Isaias W. Hellman papers, 1865-1929

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Summary

Creators:
Hellman, Isaias William, 1843-1920
Abstract:
Business papers, chiefly correspondence, pertaining to Hellman's activities in banking, electric and cable railway transportation, and real estate investment, particularly in southern California and San Francisco. Correspondence is with and about the banks and financial institutions with which Hellman was affiliated, and reflects his interests in southern Calif. electric railroad lines, Market Street Railway in San Francisco, Union Oil and Associated Oil Companies, the Redondo Improvement Company, the Los Alamitos Land Company, the San Gabriel and other wineries, and other agricultural concerns. Includes papers of Hellman's son, Isaias W. Hellman, Jr., in his capacities as president of Union Trust Company and Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank, vice president of Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, chairman of Columbus Savings and Loan Society, and a member of the Relief Committee of 50 that assumed control of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Also reflects his activities with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915.
Extent:
49 boxes [includes 52 v. in Boxes 27-46 and 49] (20.75 Linear feet)
Language:
Collection materials are in English.

Background

Scope and content:

Business papers, chiefly correspondence, pertaining to Hellman's activities in banking, electric and cable railway transportation, and real estate investment, particularly in southern California and San Francisco. Correspondence is with and about the banks and financial institutions with which Hellman was affiliated, and reflects his interests in southern Calif. electric railroad lines, Market Street Railway in San Francisco, Union Oil and Associated Oil Companies, the Redondo Improvement Company, the Los Alamitos Land Company, the San Gabriel and other wineries, and other agricultural concerns. Correspondents include Harry Chandler, John G. Downey, Henry J. Fleishman, Jackson A. Graves, Herman W. Hellman, Henry E. Huntington, William Mulholland, Harrison G. Otis, George Patton, George C. Perkins, Claus Spreckles, Benjamin I. Wheeler, Stephen M. White, and others. Includes some personal correspondence with family members. Other papers include financial records for Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank, Union Trust Company, Columbus Savings and Loan Society, Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, United States National Bank of Los Angeles, and other banks.

Interfiled with these are papers of Hellman's son, Isaias W. Hellman, Jr., in his capacities as president of Union Trust Company and Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank, vice president of Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, chairman of Columbus Savings and Loan Society, and a member of the Relief Committee of 50 that assumed control of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Also reflects his activities with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915.

Biographical / historical:

I. W. Hellman was a banker and prominent financial figure of California and Oregon. He served as president of Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, Nevada National Bank, and Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank. He also served as chairman of the board of directors of Union Trust Company of San Francisco, and director of the United States National Bank of Portland and the Security Trust and Savings Bank of Los Angeles.

Acquisition information:
The Isaias W. Hellman Papers were given to the California Historical Society by I. W. Hellman III in 1967.
Arrangement:

Organized into the following series: Series 1: Correspondence, 1865-1920 [these are further divided into two sub-series: San Francisco Office and Los Angeles Office]; Series 2: Financial Records, 1910-1924; Series 3: Real Estate Title Abstracts and Deeds, 1883-1929; Series IV: Business Correspondence Letterpress Copy Books, 1879-1920; Series V: Bank Statements of Assets and Liabilities, 1915-1919.

Physical location:
Collection is stored onsite.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Bankers--California-San Francisco
Banks and banking--California.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)
Real estate investment--California.
Street-railroads--California, Southern.
Letter books.
Names:
Columbus Savings and Loan Society.
Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles.
Market Street Railway.
Nevada National Bank.
Union Trust Company of San Francisco.
Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank
Hellman, Isaias W. (Isaias William), 1842-1920--Archives.
Hellman, Isaias W., 1871-1920--Archives.
Indexes:

List of Correspondents

Following is a partial list of correspondents in the collection, and the number of letters written to or by them:

