Finding aid for the California manuscripts teaching collection 7108
Bo Doub
USC Libraries Special Collections
2020 May
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: California manuscripts teaching collection
Creator:
Billings, T. R.
Creator:
Remington, Lee Stephen, 1869-1952
Identifier/Call Number: 7108
Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/3/resources/3027
Physical Description:
0.44 Linear Feet
1 box
Date: 1850-12-26
Date: 1927-12-15
Language of Material:
English
.
This collection contains correspondence relating to California history from various sources, assembled under one collection
for ease of access and use in USC Libraries Special Collections instruction. Collection items include a 1927 illustrated letter
authored by Lee Stephen Remington (1869-1952), a factory manager from St. Paul, Minnesota, to a friend named Mr. Dow during
a visit to Los Angeles. The collection also holds an 1850 letter written by T. R. Billings, a California gold seeker, to his
wife, Elizabeth Billings, back home in New York. Billings' letter describes the hardships and financial troubles experienced
by many who moved west during the California gold rush (1848-1855).
Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. 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.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The materials in this collection were acquired from a number of sources at different times. See item- or file-level description
for more detailed provenancial information.
[Box/folder no. or item name], California manuscripts teaching collection, Collection no. 7108, Regional History Collection,
Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Subjects and Indexing Terms
California -- Gold discoveries -- 19th century -- Archival resources
California, Southern -- History -- Archival resources
California, Southern -- History, Local -- Archival resources
Gold mines and mining -- California -- Archival resources
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Description and travel -- Archival resources
Marriage -- United States -- 19th century -- Archival resources
Tourism -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Correspondence
Illustrated works (documents)
Personal correspondence
Billings, Elizabeth -- Correspondence
Billings, T. R. -- Correspondence
Remington, Lee Stephen, 1869-1952 -- Correspondence
Box 1, Folder 2
Billings, T. R. to Elizabeth Billings, letter /repositories/3/archival_objects/680270 1850 December 26
Physical Description: Autograph letter, signed. Addressed from San Francisco, California to Williamsburgh, New York. 3pp. on a folded folio sheet.
Old folds, minor wear and soiling.
This note was adapted from the description written by the immediate source of this acquisition, McBride Rare Books,
A somber and revealing letter from T. R. Billings, a California gold seeker, to his wife, Elizabeth Billings, back home in
Williamsburgh, New York. Billings, a mason by trade, writes that he is sorry that he cannot send money and advises his wife
to sell the furniture if necessary. Although he had nothing to show for the past season, he states his intentions to attempt
another season looking for gold, and promises to return home to "work out the rest of my days at mason work," if his luck
fails to turn. His letter speaks for so many who went out with gold fever and high hopes and subsequently failed to make good
on their gold dust dreams. He writes, in part:
"Dear wife, I left hear (sic] on the 22nd of last February for the mines with the rest of the company, I was six weeks ageting
[sic] there. I did not stay with Mr. May but about six weeks, we had a falling out he was drunk at the time although he was
a temperance man and a minister when we left N York ... I then had scurvy and as soon as I was able to ride a horse over the
mountains I left for San Francisco, it cost me all the money I had made ... and left me without one cent on arriving at this
place ... I should have done well this season had l not taken sick. I had five hundred dollars in gold dust I should have
sent you part of it had there been any way to have sent it from the mines..."
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from McBride Rare Books, March 2024.
Box 1, Folder 1
Remington, Lee Stephen to Mr. Dow, illustrated letter /repositories/3/archival_objects/597753 1927 December 15
Physical Description: 8 ½ x 11" three page letter written in ink.
A three-page letter dated December 15, 1927, written by Lee Stephen Remington (1869-1952), a factory manager from St. Paul,
Minnesota, to a friend named Mr. Dow. Remington wrote this letter while visiting his sister in Los Angeles with his wife Ida
(1868-1960). The letter describes life in Los Angeles and compares California to their home state of Minnesota. Remington's
letter includes vivid descriptions accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations depicting flower arrangements, shoppers on benches
in Pershing Square, a California family warming themselves around a gas heater, Californians walking in the rain due to a
lack of umbrellas or proper rain gear, people sitting on park benches feeding birds, and comparisons between trees in California
and Minnesota.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Buckingham Books, May 1, 2018.