Finding Aid to the Virginia Elizabeth Reed Letter Collection MS.543
Holly Rose Larson
Library and Archives at the Autry
2012 October 3
210 South Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
rroom@theautry.org
Contributing Institution:
Library and Archives at the Autry
Title: Virginia Elizabeth Reed Letter Collection
Creator:
Murphy, Virginia Reed
Creator:
Watkins, Frances E. (Frances Emma)
Creator:
James, George Wharton
Identifier/Call Number: MS.543
Physical Description:
0.2 Linear Feet
(12 folders)
Date (inclusive): 1846-1981
Date (bulk): 1846-1955
Language of Material:
English
.
Processed by Glenna Schroeder, circa 1977-1981. Finding aid completed by Holly Rose Larson, NHPRC Processing Archivist, 2012
October 3, made possible through grant funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commissions (NHPRC).
This collection contains letters written by Virginia Elizabeth Reed (later Virginia Reed Murphy), a member of the Donner Party,
at age 12, as well as manuscripts written about her by George Wharton James and Frances Watkins. It also includes magazine
articles and newspaper clippings from 1912-1955 regarding Reed and other Donner Party survivors, and photocopies from about
1981 of two postcards Reed sent to her grandchildren around 1918.
Virginia Elizabeth Reed Letter Collection, 1846-1981, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.543; [folder number] [folder
title][date].
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is
given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit
https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.
Donation from George Wharton James estate, 1943 December and others through 1981.
Virginia Elizabeth Reed Murphy (1834-1921) was 12 years old when her family joined the Donner Party in 1846 to travel to California.
Daughter of Margaret Reed, step-daughter of James Reed, Virginia and her family were among the few survivors of the unfortunate
wagon train. Virginia later wrote about the events in her book
Across the Plains in the Donner Party. Once they reached California, the family settled in San Jose, where Virginia met and married John Marion Murphy in 1850.
They had nine children together.
- Copy – (photographs of pages) of letter to cousin 16 May 1847 describing ordeal of Donnor Party 7 pages.
- Printed copy, with introduction by George R. Stewart jr. Westways (December 1934), T.C.C. of letter, C. – handwritten out – of letter
- Letter to Mrs. M. Gillespie – Edwardsville, Ill., 12 July 1846 – from Independence Rock, Kansas (written by Virginia) Original Letter from Josephine Gillespie Prickett sending the letter to Mr. (Henson) Robinson 24 May 1895 (Letter contains information on the death of Virginia's grandmother and the early part of the Donnor party's trip)
- Material for biography by George Wharton James – much concerning her conversion to Catholicism
- Article proofs for Masterkey May 1944 by Frances E. Watkins re: Reed letter (the July one)
- pages from Ave Maria magazine – Jan 1911 #1-4
- 21 c. Century Magazine v. 42 #53 pp. 409 – 426 – Narrative by V.E.B. Reed, Across the Plains with the Donnor Party 1846, With reprint Notre Dame Qtrly v. 5 #3 Jun 1913
- Touring Topics (Westways) Dec 1934 by George R. Stewart Jr., Clipping Pasadena Star News 20 Feb 1918 "Story of the Donnor Party as Told by Member" Virginia B. Reed Murphy by Charles E. Bond
- Misc group of clippings re: other survivors of the Donnor Party with Ruth Christenson correspondence 1981
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photocopies
Clippings
Frontier and pioneer life -- California
Correspondence
Articles
Overland travel
Manuscripts
Donner Party
Overland journeys to the Pacific