Thomas Autograph Collection
MSS.2010.06.28 MSS.2010.06.28
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
(408) 808-2062
special.collections@sjsu.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: Thomas Autograph Collection
creator:
Thomas, Henriette
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2010.06.28
Physical Description:
4.5 Linear feet
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1885-1910
Date (inclusive): 1870-1945 1885-1910
Abstract: The Thomas Autograph Collection, 1870-1945 (bulk 1885-1910) contains correspondence collected by the Thomas family, who were
active community members of Woodland, California. Charles W. Thomas collected the autographs of well-known literary and public
figures during the late 19th Century. This collection of autograph letters includes George Washington Cable, Samuel Clemens
(Mark Twain), Oliver Wendell Holmes, David Starr Jordan, and others. The collection also includes correspondence from Thomas
relatives and close friends, such as the Markham family and Calthea C. Vivian. Henriette G. Thomas, the daughter of Charles
W. Thomas, inherited her parents' autograph and correspondence collection, and added to it some of her own letters, before
donating the collection to the San Jose State College Library in 1965.
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright is assigned to the San José State University Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives. Copyright restrictions may apply to digital reproductions of the
original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
Thomas Autograph Collection, MSS-2010-06-28, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Jeffra D. Bussman. Additional processing by Lisa Zakharova. Finding aid EAD encoded by Lisa Zakharova.
Reviewed by Danelle Moon and Erin Louthen.
Family History
Born in October 1852 to George W. and Doritha M. Thomas, Charles W. Thomas lived in Kentucky until the late 1850s when his
family moved to Missouri. He attended Missouri State Normal School of the First District, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts
and Didactics in 1875. On August 5th, 1879, Charles married classmate and fellow graduate Serelda Gilstrap. Both worked as
teachers in Missouri, but Mr. Thomas soon left the teaching profession to pursue law. He passed the Missouri bar in 1878 and
worked as a clerk of the Missouri Senate Judiciary Committee in 1879. Mrs. Thomas continued to teach while earning a Master
of Arts and Didactics degree. In the 1880s, the Thomas family moved to Woodland, California, where they were active charter
members of the Woodland Shakespeare Club. In 1882, Mrs. Thomas became a book reviewer for the local newspaper, The Woodland
Democrat. Charles W. Thomas was an avid collector of autographs by well known literary and public figures from the 19th century.
It was their daughter, Henriette G. Thomas, a local San Jose High School librarian, who inherited the correspondence collection,
which she added to before she bequeathed the autograph collection to the San Jose State College library in 1965.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Thomas Autograph Collection, 1870-1945 (bulk 1885-1910), consists primarily of correspondence collected by the Thomas
family, who were active community members of Woodland, California. This collection includes autographs of well-known individuals
such as George Washington Cable, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Oliver Wendell Holmes, David Starr Jordan, and others. The collection
also includes correspondence from Thomas family relatives and close friends, such as the Markham family and Calthea C. Vivian.
Henriette G. Thomas, a San Jose High School librarian and the daughter of Charles W. Thomas, inherited her parents' autograph
and correspondence collection, and added to it some of her own letters. Also included is a small collection of miscellany
that consists of newspaper clippings, an autograph book, an audio cassette tape of an interview with Mrs. Ralph Wyckoff, who
was a close friend of Mrs. Henriette Thomas, program and poem booklets, and photographs. The bulk of the material dates from
1885-1910. All of the original correspondence related to Edwin Markham have been separated from this collection, and are now
part of the Edwin Markham Collection.
Arrangement
This single series collection is arranged alphabetically by author surname, and chronologically by date. Additional ephemera
and miscellaneous items are located in box 3.
Related Material
Edwin Markham collection, MSS-2005-10-01, San Jose State University Library Special Collections and Archives.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Autographs
Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940
Signatures (Writing)
Thomas, Henriette G.
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
Thomas, Henriette
Autographs I
Bulk, 1885-1910
1870-1945 (bulk 1885-1910)
Physical Description: 3.0 boxes
file 1, file 1
Abbott, Lyman
1891
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 2
Adams, Oscar Ray
1891
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 3
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 4
Alger, William L.
1891
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 5
Alden, James Lane
1892
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 6
Atherton, Gertrude
1897
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 12
Budd, James Herbert
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 13-14
Cable, George Washington
1889
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 1, file 15
Clemens, Samuel
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
Conditions Governing Access
Access to original letter is by special arrangement. Photocopy is available without.
file 1, file 19-20
Curtin, Jeremiah
1890 1891
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 1, file 21
Custer, Elizabeth B.
1891
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 22
Donnelly, Ignatius
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 23
Fair, James G.
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 24-26
Field, Kate
1891
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 1, file 27
Fisher, George P.
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 28-29
Foote, Mary Hallock
1892
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 1, file 30
Forsyth, George A.
1895
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 32
French, Alice
1896
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 33
Gale, Zona
undated
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 34
Gayley, Charles Mills
1898
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 35
Gilder, Jeanette L.
1901
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 36-37
Gilder, Joseph Benson
1897 1907
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 1, file 38-39
Gilder, Richard Watson
1890 1893
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 1, file 45
Grant, Robert
1893
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 46-47
Hale, Edward Everett
1891
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 1, file 48-51
Harris, William Torrey
1889-1897
Physical Description: 4.0 folders
file 1, file 52
Hay, Henry H.
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 53-55
Hill, Thomas
1896
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 1, file 56-57
Holmes, Oliver Wendell
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 58
Hopper, James
1909
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 59
Howells, William Dean.
1895
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 60
Hutton, Laurence
1895
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 63
Johnson, Grove L.
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 64-74
Jordan, David Starr.
1899-1915
Physical Description: 10.0 folders
file 1, file 76
LeConte, Joseph
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 1, file 77-80
Lummis, Charles Fletcher
1895-1897
Physical Description: 4.0 folders
file 2, file 198-199
McMaster, John Bach
1890, 1895
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 2, file 200-201
Miller, George N.
1891
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 2, file 202-204
Miller, Joaquin
1895 1896
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 2, file 205-210
Morgan, James Appleton
1889-1892
Physical Description: 5.0 folders
file 2, file 215
Muttersbach, Alice
1903
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 216
Owen, Mary Alica
1893
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 217
Page, Thomas Nelson
1894
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 218
Pardee, George Cooper
1903
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 231-232
Porter, Charlotte
1889, 1890
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 2, file 234
Putnam, George Israel
1895
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 235
Reed, Elizabeth Armstrong
1893
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 236-237
Repplier, Agnes
1891
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 2, file 239-241
Rolfe, W. J.
1890
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 2, file 242-244
Roseboro, Viola
1892, 1893
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 2, file 247
Scott, Frank H.
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 248
Scudder, H. E.
1897
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 249
St. Nicholas
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 250
Stanley, Henry Morton
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 2, file 254-256
Thomas, Edith M.
1890-1899
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 3, file 278-279
Voorsanger, Jacob
1890
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 3, file 280
Ward, Elizabeth Steward Phelps
1899
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 3, file 281
Warde, Frederick
1890
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 3, file 284
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide
1903
Physical Description: 1.0 folder
file 3, file 285-287
White, Eliza Orne
1895
Physical Description: 3.0 folders
file 3, file 288-289
Wickson, Edward
1903
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 3, file 290-291
Wildman, Rounsevelle
1896
Physical Description: 2.0 folders
file 3, file 292-297
Miscellany
1870-1945
Physical Description: 6.0 folders
