Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Mathers, J. H.
- Abstract:
- J. H. "Harry" Mathers was a surveyor for railroad and mining companies in the American west (primarily California) and Baja California. The collection is composed entirely of correspondence between various members of the Mathers family.
- Extent:
- 154 items in 1 box
- Language:
- The records are in English .
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection is composed entirely of correspondence between various members of the Mathers family. The bulk of the collection consists of letters between Harry and his mother, A.C. Mathers, and his wife, Nettie Mathers. Harry's letters reflect his experiences working as a surveyor in the railroad and mining industries in California and northern Mexico during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Correspondence between A.C.Mathers, Harry Mathers, and Nettie Mathers also discusses the personal details of the Mathers' family life, especially Harry and Nettie's children. The collection also includes some letters between A.C., Harry, and Nettie and the couple's sons, Donald, Frank, and Paul Mathers. There are also a few letters between Nettie and her parents, C. Dibble and C. A. Dibble, as well as a few from her siblings, Ethel, Karl, Katie, and "Stell." The collection's 134 letters are arranged in folders alphabetically by author and then by addressee. Within each folder, letters are sorted chronologically. The last folder contains empty envelopes that could not be matched to letters in the collection.
- Biographical / historical:
-
J. H. "Harry" Mathers was a surveyor for railroad and mining companies in the American west (primarily California) and Baja California. He moved to California from the Midwest in the late 1880s in search of work. He obtained a job with a railroad company in Baja California in 1889 surveying a line between Ensenada and the Gulf Coast and moved his family, including his wife Nettie, to Escondido, California. In the 1890s, the Mathers family moved to Chicago Park, California, near the mining town of Grass Valley. The family remained in Chicago Park for about a decade. Around the turn-of-the-century the family relocated to Los Angeles, California.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchased from Michael Vinson Western Americana, November 2, 2006.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191