Port of Philadelphia entry of merchandise and return of merchandise documents

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  Diary and documents of Edward Lewis Baker

  Manuscripts

  The small group of items includes a 1865 diary by Baker, two programs, one letter, a bill for expenses at Shurtleff College, and a high school commencement speech given by him in 1876. In his diary, which only covers January to April 1865 and is written from Springfield, Illinois, Baker writes on Friday, April 14 "Assassination of Mr. Lincoln." On the 15th he writes "The city draped in mourning and horror stricken at the terrible news. Meeting of citizen, etc. Mr. Johnson sworn into office." On Sunday the 16th he writes "Heard Hubbard preach on death of Lincoln - 2nd Baptist Church. General gloom." And on Monday the 17th he writes "Meeting to make arrangements for Lincoln's funeral." The letter was written by Baron Lionel Sackville-West while Baker was in Buenos Aires. There is also a program for an event to raise money for the "Liverpool Seamen's Orphan Institution" (1888).

  mssHM 75683-75687

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  Letters of Hiram Dwight Pierce and related documents [microform] : 1849-1850

  Manuscripts

  Microfilm of typescript letters from Hiram Dwight Pierce to his wife Sarah Jane Palmer, letters from Sarah to Hiram, notes from the Geneva Gazette, portions of Pierce's 1850 diary, and biographical notes and anecdotes by his grandson. The first few frames are of extracts of the Geneva Gazette from 1848-1849 recounting gold digging in California, specifically mentioning the Ontario Trojan Band and the Rensselaer County Exploring Company. The next portion of the film is entitled "Letters of a Forty-Niner, Hiram Dwight Pierce of Troy, N.Y. to his wife, Sarah Jane Pierce." The letters, written from March 1849-October 1850, recount Pierce's experiences traveling to California and digging for gold in the Maricopa area. Pierce gives detailed descriptions of sailing along the coast of Florida to Havana on the mail steamer Falcon; of stopping in New Orleans; of departing Chagres, Panama, on the steamer Orus, traveling across the Isthmus, and staying for several weeks in Panama while waiting for the Falcon to return (he eventually sailed to San Francisco on the Sylph in late July); of his stay in San Francisco, where he reflected on his religious convictions and noted the plurality of cultures around him ("You cannot name a County or an Island that is represented with all their peculiarity of dress and custom," he wrote to Sarah, "Some of them most ridiculous in the extreme"); mining for gold at Mormon Island in August 1849; going to Maricopa in January 1850 ("I have felt very uneasy about being 7 1/2 months from home and yet having done nothing for myself worth naming," he lamented); of gold mining at Washington Flat and Long Canyon; and of returning to San Francisco in October 1850 and planning his voyage home. The next portion of the microfilm is entitled "Letters of Sarah Jane Pierce to her Husband, Hiram D. Pierce," and includes several letters Sarah sent to Hiram from May 1849-August 1850, mostly recounting conditions at home. The "Story of Grandfather's Diary" by Pierce's grandson Warren Travell (son of his eldest daughter Elvira) gives biographical notes on Pierce, an account of finding his diary, and an anecdote on Pierce's homecoming in 1851. The "Diary of H.D. Pierce" is incomplete, and although it includes some brief daily entries from about 1850, it mainly consists of extracts such as the prices of goods in California ("Forty-Niner Prices") and a list of people named in the original diary. The microfilm ends with an 1849 letter from Geneva Gazette writer George R. Parburt (who went by the pseudonym LUOF) to Gazette editor S.H. Parker, which recounts Parburt's voyage of the ship Sylph and a brief account by physician James L. Tyson of conditions in the gold fields in 1850.

