Finding Aid for the Frances Long Holt Journal, 1872
Cataloged by Jonathan Naito, with assistance from Jain Fletcher and Laurel McPhee, August 2004; machine-readable finding aid
created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
UCLA Library Special Collections staff
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 2008
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Frances Long Holt Journal
Date (inclusive): 1872
Collection number: 170/135
Creator:
Holt, Frances Long
Extent:
88 leaves : ruled paper ; 155 x 100 mm. bound to 162 x 109 mm.
Abstract: Journal documenting Frances Long Holt's pleasure trip to North America in 1872. The author also describes a weeklong stay
in Havana, Cuba and a brief stop in Quebec.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored at YRL Special Collections Stacks. Advance notice is required for access to the material. Please contact the UCLA Library
Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Ex libris C. K. Ogden, his bookplate on upper pastedown.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Frances Long Holt Journal (Collection 170/135). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Processing Note
Cataloged by Jonathan Naito, with assistance from Jain Fletcher and Laurel McPhee, August 2004,in the Center For Primary Research
and Training (CFPRT).
Biography
Little is known about Frances (Long) Holt other than that she was the second wife of Alfred Holt (1829-1911), an entrepreneur
and engineer who helped to introduce and advance steamship technology in the late nineteenth century. The company that he
founded, Ocean Steam Ship Company (later Alfred Holt & Co.), first rose to prominence by sending steam-powered ships on Asian
trade routes. The Holts resided in Liverpool, England.
Scope and Content
Frances Long Holt's journal entries describe tourist spots such as New Orleans, San Francisco's Chinatown, Yosemite Valley,
Niagara Falls, and New York's Central Park, as well as a number of less prominent tourist destinations including the growing
cities of Denver, Colorado Springs, and the Mormon community in Salt Lake City. Daily events within her family, as well as
her personal impressions, are also recorded. She discusses the manufacture of cigars in Cuba, a journey up the Mississippi
on a riverboat, a Chinese opera in San Francisco's Chinatown, and a trip on horseback through Yosemite Valley. Then, traveling
east, she observes Niagara Falls and tours New York City's Central Park, happening upon Fredrick Law Olmstead in the park
that he designed. Other notable experiences include a brief visit with Brigham Young during a stopover in Salt Lake City,
a trip to the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts (which gives her the opportunity to compare working conditions in America with
those in England), and a short stay in Quebec. The journal ends upon the family's return to Liverpool. Throughout the journal,
she offers the perspective of a wealthy woman from Victorian England.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Holt, Frances Long --Travel --North America --Diaries.
Transatlantic voyages --Diaries.
Related Material
Note
Binding: Half leather binding, decorative paper-covered boards and endpapers; exposed spine. Brown leather slipcase with gold
stamping on spine.
ff. 2r-2v: list of hotels visited
ff. 23r-25r: traveling up the Mississippi River
ff. 25r-30v: St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Colorado Springs
ff. 30v-33v: by train from Denver to California
ff. 33v-39r: San Francisco; Chinatown and Chinese Opera; geysers outside of
Calistoga
ff. 39r-49r: Yosemite Valley
ff. 49v-53r: Salt Lake City
ff. 56r-57v: Niagara Falls
ff. 58r-63v: New York City, Brooklyn
ff. 64r-70r: Boston, Lowell
ff. 70v-75v: Montreal, Kingston, Quebec City.