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Manuscripts

Ariette variee par W. A. Mozart, No. 8 Prix Fr

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    Peter Lassen of California

    Manuscripts

    Typewritten manuscript copy of T. Vogel-Jorgensen's essay Peter Lassen of California, translated from the Danish by Helge Norrung and Connie Stroing as a term paper project in 1966, and copied and typed into manuscript form by Linda Bennett and Ettamae Echols as a term paper project in 1967 (both competed for Red Bluff Union High School). The biographical essay takes a favorable view of Lassen and his accomplishments as "the Dane who has left the deepest track in America." The essay traces Lassen's childhood and youth in Denmark, his early years in the United States and move to California, and various incidents relating his experiences and influence in California. It refers to Lassen as a "friend and peacemaker among Indians" and describes "warlike" conditions among California Indians. It concludes by recounting Lassen's death through transcriptions of contemporary newspaper accounts.

    mssHM 78046

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    Edwin Eells autobiography

    Manuscripts

    HM 80829: Autobiography of Edwin Eells, Book I (copy). This notebook appears to have been copied from Edwin's original diary and the remainder of the volumes were edited by his daughter, Ida Myra Eells (b. 1872) using his original accounts, now apparently lost. Eells begins his autobiography by mentioning the gift of a pocket diary from his father, Cushing Eells, and states that it has helped him to recall events from his past. Following his introduction, as a backdrop, is a history of Dr. Marcus Whitman's visits to the Nez Perce people in the early 1830s. This provides an explanation of how his father came to the territory in 1838. Eells recalls a monotonous early life. He had fond memories of horseback riding and yearly trips to Walla Walla County, Washington. During the family's absence, "...we left our houses in the care of the Indians, who were faithful and honest, and nothing was lost" (p. 17). He provides lengthy accounts, which include how they built their settlement, changes in the Mission of the American Board, "The Great Migration of 1843", the harsh winter at Tshimakain of 1846-1847, and how Whitman was eventually massacred by the Indians on November 29, 1847. Eells cautions that the subject of the Whitman killings was the topic of fireside conversation by others as he was too young to understand at the time.

    mssHM 80829-80834

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    John T. B. McMaster ledger of the medical practice of John T. B. McMaster and John L. Hearn

    Manuscripts

    This bound-volume is a ledger kept by Dr. John T. B. McMaster and his partner Dr. Hearn regarding their medical visits to citizens of New Town, Worcester County, Maryland from 1850 to 1852. The doctors include name of patient (some of the time), reason for visiting, treatment, date of visit, and the fee paid to them for services. The doctors treated both whites and blacks (free blacks, fugitives and slaves). In their ledger, if the patient was black, they would write "Negro" after the patients' name (although it is expected that not every black is identified as such). The patients include a slave at Beverly, a large estate owned by John Upshur Dennis.

    mssHM 71482

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    William L. Jackson journal

    Manuscripts

    Journal kept by William L. Jackson during his voyage up the Missouri River on board the Steamer Gallatin from April to June 1866. Jackson, who was traveling with his friend and fellow Civil War veteran John P. Eddy, kept nearly daily journal entries from the time he boarded the Gallatin at Fort Leavenworth on April 22 until June 14, three days before the accident that would cause his death. These entries describe life on board the steamer and its progress as well as Jackson's observations on various stops along the way, including St. Joseph, Nebraska City, Sioux City, Omaha, Fort Thompson, Fort Sully, Fort Rice, and Fort Berthold. Jackson, who was able to utilize his medical training when a passenger accidentally shot himself in the leg with his shot gun, was particularly observant of the conditions of local drug stores ("I never saw three dirtier drug stores," he remarked of Omaha). He also noted that Nebraska City was "full of men waiting to cross the plains, many of them...dead broke;" that Omaha was the starting point of the "great" Union Pacific Railroad and that he saw Teamsters, "Yahooes and Muleskiners," "swarthy" Mexicans, Indians "dressed in buckskin and blankets," boatmen, farmers, soldiers, and clerks in the streets together; and that Sioux City was "quite dull" but the people there had "high hopes" for a "big city" when the railroad came through. Jackson also records notes on Indians he saw or encountered, including "300 Indians...engaged in the massacre in Minnesota" who had been pardoned and were to be "turned adrift up the river;" members of the Winnebago tribe near the Little Sioux River, who were "very fair looking;" a "large encampment of Sioux" at Fort Thompson waiting to be moved to Yankton; and "3000 Siouxs" near Fort Rice who were "waiting to make a treaty with the government." Although not much interested in hunting, he reports that members of the crew shot at buffalo, antelope, and a gray wolf, as well as killing rattlesnakes. Despite his occasional bouts of homesickness, Jackson seems to have enjoyed the trip, which was however not without its technical difficulties, as the crew dealt with damaged pumps, a broken rudder, and a leaking boiler "apt to blow," and were "frightened out of our wits" by a ruptured steam pipe. A note at the end of the journal copied from the family Bible records Jackson's death after an accident caused by a burst flue on June 17 (he died from his injuries on June 19).

    mssHM 75878

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    William S. McBride diary

