Overview of the Collection
Administrative History:
Access Terms
Administrative Information
Arrangement of Materials:
Scope and Contents
Overview of the Collection
Collection Title: The Papers of Theodore Hittell
Dates: 1845-1913
Identification: M000002
Physical Description: 2.00
Language of Materials:
English
Spanish;Castilian
French
German
Repository:
Sutro Library, California State Library
1630 Holloway Avenue
5th floor
San Francisco, CA, 94132-4030
URL: http://www.library.ca.gov/about/sutro_main.html
Email: sutro@library.ca.gov
Phone: 415-469-6100
Administrative History:
Biographical Note:
Theodore Henry Hittell was born in Marietta, Pennsylvania on April 5, 1830 to Jacob Hittell and Catherine (maiden name Shertzer)
Hittell. He spent the majority of his adolescence in Ohio's Miami Valley, where he later attended college at Miami University.
After participating in what was called the "Snowball Rebellion," Hittell was expelled from school, and ended up finishing
his education at Yale, where he graduated in 1849. After college, Hittell moved to Cincinnati, where he spent three years
practicing law.
In 1854, after receiving a letter from his brother who was living in San Francisco, Hittell decided to follow in his footsteps
and headed out West to the Bay Area. He was first hired to work for several newspapers, including the
California Chronicle and the
San Francisco Bulletin. In 1858, he married Elise Christian Wiehe, with whom he had four children. In 1860, he published his first book,
The Adventures of James Capen Adams. The stories in this book were recounted by Adams himself, and featured many stories about the early history of California
(the book was later republished in 1911). In 1862, Hittell returned to his law practice. His affinity for writing never left
him however, and he ended up publishing ten volumes on California and Nevada state law. Hittell also had a brief political
career. In 1879 he ran and was elected to be a member of the California State Senate. He served there for two years before
once again returning to practice law.
His true passion was History, and it was in 1885 that the first two volumes of his most famous work,
History of California were published. The final volume of the series was released in 1897. Mr. Hittell extensively used the archives of California,
a set of documents thought to contain over two hundred and fifty thousand pages of documents on California history, for the
earlier half of his work. These documents were at the office of the United States surveyor-general in San Francisco and later
destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and Fire. Hittell's
History of California in its entirety, totals around three thousand and sixty pages, and covers the earliest recollections of California's history,
to around 1890.
In his later years, Hittell was known to present papers on his research findings to various institutions and societies, including
the California Academy of Sciences, Stanford University, The Sierra Club, The Society of California Pioneers, and several
others. By 1900, Hittell was given the title of "The Historian of California" for his contribution toward uncovering California's
earliest histories. He died of a stroke on February 22, 1917 at the age of 86.
Access Terms
This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Geographic Name:
California -- History
Hawaii -- History
Miami River Valley (Ohio) -- History
Yosemite Valley (Calif.)
Personal Name:
Alvarado, Juan Bautista 1809-1882
Field, Stephen Johnson, 1816-1899
Sutter, John Augustus, 1803-1880.
Walker, William, 1824-1860
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information:
Given to the Sutro Library by the Estate of Theodore Hittell, 1918.
Processing Information:
When this collection was donated to the Sutro Library, some individual items were catalogued separately and given Dewey call
numbers. Other material in the collection was never cataloged.
In Spring 2017, a graduate student intern brought all of items together again for processing but by then the original order
of the collection was lost. The intern placed the materials in archival boxes and produced the collection's first-ever finding
aid.
Conditions Governing Use:
Property rights reside with the repository. Any applicable literary rights would reside with the creators of the documents
or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please email sutro@library.ca.gov .
Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is open for research. Please page materials three business days in advance of your visit by email: sutro@library.ca.gov
.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] Papers of Theodore Hittell, M000002, Sutro Library, California State Library, San Francisco, Calif.
Related Materials:
Guide to the Hittell Family Papers, 1855-1916, BANC MSS C-B 405, U. C. Berkeley Bancroft Library.
Information about related materials is available at http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2d5n99d4/?query=Theodore+Hittell
Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements:
2 linear feet.
Arrangement of Materials:
Sections are ordered chronologically or alphabetically, depending on their contents within each series:
series 1: Hittell family documents
series 2: Correspondence
series 3: Historical and geographical writings and research notes
series 4: Scientific and historical speeches and related documents
series 5: Government documents - State Senate notes and other government-related papers
series 6: Remembrances and memoir notes
series 7: Fictional works
series 8: Legal papers
series 9: Unidentifiable Notes
series 10: Other authors
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of primarily papers of lawyer and author Theodore H. Hittell pertaining primarily to his writings
on California and his speeches. There are letters, research notes, legal papers, and manuscripts of his writings (including
unpublished account of Walker's Nicaragua filibuster).