Guide to the Peter Coutts Collection

Daniel Hartwig
Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford, California
October 2010
Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.

Note

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Overview

Call Number: SC0202
Creator: Coutts, P. J. F. (Peter J. F.)
Title: Peter Coutts collection
Dates: 1881-1956
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet
Summary: Correspondence from Coutts, his granddaughter, Marguerite Berlin, and others regarding Coutts' property and Coutts' background. Also included are two tintypes (1883) of Cornelius Van Buren and his son George M. Van Buren, who rode horses for Coutts, and a five page manuscript by Marguerite E. Berlin, "History of Jean-Baptiste Paulin Caperon, Known as Peter Coutts, in Mayfield, now Palo Alto, Calif.," (1953).
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository: Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc

Administrative Information

Information about Access

This collection is open for research.

Ownership & Copyright

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Cite As

Peter Coutts Collection (SC0202). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Jean-Baptiste Paulin Caperon (better known in California as Peter Coutts), was a successful French businessman, book collector and editor of the republican, anti-royalist paper, LA LIBERTÉ. Political disputes and health problems caused him to leave France and take up residence in California. In 1875 Caperon, now known as Peter Coutts, purchased 1,400 acres just north of Mayfield and named it Rancho Matadero. Coutts returned to Europe in 1880 to reclaim his confiscated estates and Rancho Matadero was sold to neighbor Leland Stanford.

Description of the Collection

Correspondence from Coutts, his granddaughter, Marguerite Berlin, and others regarding Coutts' property and Coutts' background. Also included are two tintypes (1883) of Cornelius Van Buren and his son George M. Van Buren, who rode horses for Coutts, and a five page manuscript by Marguerite E. Berlin, "History of Jean-Baptiste Paulin Caperon, Known as Peter Coutts, in Mayfield, now Palo Alto, Calif.," (1953).

Access Terms

Berlin, Marguerite Caperon.
Berlin, Marguerite Caperon.
Caperon, Jean-Baptiste Paulin.
Caperon, Jean-Baptiste Paulin.
Caperon, Marguerite Eugenie.
Caperon, Marguerite Eugenie.
Coutts, P. J. F. (Peter J. F.)
Rancho Matadero (Calif.).
Rancho Matadero (Calif.)
Van Buren, Cornelius.
Van Buren, Cornelius.


 

Papers

Box 1, Folder 1

Letters to C. Van Buren from Coutts, 1881-1882, and photocopy of a letter to C. Van Buren from I. Steinhart of the Anglo-California Bank regarding sale of Ayreshire Farm, 1882 1881-1882

Box 1, Folder 2

Tintypes of George and Cornelius Van Buren 188, no date

Box 1, Folder 3

Berlin, Marguerite E., letter to S.U. Dean, 1941, and letters to Robert W. Chandler, 1952-53, along with 5 page typescript on the history of Jean-Baptiste Paulin Caperon 1941, 1952-1953

Box 1, Folder 4

Correspondence regarding Peter Coutts, 1934-1956; transcripts of two letters by an unnamed Stanford student to Albert Caperon (1895) and Eugenie Clagenson (1896) requesting information on Coutts; and a transcript of the 1882 letter to Van Buren regarding the sale of Ayreshire Farm to Leland Stanford (see Folder 1 for photocopy of original) 1934-1956