Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
El Dorado County (Calif.) Archives: Finding
Aid
mssEl Dorado County
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: El Dorado County (Calif.) Archives
Dates (inclusive): 1850-1933
Bulk dates: 1850-1890
Collection Number: mssEl Dorado County
Creator:
El Dorado County (Calif.)
Extent:
Approximately 1,600 pieces (consisting of 183 volumes; 14 document boxes; and 1 oversized box)
23 linear ft.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Records of El Dorado County, California, chiefly dating from 1850 to 1890, including county court documents, ledger books
and other business records, mining papers,
land records, school records, treasury records (including tax rolls and assessment rolls), and merchandising accounts (principally
for mining camps).
Many of the mining papers and records are from the El Dorado Water and Deep Gravel Mining Company.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
[Identification of item]. El Dorado County (Calif.) Archives, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
With the exception of the series “County records: Grants,” the collection was purchased from James H. Sweeney in September
1945.
The series “County records: Grants” was acquired from Talisman Press in August 1979. A box of material was found in 2018 and
added as Box 14.
Removed or Separated Material
7 photograph albums received as part of this collection were moved to the Photo Archives and cataloged as photCL 63.
One of the original 27 counties of California, El Dorado County was created in 1850 at the time of statehood with Coloma as
the county seat. It is in the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento, in the heart of the gold mining country. Placerville, which
had been known as Hangtown due to the numerous hangings in the town, was incorporated in 1854 and became the county seat in
1857.
The discovery of gold, on the morning of January 24, 1848 by James W. Marshall near Sutter's sawmill in Coloma, ushered in
the era of Gold Rush, dramatically altering the American West. The history of El Dorado County is intricately linked to this
momentous event. News of the discovery traveled far and wide, and people all over the country --- and indeed all over the
world --- were lured to El Dorado County, to the “Gilded One”, with the dream of instant wealth.
It is estimated that about 4,000 people worked in mines in the summer of 1848; by the end of 1849 that number grew to 40,000.
Mining camps sprouted, as did restaurants, shops, schools, churches, and other establishments necessary to sustain the mining
economy. Thriving Gold Rush towns, in the span of a few short years, had transformed the county and the state.
Bibliography
Gernes, Phyllis.
Hidden in the Chaparral: A Chronicle, from 1848 to 1942, of the Gold Rush Towns of
Spanish Flat, Kelsey, American Flat, Garden Valley, and Surrounding Mining Settlements and Camps.
Garden Valley, Calif.: Phyllis Gernes, 1979.
Jerrett, Herman Daniel.
California’s El Dorado: Yesterday and Today. Sacramento, Calif.: Press of Jo Anderson, 1915.
Moser-Flynn, Halmar.
El Dorado County : Historic Places of Interest, Myths, and Legends. Placerville, Calif.: Heritage Association of El Dorado County, 1994.
Winkler, Jack R.
Old Hangtown: A History of Placerville, California from 1848 through 1856. Placerville, Calif., JRW Press, 2000.
Yohalem, Betty.
“I Remember …”: Stories and pictures of El Dorado County Pioneer Families. Placerville, Calif.: El Dorado County Chamber and Commerce, 1977.
The collection consists of El Dorado County records as seen in county court documents, ledger books and other business records,
mining papers, land records, school records,
treasury records (including tax rolls and assessment rolls), and merchandising accounts (principally for mining camps). Many
of the mining papers and
records are from the El Dorado Water and Deep Gravel Mining Company.
Some of the documents are fragile and damaged due to fold lines wear, water and mold. Please handle them with care.
Arrangement
The El Dorado County Archives consists of the following series and sub-series:
- 1. Bound volumes (183 volumes)
- 2. Civil court case files (9 boxes)
- 3. County records (1 box)
- a. Grants
- b. Animal bounties affidavits
- c. Court and other legal records
- d. Estray notices
- e. Bills of cost
- f. Blank legal forms
- 4. Manuscripts (3 volumes)
- 5. Mining papers (4 folders)
- a. South Dakota
- b. Oregon and Idaho
- c. California
- d. Victoria (B.C.)
- 6. Business records (7 folders)
- a. Promissory notes
- b. Checks and receipts
- c. Insurance records
- d. Ledgers and statements
- e. Arthur Baring Gould papers
- f. Brown family papers
- g. Correspondence
- 7. Ephemera (3 folders)
- a. Various
- b. Newspapers
- c. Envelopes
- 8. Fragments (1 folder)
- 9. Certificates of sale (1 oversize box)
- 10. Addenda (1 box)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Courts -- California -- El Dorado County.
Gold mines and mining -- California -- El Dorado County.
Mines and mineral resources -- California -- El Dorado County.
Real property -- California -- El Dorado County.
Taxation -- California -- El Dorado County.
Diamond Springs (Calif.) -- History.
El Dorado County (Calif.)
El Dorado County (Calif.) -- Government publications.
El Dorado County (Calif.) -- History.
Placerville (Calif.) -- History.
Judicial records -- California -- El Dorado County.
Ledgers (account books) -- California -- El Dorado County.
Tax records -- California -- El Dorado County.