Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Dexter, Samuel Frank, 1847-1906.
- Abstract:
- This collection contains papers of American naturalist Samuel Frank Dexter (1847-1906) of Rhode Island.
- Extent:
- 2.5 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
- Language:
- English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Samuel Frank Dexter papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Letters, diaries, essays, and other papers of Samuel Frank Dexter. The large portion of the collection consists of the letters that Dexter wrote to his children during the 1901 trip to California. Before moving to Los Angeles in 1902, Dexter and his wife took a trip to California in 1901 leaving their children in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. An expansive and consistent writer, his almost daily letters home to his children describe in minute detail their experiences and observations of various parts of California such as Alameda County, Bakersfield, Kern County, La Jolla, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Mount Lowe, Pasadena, Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Gabriel, San Pedro, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz County, and Santa Monica. Other places of interest that Dexter wrote about to his children include the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art, descriptions of the California coast, and accounts of a trip taken in North Mexico. He also wrote frequently along their railroad trip to California, describing such places as Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, and Iowa. A noted naturalist and authority on ornithology, Samuel Frank Dexter and his friend Anthony (Gideon Anthony) Hamilton traveled to Sequoia National Park, California, in 1902. Included in this collection is the diary that Dexter kept during their excursion. Other correspondence came from Mattie J. Chase, who along with her family, lived in Vienna, Austria and wrote to her sister Anna Fannie Dexter detailing their life there. In addition to being a prolific letter writer, Dexter wrote a couple of essays that describe and illuminate life in Charleston, South Carolina and Rhode Island.
- Biographical / historical:
-
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.
- Acquisition information:
- Gifts of Donna Adams, 1986-1995.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is organized in 3 series: 1. Correspondence and manuscripts; 2. Photographs; 3. Research notes, ephemera, and miscellaneous material.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Coasts -- California, Southern -- Description and travel.
Ornithologists -- California
Letters (correspondence) -- California
Diaries -- California -- 20th century
Photographs
Personal papers -- California -- 20th century
Family papers -- United States - Names:
- Mark Hopkins Institute of Art.
Chase, Mattie, J. Wheaton.
Dexter, Anthony Hamilton.
Dexter, Fannie Wheaton.
Dexter, Nathaniel Wheaton.
Hamilton, Anthony (Gideon Anthony) - Places:
- Alameda County (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Arizona -- Description and travel
Bakersfield (Calif.) -- Description and travel
California -- Description and travel
Charleston (S.C.) -- Description and travel
Charleston (S.C.) -- Social life and customs
Colorado -- Description and travel
Illinois -- Description and travel
Iowa -- Description and travel
Kern County (Calif.) -- Description and travel
La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.) -- Description and travel
Long Beach (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Lowe, Mount (Los Angeles County, Calif.)
Mexico, North -- Description and travel
Pasadena (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Redlands (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Rhode Island -- Description and travel
Rhode Island -- Social life and customs
Riverside (Calif.) -- Description and travel
San Bernardino (Calif.) -- Description and travel
San Diego (Calif.) -- Description and travel
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Description and travel
San Gabriel (Calif.) -- Description and travel
San Pedro (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Description and travel
Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Santa Cruz County (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Santa Monica (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Sequoia National Park (Calif.)
Vienna (Austria) -- Description and travel
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Samuel Frank Dexter papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191