Georgia Willis Read Papers, 1849-1951, bulk 1932-1951

Summary

Creators:

Read, Georgia Willis.

Abstract:

This collection contains research material compiled by American historian and author Georgia William Read and Ruth Gaines for their publication of the journal of California Gold Rush topographer and artist J. Goldsborough Bruff (1804-1899), dating primarily from the 1930s to early 1950s.

Extent:

Approximately 4,000 items in 15 boxes and three oversize folders.

Language:

English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains research material compiled by American historian and author Georgia William Read and Ruth Gaines for their publication of the journal of California Gold Rush topographer and artist J. Goldsborough Bruff (1804-1899) The majority of it is arranged alphabetically by topic. This series is made up mostly of research notes by Read and Gaines. The research material also includes copies of the book's acknowledgement, bibliography, introduction, and index as well as Read and Gaines' correspondence with Columbia University Press. There are a few folders of material organized by type: miscellaneous notes (4 folders) and research notebooks (7 items, one of which is in oversize).

Correspondence by Read and Gaines are mostly their retained, unsigned, copies. The correspondence is chiefly letters written between them and research libraries or other scholars to obtain information for or to obtain permission to publish material in their book. Notable participants are: Herbert Eugene Bolton, Frederick Coykendall, Edward Eberstadt, Francis Farquhar, Max Farrand, Frederick Webb Hodge, C. Hart Merriam, Herbert Priestley, the Bancroft Library, California Historical Society, California State Library, Henry E. Huntington Library, Library of Congress, United States National Archives, the Newberry Library, Smithsonian Institution, Southwest Museum and Yale University Library.

The ephemera contains scholarly publications, clippings, maps, index cards, an oversize sheet with copies of several of Bruff's sketches, and several photostats. The photostats include 19th century newspapers (including two Native American publications: Cherokee advocate and Vinita leader), maps (including all four parts of the "Map of the Emigrant Road from Independence, Mo. To S. Francisco" by T. H. Jefferson), and Bruff's journal. Many of the photostats are rolled.

Subjects covered by the collection are: Hubert Howe Bancroft, Joseph Goldsborough Bruff, Bruff's journey, camp, sketches and journal, Edwin Bryant, Alonzo Delano, John Charles Frémont, Peter Lassen, John Muir, Fort Hall (Idaho), frontier and pioneer life in early California, Indians in North America, overland journeys to the Pacific, the California Trail, the Lassen cutoff and National Park, and California history including the Gold Rush.

Biographical / historical:

Georgia Willis Read, historian and author, was the daughter of Dr. George Willis Read, who led a company across the plains in 1850 to California. Georgia attended Smith College and served with the Smith College Relief Unit in France during World War I. She published Médoc in the Moor in 1914 and edited A pioneer of 1850: George Willis Read, 1819-1880: the record of a journey overland from Independence, Missouri to Hangtown, California in 1927. In 1944, she and Ruth Gaines edited Gold rush: the journals, drawings, and other papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff.

Acquisition information:

Gift of Philip N. Cronenwett, Dartmouth College Library, September 16, 1980.

Processing information:

1. J. Goldsborough Bruff is the subject of 95% of the collection so he is not subject indexed.

2. Due to the nature of the collection (research material) much of the collection contained unsorted items that were kept together as Read had it; Read’s original order was kept in most of the collection. Also, correspondence can be found in research material folders and the same subjects may be found in several different folders.

3. The correspondence between Read, Gaines and Columbia University Press, the publisher of the Bruff volume, can be found in Research Material not Correspondence.

4. Correspondence from research institutions can be found under institution name. The folders and container list below lists the specific authors or signers of the letters. When the research institutions are the recipients of the letters, they are listed as the addressee but the folders and container list also lists the specific addressees of the letters.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized in the following manner:

• Boxes 1-6: Research Material
• Boxes 7-8: Correspondence
• Boxes 9-10: Ephemera
• Boxes 11-12: Index Cards
• Boxes 13-15: Oversize

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Other descriptive data:

Bancroft Library.

