Manuscripts

George Francis Nourse letters

Description: The majority of the collection consists of letters written to George Francis Nourse and his brother Joseph Prince Nourse, who also came out to California, from family and friends back in Massachusetts. There are also several letters written by Nourse's partners, Lathiel T. Chase and George M. Hedges, from places in Northern California. The letters contain news of Boston and Beverly, Massachusetts, including descriptions of the temperance movement. The letters also discuss the sale of cargo of the brig Sterling; gold mining in Mokelumne Hill and Rail Road Flat, Calaveras County, California; and Rancho Oasis in Santa Clara County, California.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1848-1860
Call number: mssNourse
Creator: Nourse, George Francis (1830-1904)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Edwin Grabhorn, January 1945.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Rights: The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining permission rests with the researcher.
Associated people: Nourse, Joseph Prince, (1822-1876,)
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab); View in the Online Archive of California(Opens in new tab)

George Francis Nourse letters

Manuscripts

The majority of the collection consists of letters written to George Francis Nourse and his brother Joseph Prince Nourse, who also came out to California, from family and friends back in Massachusetts. There are also several letters written by Nourse's partners, Lathiel T. Chase and George M. Hedges, from places in Northern California. The letters contain news of Boston and Beverly, Massachusetts, including descriptions of the temperance movement. The California letters discuss the sale of cargo of the brig Sterling; gold mining in Mokelumne Hill and Rail Road Flat, Calaveras County, California; and Rancho Oasis in Santa Clara County, California.

mssNourse

Image not available

Nourse & Church. Letter to George E. Gard. Fresno, Calif

Manuscripts

The collection primarily consists of incoming correspondence to the Wells, Van Dyke, & Lee law firm from their various clients and legal colleagues. The content of the cases represented is mainly civil, most heavily focused on divorces, estate settlements, and patents, as well as some correspondence on Mission Indian land cases, suits against railroads, water rights, and mining disputes. There are also a variety of advertisements from publishers, typewriter merchants, and other business connections, as well as a very few outgoing letters from Wells, Van Dyke, & Lee and limited personal correspondence. In addition to facts regarding specific cases, the letters provide an overview of general social issues, law fees and practices, property laws, patent laws, the status of women, child custody laws, divorce laws, and prevailing views of divorce in 1880s California. Some notable correspondents include Lucky Baldwin, theologian John Alonzo Fisher, American Bar Association co-founder Henry Hitchcock, California governor Henry Harrison Markham, US Secretary of State James Davis Porter, Coca-Cola Bottling Company founder B.F. Thomas, and Lucky Baldwin's ranch manager Hiram Unruh. The collection also includes the Superior Court Registry of Actions, Vol. 3 (1886-1888).

WVL 863.

Image not available

Nourse, George A. Letter to Wells, Van Dyke, & Lee. Fresno, Calif

Manuscripts

WVL 872.

Image not available

Nourse, George A. Letter to Wells, Van Dyke, & Lee. Fresno, Calif

Manuscripts

WVL 862.

Image not available

George C. Pardee letter to Lewis Francis Byington

Manuscripts

Letter is a response to numerous letters sent by Byington, the former was District Attorney of San Francisco, who asked that Docia Nolan, a woman convicted of robbery be pardoned since one Henry Milton made a confession exonerating her and Michael Dolan for any participation of the crime. Governor Pardee requests Byington's opinion on the guilt of Docia Nolan and further requests that he send a resume of the evidence upon which she was convicted. Letter is signed in manuscript on Executive Department, State of California, Sacramento letterhead. Enclosed with the letter is a 2 page typewritten copy of Henry Milton's confession.

mssHM 29254

Image not available

Nourse, Will and son, Ervin, Nourse, Fred (undated). 4 items

Manuscripts

The collection contains Frank F. Latta's research material from his five decades of researching the history of California's San Joaquin Valley and Miller & Lux, in particular dry farming known as skyfarming. Subjects include: agriculture and farming in the San Joaquin Valley, the development of agricultural machinery (combines, plows, reapers, scrapers, threshing machines, tractors and various types of harvesters), livestock, ranches, cattle, and crops, mostly wheat. Also covered are: early aviation, early automobiles, bears, crime, the Dalton Gang, the Donner Party, earthquakes, education and schools in the San Joaquin Valley, floods, freight and steamships on the San Joaquin River, gold mines, irrigation, canals and water rights in San Joaquin Valley, land grants, livestock, lumber, outlaws, pioneers, the Presbyterian Church in California, ranches, rivers, roads, saddlery, sheepherding in California, overland journeys to California and California politics, government and history. Also talked about are women, African Americans, Chileans, Chinese, Mormons, Native Americans and Jews in California. The collection contains roughly 180 oral interviews with people living in the San Joaquin Valley in the 1930s through the 1970s. One of the series contains drafts of the unpublished manuscript Sky Farmers and Mule Skinners with Something about Hay Muckers, Buckaroos, and Bindle Stiffs and a Sheepherder or Two. Frank F. Latta worked on this manuscript for five decades.

mssLattaS

George Francis Nourse letters

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

George Francis Nourse letters

Nourse & Church. Letter to George E. Gard. Fresno, Calif

Nourse, George A. Letter to Wells, Van Dyke, & Lee. Fresno, Calif

Nourse, George A. Letter to Wells, Van Dyke, & Lee. Fresno, Calif

George C. Pardee letter to Lewis Francis Byington

Nourse, Will and son, Ervin, Nourse, Fred (undated). 4 items