
Manuscripts
This pocket diary documents the travels of an anonymous New Englander traveling throughout the Old Northwest and the Great Plains regions, possibly seeking investment opportunities. He visits Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, offering frequent comments upon communities from Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Leavenworth, Kansas, including comments upon religious practices, as well as encounters with different Indigenous peoples and Mormons leaving Utah. The author also comments on Mr. Chase, the owner of the Virginia Hotel in Jefferson City, Missouri, stating: "...owns quite a number of slaves -- quite a slave breeder." Along the way he meets William H. Russell (one of the founders of the Pony Express).
mssHM 83443
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H. B. Lansing diaries
Manuscripts
Lansing's diaries give a detailed account of his life in California as a gold miner. He talks about his life in the mining camp, his friends and business partners, his home sickness, his desire to "sell out" and go home, as well as the specifics of mining for gold (buying and selling of claims, equipment problems, bad weather, boils on his hands, etc.). Lansing also describes in detail how he and his friends spend their leisure time: gambling, bowling, drinking and going to dances. Lansing mentions the Chinese he works with in the mines, Joaquin Murieta and the hanging of several Mexicans for murder. Lansing works in and travels to several different places in California including San Andreas, Sonora, Chinese Camp, Murphy's Camp and Yackee (Yaqui) Camp. Lansing also gives a daily tally of the gold he finds in his diggings by dollar amount. The first volume covers all of 1853 and second volume only covers January to May 1855.
mssHM 70409-70410
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Myrtle Albright travel diary and scrapbook
Manuscripts
Scrapbook compiled by Myrtle Albright while on her transcontinental railroad trip in the summer of 1920 with her sister Julia. Their journey crossed the central Great Plains, the Southwest, with a visit to a Native American school in New Mexico, and Southern California before continuing to the San Francisco Bay area, Salt Lake City, Yellowstone, Chicago, and back to Durham. The scrapbook contains souvenir postcards and clippings, buttons for "Elliott Tours," excursion tickets and pieces of travel ephemera, and photographs. A detailed account, most likely written by Albright, describes locations visited, the sights seen, and their experiences both on the train and at various destinations. Accompanying the scrapbook is a separate 21 page hand-written account of a 1925 motor tour that describes touring in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia, and describes historic monuments and the weather.
mssHM 84084
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Joseph Allan Nevins diary of a trip from Illinois to California
Manuscripts
This manuscript is Nevins' account of his journey from Illinois to California via the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, and then by steamboat through the Panama Canal to New York. Much of it is description of the countryside, towns, and inhabitants he visits en route. He arrived in San Diego, CA, on February 21, 1874, and prospected for three weeks without success, then boarded the boat. Upon reaching Panama, there was a delay, as the ship Nevins was to take was being repaired; he writes "The waiting here is very irksome. I fear the folks at home will be anxious about us." Dated January 10 through April 1. Also included is 15-page typescript of the original.
mssHM 26339