Inventory of the Walker, Spinning, and Durrell Families Papers
Sara Gunasekara
Department of Special Collections
General Library
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616-5292
Phone: (530) 752-1621
Fax: (530) 754-5758
Email: speccoll@ucdavis.edu
© 2007
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Creator:
Walker family
Spinning family
Durrell family
Title: Walker, Spinning, and Durrell Families Papers
Date (inclusive): 1862-1955
Extent:
1.2 linear feet
Abstract: A family history collection which contains correspondence, photographs, and
scrapbooks pertaining to the Walker, Spinning, and Durrell families, who are related by marriage. The
correspondence includes three letters from and one letter to Hiram Walker, while he was a Union soldier
in the U.S. Civil War and five letters from Hiram's daughter, Emma (Walker) Heron, while she was a
missionary in India.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as
many are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Department of
Special Collections.
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: D-226
Language of Material: Collection materials in English.
Biography
Hiram Walker (1843-1921) served as a soldier in the United States Civil War. On December 31, 1865 he
married Sarah Charity Willis (1847-1920) in Ohio.
Their daughter, Emma (1866?-April 2, 1897), served as a missionary in India with the International
Missionary Alliance from 1891-1897. Circa 1894-1895, Emma married Donald Heron (d. January 30, 1896),
also a missionary with the Alliance in India.
Another daughter, Anna, married William Simpson Spinning on December 31, 1902 in Duluth, Minnesota. Anna
and William had two children: Marian Frances Spinning (1912- ) and Helen Margaret Spinning (1914-1983).
On May 22, 1938 Helen married Cordell Durrell (1908-1986). Cordell served as Professor of Geology at the
University of California, Davis from 1963 to 1976.
Sources consulted:
Christian Missionary Alliance. Nyack, NY: Christian Alliance, June 18, 1897, v. 28 no. 25.
Scope and Content
The papers contain correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and memorabilia of the Walker, Spinning, and
Durrell families, who are related by marriage.
The correspondence series includes three letters from and one letter to Hiram Walker, while he was a
Union soldier in the U.S. Civil War and five letters from Hiram's daughter, Emma (Walker) Heron, while
she was a missionary in India during the 1890s.
Series 2, Scrapbooks, contains five scrapbooks compiled by Anna Walker Spinning and her daughter, Helen
Spinning which document three generations of the families.
Arrangement of the Collection
The Papers are arranged into five series: Correspondence, Scrapbooks, Photographs, Artwork, and Memorabilia.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online
public access catalog.
Walker family--Archives.
Spinning family--Archives.
Durrell family--Archives.
Walker, Hiram, 1843-1921
Heron, Emma Walker, d. 1897
Durrell, Cordell, 1908-
United States-History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
Women missionaries--India
University of California, Berkeley--Pictorial works
Access
Collection is open for research.
Processing Information
Sara Gunasekara processed these papers and created and encoded this finding aid.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Walker, Spinning, and Durrell Families Papers, D-226, Department of Special
Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.
Publication Rights
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to
publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections, General Library,
University of California, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or
imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Series 1.
Correspondence
1862-1903
Physical Description:
12 letters
Scope and Content Note
The correspondence includes three letters from and one letter to Hiram Walker during the time he
served as a soldier in the United States Civil War, and five letters from Emma (Walker) Heron to
her sister Anna Walker. Also included are two letters from Carma Hostetter to Anna, and one
letter from Nancy Spinning to her new daughter-in-law, Anna.
The three letters from Hiram were written during the time he served as a Union soldier in the
U.S. Civil War. In his first letter, written in 1862 from a camp near Lexington, Kentucky, Hiram
asks his parents to write and tell him if there is "any hope of settling this...for one day we
hear it is about over and the next day we hear that England and France is a going to recognize
the South." In 1864, Hiram writes from south of Atlanta to say that they have Atlanta almost
surrounded and that they are preparing to go on a big raid. In his last letter, written on April
27, 1865, he informs his parents that they have heard that "old Lee and his [w]hole army
surrendered to Grant and Sheridan and that some infernal rascals killed Abe Lincoln and wounded
old Seward and his son."
The correspondence from Hiram's daughter, Emma (Walker) Heron, to her sister Anna, was written
during the time Emma served as a missionary in India in the 1890s. Her letters focus on religion
and briefly discuss her life in India.