    Manuscripts

    Diary kept by William S. McBride as he traveled overland from Indiana to Utah in 1850. He departed from Goshen, Indiana, on March 31 in company with Eli W. Summey, Fred Summey, Enoch Willett, and Louis Mitchel, who were already calling themselves "Californians." On April 7 they took the steamer Falcon to St. Louis (which McBride called a "second Babel"), and immediately departed on the steamer Globe. Their steamer was delayed several times and it took ten days to reach Jefferson City, and another five to arrive in St. Joseph. While they camped nearby for several days, McBride took the opportunity to observe his fellow emigrants, and although he was impressed by their appearance ("All seemed jovial and full of life...the horses too...pranced along like gay studs on a celebration day," he noted), he was not entirely caught up in the moment. "This is the going out upon the plains," he wrote. "We will see by & bye how it contrasts with the 'coming in from the plains.'"His group departed in a company of 14 wagons on May 2. He writes often of hunting buffalo and antelope (which "made excellent soups"), and that while he himself had cut out a buffalo tongue (which "would be considered a delicate morsel...at St. Louis"), he "felt a deep sympathy" for buffalo approaching the pioneer guns, as they seemed to be "running the gauntlet." He writes extensively of his surroundings, including a mirage, a "very singular but...common occurrence" which made "men...[look] like giants 14 or 15 feet high...horses double their natural size, and...rivers of water when there was no water." McBride also records the initial high morale in camp, as "we often had music and singing." But about a week after their arrival at Fort Kearney on May 16, McBride began to worry about his party's progress, noting that they had fallen behind and were being passed by emigrants who left St. Joseph several days after they did. Blaming the large size of the wagon train for delays, McBride and his companions went on ahead of the rest of the company. They quickly traversed a Sioux village (McBride formed a favorable opinion of the Sioux people), climbed a rock in the area of Chimney Rock (at "no little danger to life & limb"), passed Scott's Bluffs, caught their first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, crossed the Laramie River, and arrived at Fort Laramie on May 31. He noted the diminished morale of emigrants at Fort Laramie, and noted that many of them were forced to leave their wagons and horses behind, "in some instances sold for little or nothing, or abandoned." By June 1 he reached the Black Hills, and soon crossed the Platte River, observed Independence Rock (which he recognized from a picture he had seen in his "school boy days"), passed Devil's Gate, and reached the Big Sandy on June 16 ("I believe we are in Mexican Territory," McBride guessed on June 17). On June 18 he crossed the Green River with the aid of a "half breed" mountaineer who was "gifted with no ordinary degree of intelligence & energy." He subsequently passed Fort Hall and the Oregon Trail and crossed the Red Fork (on a "very inferior ferry, constructed out of logs pinned together" and attached to "a heavy cable"). On the other side of the river he observed a "very white human skull set up on a stick" which had been "very much used of late as a kind of tablet on which memoranda were written." On June 25 he had his first view of the Utah Valley, and arrived in Salt Lake City on June 26. McBride gives an extensive description of the Salt Lake Valley, and praises the Mormons for having done "a great deal in a short time." But his overall opinion of the Mormons was "very poor," and he described them as "poor silly fanatics, reckless renegades, and blood seekers [with]...no moral honesty." Guided by "artful...dishonest leaders," McBride thought they were prone to excess drinking, "concubinage," lying, cheating, and extortion. The diary ends in Salt Lake City on June 26. The entire diary appears to have been copied over by McBride from his original notes. Also includes a photograph of McBride.

    mssHM 16956

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    Colby family correspondence

    Manuscripts

    This collection of letters were written by James T. Colby and his daughters Sarah and Rebecca, to John M. Anderson and Rebecca Anderson of Salem, Massachusetts, whom Sarah and Rebecca address as "Uncle" and "Aunt." The letters are largely concerned with details of the Colby family's life in San Francisco during the years 1859 to 1861. In the first four letters, HMs 4214, 4216, 4218, and 4219, written between January and April, 1859, James Colby is alone in San Francisco, but has encountered such success working in a Navy yard that he wishes his family to join him. Starting with HM 4220, dated June 3, 1859, letters from his daughters begin to appear. HM 4220 also contains lithographs depicting the city of Sonora as well as the town of Springfield in Tuolumne County. In HM 4224 (July 19, 1859), Rebecca Colby, who appears to be the younger Colby sister, reports that she is to have a tooth extracted that afternoon. There is no correspondence from Mrs. Colby directly, though she is mentioned in several letters (HM 4225, dated August 19, 1859). In HM 4226, written 1859, August 19, Colby addresses his son John A. Colby, who has been left at home, to study hard. It can be inferred that John is staying with the Andersons. It appears, to, that Mrs. Colby gave birth in San Francisco, for in HM 4227 and HM 4228 (dated 1859, September 4 and 19), Sarah and Rebecca both refer to "the baby" for the first time. In HM 4231 (1859, November 29), Colby writes that he has been quite sick, and the doctor has recommended that he return home to Massachusetts, but he is reluctant to give up the money he makes at his job. He reports that Rebecca is learning dress-making. HM 4236, written by Sarah on 1860, January 4, is addressed "Dear Brothers" and is directed to John and William, implying that William Colby is also still in Massachusetts. By February (HM 4237), James Colby is still sick, and writes that "I can't eat anything to speak of and I am getting to be Nothing but a skeleton." James Colby writes of the discovery of a silver mine (HM 4236, 1890, March 4), which has caused great excitement. He reports that he is the foreman on a naval steamer, in charge of seventy-five men, and he is feeling better, after his weight dropped from 155 pounds to 127 pounds in six months. By April 1860, Sarah is working in a sewing factory (HM 4241) and her father has fallen sick again. In HM 4247 (1861, May), James Colby writes of the secession of the South, and the "great Union procession" in the streets of the city, where, Colby writes, there were "16,000 American Flags flying in San Francisco." In the final letter of this group (HM 4254, dated 1862, January 26), James Colby writes of a tremendous flood in Sacramento, and how it has devastated business, but he hopes it will pick up soon.

    mssHM 4214, 4216, 4218-4220, 4222-4248, 4250