Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid to the Jessica Fredricks Collection of Autographs and Letters
1879-1965
BASC 14
BASC 14
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco 94102
bookarts@sfpl.org
Title: Jessica Fredricks Collection of Autographs and Letters
Creator:
Fredricks, Jessica M.
Identifier/Call Number: BASC 14
Physical Description:
1 manuscript box
( .4 Cubic Feet)
Date (inclusive): 1879-1965
Date (bulk): 1879-1950
Abstract: Original autographs and letters by actors, musicians, authors, politicians, artists, and others, assembled by Jessica Fredricks,
Head of the Music Department, San Francisco Public Library.
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials:
Collection materials are in
English.
Collection is open for research and is available for use during Book Arts & Special Collections hours.
Some materials are fragile and may not be photocopied.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San Francisco Public Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
materials must be submitted in writing to Book Arts & Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of
the San Francisco Public Library as owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], Jessica Fredricks Collection of Autographs and Letters (BASC 14), Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern
Book Arts & Special Collections, San Francisco Public Library.
The collection was most likely assembled by Jessica Fredricks (sometimes spelled Fredericks), Head of San Francisco Public
Library's Music Department (1917-1950), as an offshoot of the Musicians' Letters: An Autograph Collection, 1880-1966, located
in the Art, Music & Recreation Center. Most autographs and letters reflect the same period of collecting as the Musicians'
Letters. Several autographed letters had been directed to Fredricks and other library staff in answer to requests for information,
as responses to congratulatory notes; and as correspondence about materials in the Library's collection. Several autographs
include SFPL accession numbers from that time. The collection was transferred to the Book Arts & Special Collections Center
at an unknown date, possibly during the consolidation of special collections to form this department, 1964 through the early
1970s.
Researchers are encouraged to see also Musicians’ Letters: An Autograph Collection, 1880-1966, located in the Art, Music,
& Recreation Center, San Francisco Public Library. A copy of the finding aid for the Musicians’ Letters: An Autograph Collection
may be found with the Jessica Fredricks Collection of Autographs and Letters.
The Jessica Fredricks Collection of Autographs and Letters is a library compiled collection consisting of 132 autographs and
letters in pencil and ink, probably developed out of Musicians' Letters: An Autograph Collection, 1880-1966, located in the
Art, Music, & Recreation Center. Jessica Fredricks, Head of the Library's Music Department from 1917-1950, organized several
noteworthy music collections over the course of her career, including the
Northern California Composers List . The Jessica Fredricks Collection of Autographs and Letters includes signatures (clipped signatures and signatures removed
from autograph albums), correspondence, signed visiting cards, poems, programs, portraits and photographs of celebrated persons
in education, politics, literature, science, religion, and the arts. The predominant number of autographs are by artists associated
with the theater. Most autographs date from 1879 to 1965. A large number of signed quotations are in the hand of theatrical
personalities. Some theater figures have included the titles of plays and names of local theatres with their signatures, information
which helps to further identify performers.
The collection also includes Raymond E. F. Larson's gift of letters from Harriet Whedon--Edith Kermit Roosevelt, President
William Howard Taft; an autograph by Rear Admiral R. D. Evans, and an insurance policy for the American schooner John, signed
by eight policy holders, dated July 30, 1796. Also, a letter by Mongkut, King of Siam, dated March 27, 1855, to Sir John Bowring,
was anonymously donated to the Library. Also included is an undated manuscript by English literary critic Cyril Connolly,
for the “Comment” section of
Horizon: A Review of Literature, later published in volume 1, no. 1, February 1940.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by author's surname.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Autographs -- Collections.
Signatures (Writing)