San Francisco Committee of Vigilance records
Finding aid prepared by Jennifer L. Martinez.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical
Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
© 2014
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: San Francisco Committee of Vigilance
records
Dates: 1853-1858
Collection Number: mssVigilancecommittee
Creator OR Collector:
San Francisco Committee of Vigilance
of 1856
Extent:
3,750 items
Repository: The Huntington Library,
Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts
Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains letters and documents related to the
San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1856, a vigilante group that formed in San Francisco, California, and functioned
for five months.
The letters and documents are related to individuals making charges or giving information about suspects or prisoners
to the group.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. San Francisco Committee of Vigilance Records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Purchased from Augustin S. MacDonald in 1916 and Sigurd Frederickson in 1931.
Biographical Note
The San Francisco Committees of Vigilance of 1851 and 1856 were formed when crime
became widespread in the city of San Francisco in the wake of the Gold Rush. In
1856, the murder of James King of William sparked the reactivation of vigilante
activities. King, a San Francisco newspaper editor, was shot by James. P. Casey, a
corrupt official, after King attacked Casey in the columns of his paper. Immediately
10,000 men hastened to join the vigilantes, and William T. Coleman was again chosen
as leader. Opposition to the vigilance committee was led by California Supreme Court
Justice David S. Terry, but the efforts of his group were largely ineffective. The
"Great Committee" of the vigilantes functioned for five months, then surrendered its
powers to a regularly constituted civil authority.
Scope and Content
The collection contains letters and documents related to individuals making charges
or giving information about suspects or prisoners to the San Francisco Committee of
Vigilance of 1856. It also contains completed applications for membership, lists of
members and members of the executive committee, and financial documents. More
specifically the collection contains material related to the murders of James King,
the assault of Sterling Hopkins by Judge David S. Terry, abstracts from the files of
the Recorders Court and Court of Sessions, showing the most important arrests by the
city police, 1853 to 1856, and Report by the Grand Jury on county affairs for the
term ending June 1, 1856
Arrangement
Although the collection has been sorted, it essentially remains uncataloged. It
includes 10 boxes, six bound volumes, and 1 rolled item.
Indexing Terms
Personal Names
Casey, James
P.
Coleman, William Tell,
1824-1893
King, James,
1822-1856
McGowan, Edward,
1813-1893
Terry, David Smith,
1823-1889
Corporate Names
San Francisco Committee
of Vigilance of 1856
Subjects
Vigilance committees -- California --
San Francisco -- History -- Sources
Vigilants -- California -- San Francisco
-- History -- Sources
Geographic Areas
San Francisco -- History
-- 19th century
San Francisco --
Politics and government -- 19th century
Genre
Application forms -- California -- 19th
century
Documents -- California -- 19th
century
Box 1
Unclassified papers.
1853-1856
Box 2
Correspondence, depositions, etc. from the files of the Investigating
Committee, relative to denounced members and other suspicious characters
(B-W).
Box 3
Papers related to ballot box stuffing and fraudulent
elections.
1854-1856
Box 4
Applications for membership (A-G).
1856
Box 5
Applications for membership (H-Q).
1856
Box 6
Applications for membership (R-Z).
1856
Box 9
Account books/Authorization to collect funds.
Envelope containing six bound volumes, including muster roll for
Company D.
Rolled item: San Francisco Committee of Vigilance 1856 membership
certificate for James Ludlow.
