Bodie (Calif.) Collection, 1879-1963, bulk 1879-1910

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Summary

Title:
Bodie (Calif.) Collection
Dates:
1879-1963, bulk 1879-1910
Abstract:
This small collection consists mostly of court and financial records from the mining town of Bodie, California, chiefly dating from 1879 to 1910, as well as some later articles and notes with information on Bodie's history. Of particular interest are the minutes from meetings of the Degree of Honor of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Extent:
61 items. 1 box.
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Bodie (Calif.) Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists mostly of court and financial records from Bodie as well as some later articles and notes with information on Bodie's history. Of particular interest are the minutes from meetings of the Degree of Honor of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Biographical / historical:

Bodie, California, was named after William S. Bodey who discovered placer gold there in 1859. The first mill was established in 1861 and the town that once consisted of 20 miners eventually grew to an estimated 10,000 inhabitants by 1879. However by 1882 the boom was over and the town started to decline as many of the mines had already paid out and many of the mining companies went bankrupt. Major fires in 1892 and 1932 destroyed much of the business district in town and by the 1940s Bodie had become a ghost town. In 1964 Bodie was made into a California State Park.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Marion Parks Patridge, August 16, 1937, purchase from, Dawson's Book Shop, December 26, 1961 and gift of Roy P. McLaughlin, May 1963.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in one box and six series, each arranged chronologically:

  • 1. Correspondence.
  • 2. Court records.
  • 3. Financial records.
  • 4. Club and professional records.
  • 5. Notes and articles.
  • 6. Newspapers and ephemera.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Mitchell W. K. Toda, January 17, 2003 and revised by Katrina Denman, March 10, 2011.
Date Prepared:
© 2011
Date Encoded:
Machine readable finding aid encoded by Diann Benti in November 2016 from PDF finding aid originally in the Huntington Digital Library.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Bodie (Calif.) Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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