Manuscripts

Henry Vail papers

Description: A collection of 108 items from 1840-1918, which contains personal and business correspondence as well as government records pertaining to the emerging mining industry in California. The collection includes legal and governmental records such as agreements, bills and receipts, bills of sale, deeds, a deposition, homestead claims, land indentures, an insurance policy, mine maps, mine reports, notices of location, a land protest, and a Water Appropriation Notice. Because Henry Vail created and stored these records, his outgoing letters are not included in this collection. Additionally, some of the discussions are fragmented or may have long periods of silence within the surviving material.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1840-1918
Call number: mssVail
Creator: Vail, Henry (1842-1918)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Argonaut Book Shop, August 1963.
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 necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab); View in the Online Archive of California(Opens in new tab)

Henry Vail papers

Manuscripts

A collection of 108 items from 1840-1918, which contains personal and business correspondence as well as government records pertaining to the emerging mining industry in California. The collection includes legal and governmental records such as agreements, bills and receipts, bills of sale, deeds, a deposition, homestead claims, land indentures, an insurance policy, mine maps, mine reports, notices of location, a land protest, and a Water Appropriation Notice. Because Henry Vail created and stored these records, his outgoing letters are not included in this collection. Additionally, some of the discussions are fragmented or may have long periods of silence within the surviving material.

mssVail

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"Jacob Blukunduper" letter to Lewis Vail, New Dover, Ohio

Manuscripts

A letter addressed to Lewis Vail and signed "Jacob Blukunduper (?)" discusses the early history of Moravian missions in Ohio

mssHM 59433

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Vail, Thomas

Manuscripts

Five letters of correspondence. Two between Otis Chandler and Thomas Vail, Publisher and Editor of The Plain Dealer. The other three between Freddie Miller and Vail.

mssLAT

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Henry Scamman Papers

Manuscripts

This collection contains papers of prominent Northern California banker Henry Scamman. The first six boxes consist entirely of correspondence, the lone exception being a manuscript entitled "Mind your Business," one of Scamman's school papers. Highlights include an extensive series of correspondence between the husband and wife from the early 1890s detailing Scamman's discovery that one of his trusted employees, Henry T. Briggs, had embezzled thousands of dollars from Scamman's bank in Downieville. Though Scamman did not prosecute Briggs criminally, he ordered his disgraced clerk to hand over all of his life insurance, his stock in the gold mine in which both men had invested, and any money in his possession. Also prominent in the correspondence are letters to and from captains of Scamman's ship, the bark "Wildwood." The collection's ephemera component is its largest, and includes business ledgers, checks, legal documents, receipts, bills, mortgages, promissory notes, insurance policies, deeds, and tax forms. There is also an autographed copy of a book given to Scamman's daughter in 1932 in oversize. Subjects in the collection include: agriculture; banks and banking; Butte County and Downieville (Calif.); merchant ships; mining; Saco (Maine).

mssScamman papers

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Lewis Vail memoirs, Canton, Stark Co

Manuscripts

Vail's manuscript memoir depicts immigration to Ohio, life in the first settlements, including travels, business, schools, medical care, and courts. A significatn portion of the manuscripts deals with the War of 1812 in Ohio, especially operations against the Indians, including the siege of Fort Meigs in 1813.

mssHM 59432

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Henry Edwards Huntington papers

Manuscripts

The collection consists of the personal and business papers of Henry E. Huntington and includes materials related to the Huntington, Holladay (Henry E. Huntington's sister Caroline married Edmund Burke Holladay), and Metcalf families. Most of the collection documents Huntington's business interests in Southern California, particularly in railways, real estate, and industry. It includes biographical information, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, ephemera, business records, and physical objects. The business records document the Huntington Land and Improvement Company, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Pacific Electric Railway Company, and other businesses in Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the San Gabriel Valley. These records include account books, annual reports, correspondence, maps, tracts, balance sheets, and related financial materials. The collection also contains materials related to the founding of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, including auction catalogs, invoices, receipts, bills for art, rare books, and manuscripts. Additional materials concern a lawsuit over Huntington's estate tax after his death and the passage of Proposition 15 in 1930, which exempted The Huntington from paying California property tax. The collection also includes materials related to Collis P. Huntington, his business interests, and Arabella Huntington. The collection also includes blueprints for Huntington's San Marino residence, the Huntington Library building, and the Westinghouse Building in Los Angeles. The correspondence series contains more than 22,000 pieces of personal and business correspondence dating from approximately 1790 to 1950. Photographs include formal portraits and candid images of Henry E. Huntington, Collis P. Huntington, Arabella Huntington, and the extended family, as well as early photographs of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The ephemera consists of miscellaneous printed materials, much of it related to Henry E. Huntington and his business interests. Physical objects include Henry E. Huntington's lunch box, razor set, traveling trunk, and other items.

mssHEH

Henry Vail papers

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