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Finding Aid to the Samuel W. Brown Diary and Letters,
1848-1850, 1859
MS 236
MS 236
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Collection Title: Samuel W. Brown diary and letters
Date (inclusive): 1848-1859,
Date (bulk): 1849-1850
Collection Number: MS 236
Creator: Brown, Samuel W., 1802-1862
Physical Description:
Extent: 2 folders
(0.2 Linear feet)
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
Abstract: Diary (181 p.) handbound in six sections, describing Brown's voyage from New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn aboard the
bark Selma with the Fremont Mining and Trading Company, of which he served as chairman of the board; and letters to family
and friends, also detailing his trip. The diary focuses on daily shipboard life and problems with crew members, while the
letters also include descriptions of Rio de Janeiro and Chile; San Francisco housing, population statistics, lynch law, and
prices; and a squatters riot in Sacramento in 1850. Includes a printed notice (May 25, 1859) to Brown from John Ferguson,
indicating that Brown was Postmaster in Petaluma. Letters include a pictorial lettersheet with view of San Francisco.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The North Baker Research Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The North
Baker Research Library as the owner 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.
[Identification of item], Samuel W. Brown Papers, MS 236, The California Historical Society.
Diary (181 p.) handbound in six sections, describing Brown's voyage from New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn aboard the
bark Selma with the Fremont Mining and Trading Company, of which he served as chairman of the board; and letters to family
and friends, also detailing his trip. The diary focuses on daily shipboard life and problems with crew members, while the
letters also include descriptions of Rio de Janeiro and Chile; San Francisco housing, population statistics, lynch law, and
prices; and a squatters riot in Sacramento in 1850. Includes a printed notice (May 25, 1859) to Brown from John Ferguson,
indicating that Brown was Postmaster in Petaluma. Letters include a pictorial lettersheet with view of San Francisco.
Arranged in two folders: Diary in Folder 1; Letters in Folder 2.
Brown was a California forty-niner and physician from Connecticut.
Benicia (Calif.)--Description and travel
1849 October 20
Indians of North America--California
1849 November 29
Prices--California--San Francisco
1849 October 18
Riots--California--Sacramento
1850 August 14
Sacramento (Calif.)--Flood, 1850
1850 January 8
Sailors--Discipline
1849 October 1
San Francisco (Calif.)--Description and travel
1849 October 7, November 11
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Fremont Mining & Trading Company.
Selma (Bark).
Diaries.
Gold miners--California--Correspondence.
Gold miners--California--Diaries.
Pictorial lettersheets.
Voyages to the Pacific coast.