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Georgia Willis Read Papers: Finding Aid
mssRead papers
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Title: Georgia Willis Read Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1849-1951
Bulk dates: 1932-1951
Collection Number: mssRead papers
Creator:
Read, Georgia Willis.
Extent: Approximately 4,000 items in 15
boxes and three oversize folders.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
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.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
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.
[Identification of item]. Georgia Willis Read Papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Gift of Philip N. Cronenwett, Dartmouth College Library, September 16, 1980.
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.
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
.
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.
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
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe,
1832-1918.
Bruff, Joseph
Goldsborough, 1804-1889.
Bryant, Edwin,
1805-1869.
Delano, Alonzo,
1806-1874.
Frémont, John Charles,
1813-1890.
Lassen, Peter,
1800-1859.
Muir, John,
1838-1914.
Read, Georgia Willis
-- Archives.
Read, Georgia Willis.
Gold rush : the journals, drawing, and other papers of J. Goldsborough Bruff,
captain, Washington City and California Mining Association, April 2, 1849-July
20, 1851.
Frontier and pioneer life --
California.
Indians of North America.
Overland journeys to the
Pacific.
California -- Gold
discoveries.
California -- History
-- 19th century.
California National
Historic Trail.
Fort Hall
(Idaho)
Lassen Volcanic
National Park (Calif.)
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.
Bolton, Herbert Eugene, 1870-1953.
Coykendall, Frederick, 1872-1954.
Eberstadt, Edward, 1883-1958.
Farquhar, Francis Peloubet,
1887-1974.
Farrand, Max, 1869-1945.
Gaines, Ruth, 1877-1952.
Hodge, Frederick Webb, 1864-1956.
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart),
1855-1942.
Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944.
Bancroft Library.
California Historical Society.
California State Library.
Columbia University. Press.
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art
Gallery.
Library of Congress.
National Archives (U.S.)
Newberry Library.
Smithsonian Institution.
Society of California Pioneers.
Southwest Museum (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Yale University. Library.
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).