Consists of material removed from the time capsule placed under the Benjamin Franklin statue in Washington Square, San Francisco, California, in 1879, to be opened in 1979. Contains personal business papers of Henry Daniel Cogswell, including indentures and other papers concerning the proposed Cogswell Dental College, inventory of his property, copies of his will, papers concerning his proposition to erect a drinking fountain and establish the Women's Pioneer Hotel, and other miscellaneous material; also includes printed publications, consisting primarily of San Francisco Bay Area (with some New York) newspapers and periodicals, along with almanacs, merchandise catalogs, business cards, advertisements, directories, pamphlets, Christian publications, railroad timetables, business reports, ephemera, and books. Contributors include Sarah B. Cooper, John S. Hittell, Thomas Harmonson Holt, and Charles Otto.

Dr. Henry Daniel Cogswell, dentist and temperance advocate, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, on March 3, 1820. While working in a series of New England cotton mills in his youth, he pursued his studies at night, and eventually became a teacher; after one year, Cogswell began studying dentistry. He completed his dental training in the early 1840s and, after earlier attempts in Providence and South Coventry, he eventually set up a practice in Pawtucket in 1847. In 1846, Cogswell married Caroline E. Richards, daughter of Ruel Richards, a manufacturer in Providence.

4 boxes, 2 cartons, 1 oversize box (5.0 linear feet)

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Collection is open for research.