• Addressee of Ruth Gaines, 1877-1952 letter (1937, Feb. 1). Addressed to Eleanor Bancroft. Box 7 (38). Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1939-1947). Addressed to Herbert Ingram Priestley, 1875-1944, George P. (George Peter) Hammond, 1896-1993 and Herbert Eugene Bolton, 1870-1953. Box 8 (12).

Bolton, Herbert Eugene, 1870-1953.

• Author in Bancroft letters (1939-1947) to Georgia Willis Read. Box 7 (7). Addressee of letter by Frederick Webb Hodge, 1864-1956 in Hodge letters (1930-1947) to Georgia Willis Read. Box 7 (61). Addressee in Georgia Willis Read letters (1939-1947) to Bancroft Library. Box 8 (12).

California Historical Society.

• Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1935-1948). Addressed to Edna Martin Parratt. Box 8 (14). Author of journal in California Historical Society Quarterly (1947, Dec.). Box 9 (2).

California State Library.

• Addressee of Ruth Gaines, 1877-1952 letters (1938-1948). Addressed to Mabel R. Gillis and Caroline Wenzel, 1886-1959. Box 7 (39). Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1932-1942). Addressed to Mabel R. Gillis. Box 8 (15).

Coykendall, Frederick, 1872-1945.

• Author of letter in Georgia Willis Read letters (1933-1950) to Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

Eberstadt, Edward, 1883-1958.

• Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1948-1949). Box 8 (22).

Farquhar, Francis Peloubet, 1887-1974.

• Addressee of Ruth Gaines, 1877-1952 letters (1937). Box 7 (40). Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1937). Box 8 (24).

Farrand, Max, 1869-1945.

• Addressee of letter by Frederick Coykendall, 1872-1954 in Georgia Willis Read letters (1933-1950) to Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Box 8 (29).

Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

• Addressee of Frederick Webb Hodge, 1864-1956 letter in Hodge letters (1930-1947) to Georgia Willis Read. Box 7 (61). Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1933-1950). Addressed to Leslie E. Bliss. Box 8 (29).

Hodge, Frederick Webb, 1864-1956.

• Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1947-1951). Box 8 (30). Author of note in Photostats: Southwest Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.) (1938). Box 10 (3).

Library of Congress

• Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1927-1950). Addressed to Charles Martel, 1860-1945, Lawrence Martin, 1880-1955, and Donald C. (Donald Carver) Holmes, 1911-. Box 8 (31). Author of memo and addressee of letter by Jennie E. Smith in Silsby Free Public Library letters (1947) to Georgia Willis Read. Box 8 (52).

Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942.

• Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letter (1937, July 11). Box 8 (33).

National Archives (U.S.)

• Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letters (1941-1948). Addressed to W. L. G. (Wolfgang Louis Gottfried) Joerg, 1885-1952, Pension Records Division and Philip M. (Philip May) Hamer, 1891-. Box 8 (34). Author of letter in Maps: Photostats (1858-1949). Signed by W. L. G. (Wolfgang Louis Gottfried) Joerg, 1885-1952, to Georgia Willis Read, 1949, Feb. 8. Box 9 (6).

Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944.

• Author in Bancroft Library letters (1937-1947) to Ruth Gaines, 1877-1952. Box 7 (6). Author in Bancroft letters (1939-1947) to Georgia Willis Read. Box 7 (7).

Southwest Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.).

• Addressee of Ruth Gaines, 1877-1952 letters (1941-1944). Addressed to M. R. (Mark Raymond) Harrington, 1882-1971. Box 7 (47).

Yale University. Library.

• Addressee of Ruth Gaines, 1877-1952 letter (1947, June 27). Addressed to David H. Clift. Box 7 (50). Addressee of Georgia Willis Read letter (1947, Aug. 16). Addressed to Dorothy W. Bridgewater. Box 8 (47). Author of journal in Yale University Library Gazette (1948, Oct.). Box 10 (5).

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Frontier and pioneer life -- California.
Indians of North America.
Overland journeys to the Pacific.
Ephemera -- United States -- 20th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 20th century.
Manuscripts -- United States -- 20th century.
Maps -- United States -- 19th century.
Maps -- United States -- 20th century.
Research notes -- United States -- 20th century.

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Manuscript Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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