Walker (Elkanah) Papers, 1837-1871

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Title:
Elkanah Walker papers
Dates:
1837-1871
Creators:
Walker, Elkanah, 1805-1877
Abstract:
Collection consists of correspondence, 29 diaries and one drawing related to the lives and activities of Oregon Territory missionaries Elkanah Walker and Mary Richardson Walker.
Extent:
5 Linear Feet (4 boxes, 4 folders)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Elkanah Walker papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of correspondence, 29 diaries, and one drawing related to the lives and activities of Elkanah Walker and Mary Richardson Walker. Subjects include the Walkers' trip from Maine to the Oregon Territory, the establishment of the Tshimakain Mission, their interactions with the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and wars with Native Americans in Oregon Territory.

Materials created by US presidents in this collection include Franklin Pierce document signed appointing Joseph Lane as governor of Oregon Territory, 1853 March 16 (WA 31); Ulysses S. Grant autograph letter signed to Captain Theodore J. Eckarson, 1866 February 16 (WA 51); and Andrew Johnson land grant with secretarial signature to H.H. Spalding, 1866 December 14 (WA 52).

Biographical / historical:

Elkanah Walker (1805-1877) and his wife, Mary Richardson Walker (1811-1897), both of whom were from Maine, married in 1838 and left to be missionaries in Oregon Territory. Together with Reverend Cushing Eells and his wife, Myra Fairbanks Eells, they established a mission at Tshimakain, near Fort Colville, Washington, where they lived from 1839 to 1848, working as protestant missionaries among the Spokane Tribe of Indians. The Walkers left the Tshimakain Mission following the killing of missionaries at the Whitman Mission in Walla Walla, Washington by the Cayuse Indians in November 1847, eventually settling in Forest Grove, Oregon in 1849. In the 1860s, Elkanah Walker was on the Board of Trustees of the Whitman Seminary (now Whitman College) in Walla Walla. Both he and his wife, Mary Richardson Walker, died in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from the Rosenbach Company, October 1922.
Processing information:

This finding aid was created in 2022 by Melissa Haley as part of the American Presidential Papers Project with enhanced description of the presidential material present. The items had been assembled physically and arranged by Huntington Library former staff in the mid-20th century.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Diaries.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Melissa Haley
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-09-26 15:31:47 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

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]. Elkanah Walker papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website