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California Lettersheet Collection
Kemble Spec Col 09
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
Title: California lettersheet collection
Identifier/Call Number: Kemble Spec Col 09
Physical Description:
4 flat boxes
(2.75 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): circa 1850-1870
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English, with a few lettersheets in German and French.
Abstract: Consists of California lettersheets, mostly pictorial, created
approximately between the years 1850 and 1870, with the bulk dating from the 1850s.
Pictorial lettersheets are illustrated with lithographs or wood engravings depicting
California and Western themes. Intended to be used as stationery during and after the
California Gold Rush, these lettersheets served as a kind of reportage, depicting important
events and popular stories of the day. Common illustrated topics and scenes include: murders
and executions; the San Francisco Vigilance Committee; natural disasters, especially fires
(San Francisco) and floods (Sacramento); the Gold Rush; mining life (from perspectives
sentimental, cautionary, and comic); festivals, holidays, and parades; buildings and street
scenes; and views of San Francisco, Sacramento, and towns throughout the state's mining
region.
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates:
https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives, North Baker Research
Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Consent
is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items
and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission
must be obtained from the copyright owner. Restrictions also apply to digital
representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Photocopying is prohibited.
[Identification of item], California lettersheet collection, Kemble Spec Col 9, California
Historical Society.
The California lettersheet collection is an artificial collection composed of lettersheets
given to the California Historical Society by various donors, including Lowell J. Hardy,
Charles Templeton Crocker, Harry T. Peters, the Wiltsee estate, Mrs. David Potter, and Mrs.
Rankin P. Rickard. Some lettersheets are on indefinite loan from the M.H. De Young Memorial
Museum.
Lettersheets were removed the California Historical Society's Fine Arts Collection,
integrated into the Kemble Collection on Western Printing and Publishing, and processed by
Marie Silva in 2013.
Lettersheets that had been separated from manuscript collections were reunited with their
original collections, whenever possible. Lettersheets on which manuscript letters were
written were also removed from the California Lettersheet Collection and cataloged as
manuscripts. These manuscripts are listed in the finding aid for the California Lettersheet
Collection, with separated materials notes indicating their manuscript call numbers.
Arranged in two series: 1) Pictorial lettersheets; and 2) Non-pictorial lettersheets.
Pictorial lettersheets are arranged in alphabetical order by Baird catalogue number, based
on Joseph Baird's
California pictorial letter sheets,
1849-1869
(San Francisco: David Magee, 1967). Descriptive conventions have been
adapted from the same book.
The collection consists of California lettersheets, mostly pictorial, created approximately
between the years 1850 and 1870, with the bulk dating from the 1850s. Pictorial lettersheets
are illustrated with lithographs or wood engravings depicting California and Western themes.
Intended to be used as stationery during and after the California Gold Rush, these
lettersheets served as a kind of reportage, depicting important events and popular stories
of the day. Common illustrated topics and scenes include: murders and executions; the San
Francisco Vigilance Committee; natural disasters, especially fires (San Francisco) and
floods (Sacramento); the Gold Rush; mining life (from perspectives sentimental, cautionary,
and comic); festivals, holidays, and parades; buildings and street scenes; and views of San
Francisco, Sacramento, and towns throughout the state's mining region.
The lettersheets in the collection were created by numerous California artists, engravers,
lithographers, and publishers, notably: Charles Nahl; Britton & Rey and Pollard &
Britton (San Francisco); Quirot & Co., Justh & Co., and Justh, Quirot & Co. (San
Francisco); James M. Hutchings and Hutchings & Rosenfield (San Francisco); Anthony &
Baker (San Francisco); Kuchel & Dresel (San Francisco); Cooke & LeCount (San
Francisco); Charles P. Kimball and the Noisy Carrier's Publishing Hall (San Francisco); and
Barber & Baker (Sacramento).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
California -- Gold discoveries -- Pictorial works
California -- Pictorial works
Executions and executioners -- California -- Pictorial works
Fires -- California -- San Francisco -- Pictorial works
Floods -- California -- Sacramento -- Pictorial works
Gold miners -- California -- Pictorial works
Gold mines and mining -- California -- Pictorial works
Lithography -- California
Pictorial lettersheets
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Vigilance committees -- California -- San Francisco -- Pictorial
works
Wood-engraving -- California