Georgia Willis Read Papers

This collection contains research material compiled by American historian and author Georgia William Read and Ruth Gaines for their publication of the journal of California Gold Rush topographer and artist J. Goldsborough Bruff (1804-1899) The majority of it is arranged alphabetically by topic. This series is made up mostly of research notes by Read and Gaines. The research material also includes copies of the book's acknowledgement, bibliography, introduction, and index as well as Read and Gaines' correspondence with Columbia University Press. There are a few folders of material organized by type: miscellaneous notes (4 folders) and research notebooks (7 items, one of which is in oversize).

Correspondence by Read and Gaines are mostly their retained, unsigned, copies. The correspondence is chiefly letters written between them and research libraries or other scholars to obtain information for or to obtain permission to publish material in their book. Notable participants are: Herbert Eugene Bolton, Frederick Coykendall, Edward Eberstadt, Francis Farquhar, Max Farrand, Frederick Webb Hodge, C. Hart Merriam, Herbert Priestley, the Bancroft Library, California Historical Society, California State Library, Henry E. Huntington Library, Library of Congress, United States National Archives, the Newberry Library, Smithsonian Institution, Southwest Museum and Yale University Library.

The ephemera contains scholarly publications, clippings, maps, index cards, an oversize sheet with copies of several of Bruff's sketches, and several photostats. The photostats include 19th century newspapers (including two Native American publications: Cherokee advocate and Vinita leader), maps (including all four parts of the "Map of the Emigrant Road from Independence, Mo. To S. Francisco" by T. H. Jefferson), and Bruff's journal. Many of the photostats are rolled.

Subjects covered by the collection are: Hubert Howe Bancroft, Joseph Goldsborough Bruff, Bruff's journey, camp, sketches and journal, Edwin Bryant, Alonzo Delano, John Charles Frémont, Peter Lassen, John Muir, Fort Hall (Idaho), frontier and pioneer life in early California, Indians in North America, overland journeys to the Pacific, the California Trail, the Lassen cutoff and National Park, and California history including the Gold Rush.