W. H. Holabird Papers, 1889-1973, bulk 1889-1919

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Summary

Creators:
Holabird, W. H.
Abstract:
This collection contains 40 items primarily related to the work of Southern Pacific Railroad agent and California Development Company receiver W.H. Holabird (1845-1921), as well as some personal and ephemeral items. Business correspondence and documents chiefly date from 1909 to 1918 and include reports for the Southern Pacific Railroad on the properties of Miller and Lux (1909) and the economic resources in Siberia, Manchuria, and the Philippines.
Extent:
40 items.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains forty items primarily related to the work of railroad agent and California Development Company receiver W.H. Holabird (1845-1921), as well as some personal and ephemeral items.

The first and largest series (HM 73863-73875) is comprised of 13 items including correspondence and one report related to Holabird's survey of Miller and Lux's property for Southern Pacific in 1909. Holabird's surveys were in response to the Southern Pacific's interest in purchasing Miller and Lux and its various holdings. Includes one letter by Henry Miller to Holabird.

Series 2 (HM 73876-73878) contains 3 documents related to Holabird's time as receiver and general manager of the California Development Company.

Series 3 (HM 73879-73884) is made up of various reports Holabird wrote during and after his trips to the Philippines, Manchuria, and Siberia while working for E.H. Harriman and the Southern Pacific Railroad. This section also includes related correspondences regarding Manchuria with New York City-based journalist George Kennan (1845-1924).

The final series (HM 73885-73892) contains 12 miscellaneous and personal items including a photograph of Holabird, biographical and autobiographical materials, letters, and World War I-era essays written by Holabird regarding nationalism and communism; it also includes a folder of ephemera with two copies of the Los Angeles Times announcing Holabird's death and a newspaper clipping written by Holabird on agriculture and irrigation in the Imperial Valley.

Biographical / historical:

Railroad agent and California Development Company receiver W.H. (William Hyman) Holabird (1845-1921) was born in Shelburne, Vermont, on September, 29, 1845. In 1858, Holabird emigrated with his family to Macon, Missouri, and later, Atchison, Kansas. In Kansas, Holabird worked for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad as an office clerk and passenger agent distributing newspapers. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Holabird returned to Vermont and enlisted in the 18th Vermont Infantry Regiment and subsequently participated in the Battle of Gettysburg; Holabird also served in the U.S. Navy as a fireman aboard the first USS Monadock (an ironclad monitor ) as well as Acting Assistant Paymaster. After the war, Holabird found employment with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, where he served as a confidential agent to AT&SF president, Allen Manvil, and supervised the railway’s survey of the Tejon Pass (Tehachapi Mountains, Calif.).

After Manvil’s death, Holabird worked for the Southern Pacific Company and served for many years as the field agent of E.H. Harriman (1848-1909), president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. As Harriman’s agent, Holabird traveled extensively throughout California–in 1909, for instance, Holabird surveyed for the Southern Pacific the extensive land holdings of Miller and Lux, a large San Francisco-based ranching firm–as well as the Philippines, Japan, Manchuria, and Siberia. Holabird concluded his professional life by serving as receiver and general manager of the California Development Company (CDC) from 1909-1916; closely tied to the Southern Pacific, the CDC was engaged in diverting water from the Colorado River for the purposes of irrigating the deserts of Imperial County, California. Under Holabird’s direction, the CDC turned profits and returned to solvency. Holabird died due to multiple cerebral hemorrhages in Sierra Madre, California, on March 1, 1921.

Acquisition information:
Gift of E. R. Holabird, February 21, 1983.
Arrangement:

This collection has been organized into 4 series:

  • 1. Miller and Lux survey materials (HM 73863-73875)
  • 2. California Development Company materials (HM 73876-73878)
  • 3. Southern Pacific Railroad materials (HM 73879-73884)
  • 4. Miscellaneous and personal items (HM 73885-73892)

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

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

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