Manuscripts
A trip from England to California
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Diary of a trip to California
Manuscripts
The diary chronicles Margaret's travels from June 10 to August 27, 1911, primarily in Northern California. The first week of the journal details her trip alone by train from Niagara Falls to California, with descriptions of Niagara Falls and sites in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona including Cripple Creek, Albuquerque, and the Grand Canyon; some entries include observations of local Native Americans. The rest of the journal consists of descriptions of travels by train and car in California. Locations visited in Southern California include Los Angeles, Pasadena, Venice Beach, Pomona, and Santa Barbara. After June 23, Margaret was based in the Bay Area town of San Rafael with multiple excursions to San Francisco and around Northern California. Her entries describe people met and interacted with, travel methods, homes and architecture, local landmarks and history, flora and landscape, missions and churches, and weather. There are frequent mentions of Aunt May and Uncle Will, who met her in Pasadena and possibly lived in San Rafael; Aunt May, and occasionally Uncle Will, usually accompanied her on her excursions to San Francisco and around California. Entries regarding San Francisco mention Ethel Barrymore plays, the Cliff House restaurant, Golden Gate Park and its zoo and Japanese Tea Garden, Chinatown, and the effects of the 1906 earthquake. She briefly describes attending a women's suffrage event (an Equality Tea) on August 4 and rally on August 25 and mentions a suffrage amendment on the ballot that year in California. Sites traveled to in Northern California include St. Helena and the Chabot estate vineyards; the Guerneville area and the Russian River; Santa Rosa, including a visit to Luther Burbank and his gardens; a fruit farm in Los Gatos; and Eureka and other areas in Humboldt County. The journal also includes a draft or copy of a letter from Margaret to her mother written in San Rafael and dated August 27. The final nine pages of the diary are additional notes on travels in Humboldt County, many of which are crossed out. There are also several pages of loose notes, two envelopes, and a receipt. The journal is unbound and is handwritten in ink on loose paper.
mssHM 84033
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Overland trip to California
Manuscripts
This journal describes Stimson's travels from Wisconsin to California during 1850, and his ensuing search for gold. He eventually sells his interest in a mining company and returns home by ship. Additional notes written by Stimson in 1900. Typescript from original.
mssHM 50451
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Journal of a trip to California
Manuscripts
The journal chronicles a couple's six-month trip from Waukegan, Illinois through Colorado, Utah, and Mexico, to California, August 1920 to February 1921. The entries discuss: train travel, automobile travel, the couple's activities between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Los Angeles, California, visits to Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico, San Diego, Long Beach, Venice, Hollywood, and Pasadena, California (with a visit to Busch Gardens). The journal contains 40 gelatin silver photographs taken during the trip. Following the trip narrative, the journal includes a listing of houses they bought from 1921 to 1926.
mssHM 84009
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Life on the Ocean Wave: Reminiscences of My Voyages Around the World [typescript]
Manuscripts
The volume is Charlotte A. Babcock's reminiscences of her five years at sea (1851-1856) with her husband Captain David S. Babcock aboard the ships Swordfish and Young America. She gives detailed descriptions of San Francisco, Hawaii, Canton (Guangzhou), China, Hong Kong, Bombay, Manila, and Singapore. She also discusses the people she met, parties she attended, and the activities of the sailors and passengers on board her husband's ships. Also included is a sketch of the ship Young America by Charlotte A. Babcock
mssHM 63954
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California trip
Manuscripts
Diary kept by an unnamed Massachusetts man during his travels by train from Chicago to Los Angeles and his subsequent stay in California. The first half of the diary includes colorful descriptions of scenery and local people as the author traveled through St. Louis, Little Rock, New Orleans (which he called "the most foreign looking American city I know of and with the exception of Chicago, the most filthy"), El Paso, much of Arizona, and through the San Gorgonio Pass to the San Gabriel Valley. In this section the author also writes of racial segregation in the Southern states, his observance of stage actress Maud Granger and "her actor lover" on a train in Arizona, and his tour of the Arizona Territorial Prison. The second half of the diary covers his stay in California, where he had gone to see his mother and sister for the first time in 13 years. He writes of his impressions of Los Angeles as "a bright town...clean and new," of traveling up the coast to Santa Barbara, camping in Dos Pueblos Canyon, a trip to San Francisco, and his awe at seeing Mt. Shasta.
mssHM 75026
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A. H. Cutting journal of a trip by overland route
Manuscripts
A. H. Cutting describes an overland journey from Fidelity, Illinois, to Sacramento, California, by way of the Oregon Trail. There is much description of the landscape and campsites, hunting, and searching for goods in towns. The wagon train stayed a few days in Nebraska, which Cutting describes as "much better than Iowa." They meet many other trains, both coming back and traveling to various places in the West, and hear of much trouble caused by the Indians. They stay at various ranches, and at one point, find an Indian campsite. While passing through Colorado in May, they met with members of another wagon train who warned them of harsh times in New Mexico. They pass many "stage stations" along the route, as well as mail stations guarded by soldiers. While staying at Fort Bridges in Utah, Cutting and his group heard of a recent skirmish during which three hundred Indians were killed. As the party progresses, they hear of much conflict with the Indians. Upon reaching Salt Lake City, the party meets Brigham Young, and visits a site where a Mormon temple is being constructed. Outside Salt Lake City, on June 19, the party is approached by a woman with a young child who asks to stow away with them to escape her drunken husband. She told them she would do whatever work was needed, and even dress in men's clothes as a disguise. The party agreed to take her, but she did not meet them at their appointed time, and they left without her. The journal is dated April 13 through July 27, 1863.
mssHM 652