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Borchardt (Beatrice) Collection
mssHM 46715-46978
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Beatrice Borchardt collection
Creator:
Borchardt, Beatrice, 1901-1975
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 46715-46978
Physical Description:
7 Linear Feet
(6 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1846-1967
Abstract: The collection of Beatrice Edna Spring
Borchardt relating to her research into her family's history.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
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]. Beatrice Borchardt collection, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Sebastian, January 1976.
Beatrice Edna Spring Borchardt (1901-1975) was the daughter of Edward Spring, and the
granddaughter of New York merchant Marcus Spring (1810-1874) and his wife, reformer and
educator, Rebecca Buffum Spring (1811-1911); the couple established a Utopian retreat in
Eagleswood, New Jersey in the mid 19th century. Rebecca Buffam Spring moved to Los Angeles,
California, in the 1890s, to live with her daughter Jeanie Spring Mackaye Peet and their
home became a gathering place for artists, writers, and social reformers in the late 19th
century. Jeanie Spring MacKaye Peet, had a brief marriage to James Steele MacKaye
(1842-1894) which ended in divorce, then, in 1873, she married San Francisco newspaper
editor Tremenheere Lanyon Johns (1839-1875), and finally, in 1881, Dr. Gilead Peet who died
in 1887.
This collection contains the papers of Beatrice Spring Borchardt, chiefly relating to her
research into her family's history, which included members of the Spring, MacKaye, Johns,
and Peet families. Manuscript materials include unpublished drafts of biographical works by
Borchardt about the family including writer Cloudesley Johns and his friendship with author
Jack London; drafts of an autobiography by her grandmother Rebecca Buffum Spring;
Borchardt's own unpublished biography of Spring entitled "Lady of Utopia"; a childhood
journal (14 pages) of Arthur Loring MacKaye, dated from 1872 to 1885; a typescript copy of a
poem, "Moods of Madness: Words," by Francis S. Saltus; and some miscellaneous pieces by
Johns and his mother, Jeanie Spring MacKaye Peet, Rebecca Spring, and others. Correspondence
chiefly consists of letters dating from the late 1940s to the 1950s between Borchardt and
cousins about family history and some earlier letters of Johns, Herbert Peet, Arthur Loring
MacKaye, Benton MacKaye, as well as family friend Florence Moore Kreider. There are also
some letters between Johns and Charmian London, chiefly dating from the mid 1930s to the
1940s, as well as some correspondence of Jeanie Spring MacKaye Peet and Rebecca Spring
dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are some printed items about
family members as well as twelve photographs, including an 1897 card photograph of the
Spring home at 504 North Soto Street in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles; a
cyanotype photograph of Rebecca Spring with two women; studio portraits of Spring family
members and one of Cloudesley Johns in 1900; and a snapshot of a Forest Theatre Production
in Carmel, California (approximately 1915?). The earliest dated item is a copy in the
handwriting of Rebecca Spring of a letter from Margaret Fuller, dated April 10, 1846. There
is also a single letter from Charlotte Perkins Gilman to Jeanie Spring MacKaye Peet and a
letter from Charles Warren Stoddard to Arthur Loring MacKaye, dated December 6, 1896.
Processed by Huntington Library staff in 1980; in July 2023, Gayle M. Richardson created
the finding aid.
Arranged alphabetically by author last name, with ephemera, printed materials, and
photographs at the end.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Authors, American
Boyle Heights (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Family papers
Genealogies (histories)
Letters (correspondence)
Manuscripts
Notes (documents)
Photographs
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins,
1860-1935
Johns, Cloudesley,
1874-1955
Kreider, Florence G. Moore, 1878-1963
MacKaye, Arthur Loring,
1863-
MacKaye, Benton,
1879-1975
Peet, Jeanie Spring, 1843-1921
Spring, Rebecca
Buffum