Ainsworth, John V. (7 letters)
Alvord, William (1 letter)
Banning, William (2 letters)
Bard, Thomas R. (2 letters)
Bicknell, John Dustin (14 letters)
Bixby, Fred Hathaway (13 letters)
Bixby, George H. (33 letters)
Bixby, John W. (1 letter)
Burr, Ephraim Willard (3 letters)
Chandler, Harry (3 letters)
Childs, Ozro W. (3 letters)
Borel, Antoine (11 letters)
Crocker, George (1 letter)
Crocker, William H. (2 letters)
De Guigne, Christian (12 letters)
Denis, George J. (6 letters)
Doheny, Edward L. (6 letters)
Downey, John G. (16 letters)
Duque, Thomas L. (16 letters)
Faymonville, Bernard (2 letters)
Fleishman, Henry J. (49 letters)
Flint, George C. (30 letters)
Flood, James Leary (1 letter)
Gage, Henry T. (3 letters)
Gerstle, Lewis (1 letter)
Gird, Richard (3 letters)
Grant, Adam (1 letter)
Garvey, Richard (18 letters)
Graves, Jackson Alpheus (338 letters)
Griffin, John Strother (2 letters)
Guasti, Secondo (1 letter)
Hanna, Mark (1 letter)
Harriman, Edward H. (5 letters)
Hearst, Phoebe Apperson (2 letters)
Hearst, William Randolph (1 letter)
Heller, Emanuel H. (24 letters)
Hellman, Herman W. (257 letters)
Hellman, Maurice S. (9 letters)
Herrin, William F. (4 letters)
Hill, Andrew P. (1 letter)
Hopkins, Timothy (1 letter)
Huntington, Collis P. (4 letters)
Huntington, Henry Edwards (81 letters)
Irwin, William G. (2 letters)
Jones, E. E. (19 letters)
Jordan, David Starr (1 letter)
Kahn, Julius (2 letters)
Kearney, M. Theodore (2 letters)
Keith, William (1 letter)
Keller, Matthew (19 letters)
Kerckhoff, William G. (61 letters)
Kinney, Abbot (1 letter)
Kohn, Kaspare (2 letters)
Lankershim, J. B. (2 letters)
Le Breton, Edward J. (1 letter)
Lubin, David (1 letter)
McAdoo, William Gibbs (2 letters)
MacKay, John William (16 letters)
Markham, Henry H. (4 letters)
Marye, George, T. (1 letter)
Meyer, Eugene (1 letter)
Milner, John M. (86 letters)
Mulholland, William (7 letters)
Newmark, Maurice (1 letter)
Nuttall, J. R. K. (5 letters)
O'Melveny, Henry W. (15 letters)
Otis, Harrison Gray (43 letters)
Patton, George (51 letters)
Pardee, George C. (4 letters)
Perkins, George C. (5 letters)
Plater, John E. (8 letters)
Reese, Michael (1 letter)
Rindage, Frederick H. (3 letters)
Robinson, Alfred (1 letter)
Rose, Leonard J. (2 letters)
Ross, Erskine Mayo (7 letters)
Ryland, Cassius T. (1 letter)
Sanderson, George W. (1 letter)
Sartori, Joseph Francis (34 letters)
Schiff, Jacob H. (2 letters)
Schwab, Charles M. (1 letter)
Shankland, J. J. (1 letter)
Shorb, James de Barth (6 letters)
Shortridge, Charles M. (1 letter)
Shortridge, Samuel W. (2 letters)
Sloss, Louis (1 letter)
Spreckels, Adolph B. (1 letter)
Spreckels, Claus (2 letters)
Spreckels, Rudolph (2 letters)
Stanford, Jane Lathrop (11 letters)
Stewart, Lyman (14 letters)
Strauss, Levi (2 letters)
Tevis, Lloyd (1 letter)
Truman, Ben C. (2 letters)
Valle, Reginaldo F. del (2 letters)
Van Nuys, Isaac N. (2 letters)
Wangenheim, Julius (6 letters)
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide (13 letters)
White, Lovell (6 letters)
White, Stephen Mallory (35 letters)
Widney, Richard MaClay (1 letter)
Wilson, Mrs. Benjamin D. (1 letter)
Workman, William H. (13 letters)

Access and use

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
Website