Caroline Crane Briggs papers
Finding aid prepared by Brooke M. Black
Manuscripts Department
© 2015
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
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Title: Caroline Crane Briggs papers
Dates: 1878-1890
Collection Number: mssHM 66250-66299
Creator OR Collector:
Briggs, Caroline Crane
Extent:
58 items
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Correspondence by Caroline Crane Briggs, chiefly to her children Sophia Crane Ristine and Benjamin Crane, from her home in
La Crescenta, California.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the
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[Identification of item], Caroline Crane Briggs papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Gift of Anna Caroline Crane, August 1963.
Caroline Crane Briggs and her second husband Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs moved to California from Indiana in 1878 (she had previously
lived in Crawfordsville, Indiana, with her first husband Abiathar Crane). She and Dr. Briggs moved to southern California
where they bought land and helped establish the city of La Crescenta. Dr. Briggs chose the name La Crescenta after three crescents
or mountain peaks he observed from his home; however, it is not Spanish for crescent.
Caroline Crane Briggs wrote the majority of the 47 letters to her children, Sophia Crane Ristine and Benjamin Crane. The first
few letters (1878) give a detailed description of the Briggs' journey to California through New Mexico and Arizona; these
letters include comments upon the New Mexico and Arizona deserts and the Pima Indians. Her other letters are chiefly about
her life in the new-founded city of La Crescenta. She talks about her personal activities and her travels through the Los
Angeles area including Pasadena and Long Beach. She also talks about her friends and neighbors as well as her husband's business
and property dealings. There is one letter by Caroline Crane Briggs to her husband and one letter by him to her. Also included
in the collection are two poems by Caroline Crane Briggs about life in southern California, an essay she wrote entitled "Thanksgiving
Day 1888," and eight pieces of ephemera including an obituary for Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs.
Briggs, Caroline Crane
Briggs, Benjamin, active 1873-1879
Overland journeys to the Pacific
Pima Indians
Real property -- California, Southern
Women -- California -- Archives
Arizona -- Description and travel
California -- Description and travel
California, Southern -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
La Crescenta (Calif) -- Description and travel
Long Beach (Calif) -- Description and travel
Los Angeles (Calif) -- Description and travel
New Mexico -- Description and travel
Pasadena (Calif) -- Description and travel
Letters (correspondence) -- West (U.S.) -- 19th century
Personal papers -- California -- 19th century
Box 1
1878-1890 (HM 66250-66299)