Arranged chronologically.
Box 1:1
Sidney Redman to Hiram Walker
1862 February 15
Box 1:2
Hiram Walker to Parents
1862 November 10
Box 1:3
Hiram Walker to Parents
1864 August 13
Box 1:4
Hiram Walker to Parents
1865 April 27
Box 1:5
Emma Heron to Anna Walker
1891 December 4
Box 1:6
Emma Heron to Anna Walker
1892 May 13
Box 1:7
Emma Heron to Anna Walker
1893 December 22
Box 1:8
Emma Heron to Anna Walker
1895 May 23
Box 1:9
Carma Hostetter to Anna Walker
1896 January 17
Box 1:10
Carma Hostetter to Anna Walker
1896 October 26
Box 1:11
Emma Heron to Anna Walker
1896 November 13
Box 1:12
Nancy Spinning to Anna Walker Spinning
1903 January 23
Series 2.
Scrapbooks
circa 1900-1955
Physical Description:
5 scrapbooks
Scope and Content Note
Contains five scrapbooks compiled by Anna Walker Spinning and her daughter, Helen Spinning.
Box 1:14
Scrapbook 1
circa 1900-1955
Scope and Content Note
This scrapbook was probably compiled by Anna Walker Spinning. It contains material related to
the Walker and Spinning Families and holds photographs of members of the Walker Family,
including Hiram and Sarah Walker, and their children. Also found in the scrapbook are studio
portraits and family snapshots of Anna, her husband William, and their daughters Marian and
Helen from youth to circa 1955.
Box 1:15
Items removed from Scrapbook 1
circa 1900-1955
Box 1:16
Scrapbook 2
circa 1914-1916
Scope and Content Note
This scrapbook is a baby book for Helen Spinning. It contains narratives about significant
milestones in her childhood as well as photographs of Helen until about age two.
Box 1:17-20
Items removed from Scrapbook 2
circa 1914-1916
Box 2:1
Scrapbook 3
circa 1925-1931
Scope and Content Note
Compiled by Helen Spinning beginning in 1925, this scrapbook contains images and clippings of
Helen and her sister Marian as young girls growing up in Oregon.
Box 2:2-4
Items removed from Scrapbook 3
circa 1925-1931
Box 2:5
Scrapbook 4
circa 1930-1939
Scope and Content Note
Compiled by Helen Spinning during the 1930s, this scrapbook contains photographs of the
University of California, Berkeley campus, construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge, and unidentified individuals vacationing in Taft, California, among other photographs.
Box 3:1
Scrapbook 5
circa 1932-1936
Scope and Content Note
Compiled by Helen Spinning, this scrapbook focuses on life at the University of California,
Berkeley in the 1930s. Photographs, clippings, and programs are included.
Series 3.
Photographs
1952?
Physical Description: 7 File folders
Scope and Content Note
Contains several photographs including a portrait of Helen Spinning. Other photographs are
present in Series 2. Scrapbooks.
Box 3:2
Campanile at the University of California, Berkeley
undated
Box 3:3
Durrell, Cordell?
undated
Box 3:6
Tabernacle, Salt Lake City
undated
Box 3:8
Negatives of vacation photographs
1952?
Series 4.
Artwork
Scope and Content Note
Select prints from
California's colorful campuses by Chiura Obata, Berkeley:
[California Monthly], 1947.
Box 3:9
Nightfall from Charter Hill
Box 3:10
Dusk at Sather Gate, winter
Box 3:12
Spring rain, football statue
Box 3:13
Summer breeze, Botanical Garden
Box 3:14
Faculty Glade, late summer
Box 3:15
Old Botanical Gardens, early autumn
Box 3:16
Singing to the future, Memorial Stadium, fall
Box 3:17
Campanile by winter moonlight
Box 3:18
Charter Day in Greek Theatre
Series 5.
Memorabilia
1888-1957
Box 3:19
Pamphlet; Questions Regarding Hinduism by A.W. Prautch
1888
Box 3:20
Serial;
The Outers Club
1928
Box 3:21
University of California records of Helen Spinning
1933-1957
Box 3:22
Yearbook; U.S. Grant High School, Portland, Oregon
1931 June