This collection contains papers of Samuel Frank Dexter (1847-1906) of Rhode Island, chiefly consisting of the almost daily letters that Dexter wrote to his children during a 1901 trip with his wife to California, which describe in minute detail their experiences and observations of various parts of California. Also included is a diary that Dexter, a noted naturalist and authority on ornithology, kept during a trip to Sequoia National Park (Calif.) in 1902.

Samuel Frank Dexter (1847-1906), or Frank as his friends and family knew him, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on September 3, 1847. He was the grandson of Nathaniel Gregory Balch Dexter, who founded the knitting cotton business in the United States and established the Dexter Yarn Company in 1820. As such Dexter went into the family business and in 1880 after the company had incorporated, he became its secretary and general manager. He married Anna Fannie Wheaton in 1872 and subsequently had three children, Nathaniel Wheaton Dexter or “Wheatie,” Anthony Hamilton Dexter, and Fannie Wheaton Dexter. By 1900, Dexter had sold out his interests in the company and retired from the active business life. Dexter and his family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1902, where he would spend the remainder of his life until his death in 1906.

138 pieces in 4 boxes.

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