  MSS MFilm 00044

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  Travels from Los Angeles City to Malibu Canyon and return

  Manuscripts

  This manuscript recounts an adventurous trip made by Sidney Bernard Reeve to and from a surveying job in 1901. The Santa Monica Land and Water Company hired him to look for a potential dam and reservoir site in the Malibu Canyon located in the Santa Monica Mountains. Accompanied by two of his assistants, Reeve rented horses, a phaeton, and a driver from the Tally Ho Stables in Los Angeles. The group traveled on El Camino Real to the Cahuenga Pass and continued to follow the historic route as they headed west across the southern portion of the San Fernando Valley. After they passed through Rancho El Encino, Old Calabasas, and Calabasas proper, they continued west and crossed the Calabasas divide and then entered the Las Virgenes Canyon. They were directed to an old wagon trail which led to the Malibu Canyon. After they made it there, Reeve examined the potential location for the Dam Site, but he and his men were suddenly startled to hear a rough voice coming from the cliffs above, which commanded them to throw up their hands in the air. Since the men confronting them had their guns pointed at them, the unarmed Reeve and his unarmed companions complied with this unfriendly request. Reeve managed to use diplomacy to calm the gunmen down. The gang then invited them to have some lunch, and they felt compelled to accept. This meal almost turned deadly when Reeve simply pulled out his handkerchief - two revolvers were suddenly pointed at him. Fortunately, tensions were quickly eased, and Reeve and his men were soon permitted to be on their way. With this dangerous situation behind them, Reeve's group began to head back to Los Angeles.

  mssHM 4370

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  Henry P. Fleischman journal

  Manuscripts

  Fleischman's journal starts on December 13, 1812 while he is onboard the brig Hunter, which the British ship Phoebe captured on December 23rd. In his journal, Fleischman details how he and his crew mates board the Phoebe and sail for Plymouth where they are put on the prison ship Hector. Fleischman complains about the lack of food and water and the treatment he and his men receive in prison by the British. He also makes comments upon the new prisoners coming in everyday from various American ships that had been captured, as well as the sickness and death onboard. While in prison, he goes ashore to Plymouth to make an official complaint about the prison conditions to an American agent. He and his men eventually get transferred to several different prison ships and there are daily rumors that they are going to be exchanged or paroled. When this part of his journal ends, it is April 1813 and he had been moved to a prison ship at the Chatham Dockyard in Kent. The journal jumps to May 31, and Fleischman is on the frigate Chesapeake; he then details the battle between his ship and the frigate Shannon, including the wounding and eventual death of his captain James Lawrence and the capture of the Chesapeake by the Shannon. He also includes a list of officers killed and wounded during the battle.

  mssHM 66770

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  Mary Cadwalader Jones travel documents and letters

  Manuscripts

  This small group of items include several travel documents belonging to Mary Cadwalader Jones, including passports, visas, etc., for travels to France in 1914 and 1915. One of the documents is a permit to "travel by motor vehicle," in France, for Edith Wharton, critic Percy Lubbock (whose signatures are on the document), Mary Cadwalader Jones, and their chauffeur Charles Cook (1915, September 13). There are also two letters by Walter H. Page, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom: one letter to Jones and a letter of introduction for Jones to present to people she meets on her trip to France. There is also a "Four-leaved clover from Verdun" in an envelope. There are items in English and French.

  mssHM 81398 (a-k)

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  Charles C. and Sarah D. Rich letters

  Manuscripts

  Typescript of letters written by Charles C. Rich and his first wife Sarah D. (Pea) Rich from August 1, 1853, to January 11, 1863. Rich's letters are addressed to his wives, primarily his second wife Eliza A. (Graves) Rich. He writes from his missions in San Bernardino, California (August 1, 1853 and June 1, 1856) of hot weather, poor crops, and his intentions to leave when the "Lord wills." His letter from a mission in Liverpool, England (January 11, 1863) focuses on a Church conference held at Birmingham from January 1-6, 1863. Two other letters from Rich were written from Nottinghamshire, England (November 22, 1861) and South Wales (January 31, 1861). The majority of Rich's letters focus on instructions and well wishes for his wives and children. Also included is a letter from Sarah Rich to Eliza Rich, and a letter from Sarah to Charles Rich, sent from Salt Lake City and dated August 25, 1853. In it, Sarah writes of the death of their daughter Henrietta from scarlet fever, that the Indians are "at open war with us as a people" and had killed several Mormons at Parley's Canyon, her belief that "Old Bridger [James Bridger, 1804-1881] is at the head of all the war," and her fears about lack of money and supplies for the coming winter. Bound.

  mssHM 72836