Scope and Contents
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: George and Elenora Adams diaries, letters, and other material
creator:
Adams, George Everett, 1845-1887
creator:
Adams, Elenora Martin Learned, 1845-1921
Identifier/Call Number: 7086
Physical Description:
3.54 Linear Feet
6 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1856-1909
Abstract: The George and Elenora Adams diaries, letters, and other material contain 39 diaries, four letters, and various personal documents
and ephemera kept by George E. Adams and his wife Elenora Martin Learned Adams. Throughout the course of their lives--as documented
in their journals--George and Elenora worked as farmers, teachers, and store owners in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine
before moving to Duarte near East Los Angeles in 1887. In California, George and Elenora tried their luck as fruit-pickers,
real estate speculators, and store owners, including several months working on a relative's dairy farm and ranch in East Los
Angeles, before eventually settling in Pasadena as merchants. The collection comprises a historically important and richly
detailed first-hand account of a New England family's struggle to relocate during the California land boom of the mid-1880s
and become successful merchants in Los Angeles.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains 29 diaries by George E. Adams spanning the period from 1862 to 1895 (missing the years 1863, 1882,
and 1888-1890); and 10 diaries by Elenora M. Adams spanning from 1873 to 1885 (missing the years 1879, and 1881-1882). Accompanying
the diaries is an 1864 Civil War letter written by Elenora's two brothers (while both were serving in the 14th New Hampshire
Infantry); together with a few other personal letters and documents relating to George and Elenora's work as teachers and
store owners -- including three letterpress broadsheets advertising the various goods and services offered at their store
in Westborough, Massachusetts, and other store-related ephemera.
The diaries contain detailed and harrowing accounts of George Adams' two-year tenure (1873-1874) as an officer, teacher, and
night watchman at the Massachusetts State Reform School for Boys in Westborough, and of both George and Elenora's employment
at the State Reform School for Boys in Portland, Maine (1874-1876). In George Adams' final six diaries (from 1887 and 1891-1895),
he provides detailed accounts of his overland travel from Boston to East Los Angeles and of his first year in California working
as a fruit picker for the Porter Brothers Company and as a real estate broker at the height of the land boom in 1887. In his
other California diaries from the early 1890s, George details his efforts to make a living as a store owner and merchant,
while at the same time still managing his real estate holdings and continuing to work as an occasional fruit picker, dairy
farm laborer, and ranch hand.
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections 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.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder no. or item name], George and Elenora Adams diaries, letters, and other material, Collection no. 7086, Regional
History Collection, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Between the Covers - Rare Books, Inc., February 26, 2019.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Duarte (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Archival resources
East Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- Archival resources
Migration, internal -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Advertisements
Correspondence
Diaries
Adams, George Everett, 1845-1887 -- Archives
Adams, Elenora Martin Learned, 1845-1921 -- Archives
Massachusetts. State Reform School (Westborough, Mass.)