Manuscripts
Charles Willson Peale diary
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Ann Renaudet Chevalier letter to Charles Willson Peale
Manuscripts
This autograph letter signed is addressed to Mr. Peale at the Museum (Peale retired from the museum in 1810, this letter may be for him or one of his sons who replaced him). Chevalier writes, "Sir, Please to receive in your Museum a little pensionnary that came last night to take refuge in the house where I live: It is a screetch-owl of the smallest and beautiful kind, I had always been told that such birds were ominous creatures; but the contrary I now find in the opportunity this offers me, by presenting you with it, to do something with that perhaps may prove agreeable to you. I am with respect, Anne Renaudet Chevalier."
mssHM 83617
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Charles Lee Civil War diary
Manuscripts
Diary that Charles Lee kept from January 1 to November 10, 1864. In addition to camp life and multiple vows to lay off whiskey, the diary covers visits to the regiment by Ulysses S. Grant and Joshua Thomas Owen, and gives brief accounts of the battles at Morton's Ford (1864, Feb. 6 - 7), Po River, (May 10, 1864), and the Petersburg campaign, including Jerusalem Plank Road (June 22 - 23), Strawberry Plains (Aug. 14), Ream''s Station (Aug. 25), Weldon Railroad (Aug. 25), and Fort Sedgwick (Oct. 27) and describes Finley hospital which Lee described as "a singular place" with the "Band playing at one End of the Ward outside and the Doctors performing an operation at the other."
mssHM 30476
Craver, Charles F. Pocket diary. 1861, Dec. 21 -- 1862, Dec. 23
Manuscripts
Pocket diary in pencil and pen. One sheet folded into 4 pages, diary in pen for the days of December 16 to December 23, 1862, folded in back of diary. One sheet, December 29 to December 31, [1861?], written on recto and verso, diary, in pen, folded in back.
mssHM 76850
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Charles Plummer diaries
Manuscripts
Two diaries kept by Charles Plummer, one while he was traveling from Boston to San Francisco in 1849 and one while he was sailing from Boston to Brazil in 1863-1864. The 1849 diary begins with Plummer's preparations to leave Boston and his joining of the New England and California Trading and Mining Association. He departed from Boston on the ship Lenore in February 1849 and while on board recorded notes on brigs he has seen (including his tracking of the brig Charlotte), a minstrel's concert on board, his stop at the Port of Talcahuana (Chile), and notes on the flying fish and birds he has seen, including the capture of an albatross. He also writes of difficulties with the Association, noting that various members had been tried on board for "deception, falsehood, neglect of duty, intemperance &c." In July the Lenore put down anchor near Benicia and Plummer was chosen to join a "pioneer party to the mines" which traveled up the Sacramento River to the Feather River and set up a "gold washer." The trip was ultimately disappointing, and things did not improve upon the party's return to the Lenore, where on September 10 "a mutiny...result[ed] in the dissolution of our company." In November the Lenore was sold and Plummer stayed for a few months in San Francisco, which was "truly a dark time," as his companion Morris had dysentery and Plummer suffered from a "bad cough [and] two very sore fingers." He wrote that their only opportunity for the winter might be to "go to the mines," which he hoped to avoid at all costs. In December Plummer came down with dysentery and began taking opium pills, and made few further entries in the diary until he gave it up completely on December 18.
mssHM 75054-75055
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Charles Merz diary of trip around the world
Manuscripts
This wide-ranging travel diary--London, Paris, Rome, Egypt, Jerusalem, India, China, Japan, and much more--was kept by Charles Andrew Merz during his trip around the world from January 20 to August 14, 1921. Merz experienced far more than a typical tourist; he arrived with sheaves of letters of introduction, and met with a wide variety of important diplomats, industrialists, and authors during his various stops. He had a particular interest in nationalist movements. As a professional writer, he described all with a keen eye. On his travels he met with Colonel T. E. Lawrence, George Bernard Shaw, Henrietta Szold, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Sir Herbert Samuel, John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, and Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi. He also witnessed Winston Churchill's arrival in Cairo.
mssHM 82432
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Charles Rowe diaries
Manuscripts
Three diaries kept by Charles Rowe when he was living and working in California, Nevada, and Missouri from 1852-1864. The first diary covers 1852-1853 and begins when Rowe had just arrived in San Francisco from New York. It primarily recalls his experiences at Mission San Jose, where he worked as a farmer for $60 a month. He also describes some events at the Mission, such as a "bullfight ...at which two Indians were killed" (May 2, 1852). The second diary, dated 1854-1855, continues with Rowe's work at Mission San Jose, as well as his farm work on Captain Beard's Ranch and the E.M. Knowles Ranch (both apparently near Santa Clara, California), and his mining at Dutch Flat, California, and in Nevada. The final diary, dated 1861-1864, was kept while he was living near Springfield and Sharon, Missouri, during the Civil War. Rowe writes about troops coming to town, but most of the entries focus on his daily activities. The diary was kept from 1861-1862, but also includes account notes from 1864.
mssHM 50575-50577