Guide to the Stevenson House
Collection, Monterey State Historic Park
Processed by Lori Lindberg, Certified
Archivist.
California State Parks
Stevenson House State Historic Monument
Monterey State Historic Park
20 Custom
House Plaza
Monterey, CA
93940
Note
History--California
History--Central Coast History
Geographical (By
Place)--California--Central
Coast
- California State Parks
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296
Guide to the Stevenson House
Collection
Monterey State Historic Park
Monterey,
CA
- Collection processed and finding aid created by
- Lori Lindberg, Certified Archivist
San
Francisco,
CA
- Machine-readable finding aid created by
- Lori Lindberg,
Certified Archivist
San
Francisco, CA
- Stevenson House State Historic
Monument
Monterey
State Historic Park
20 Custom House
Plaza
Monterey, CA
93940
- Email:
- mshp2@mbay.net
Descriptive Summary
Title: California.
Department of Parks and
Recreation. Stevenson House Collection, Monterey State
Historic Park,
Date (inclusive): 1850 -
1996.
Collection number: 483.1
Collector:
California State
Parks
Extent:
17.62 cubic ft.
(36 boxes)
Repository:
California State
Parks
Monterey State Historic Park
20 Custom House Plaza
Monterey, CA 93940
831-649-7118
Abstract: The
Stevenson House Collection consists of
primary and secondary source materials,
artifacts, and memorabilia
connected with the Scottish author Robert
Louis Stevenson and the Stevenson
House/French Hotel in Monterey,
California. In the Stevenson House,
a former rooming house, Robert
Louis Stevenson lived for four months,
September to December 1879. During
his time living in the rooming house
he worked on
The Amateur Emigrant
and waited for his future wife
Fanny's divorce to be finalized.
Physical location: For current information on the
location of these materials, please consult the Monterey District
Museum
Curator at
831-649-7118.
Language:
English.
Legal Status
Public
Administrative Information
Access
The collections are open for research by appointment
only.
Appointments may be made by calling
831-649-7110.
Publication
Rights
Property rights reside with the California Department of Parks
and
Recreation. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the
records
and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish,
please
contact the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Monterey
State
Historic Park.
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation of these materials is: [Identification of item], [Record Group], Stevenson House Collection,
Monterey State Historic Park, 483.1,
California State
Parks.
Acquisition Information
Most of the
collection was accumulated over forty years, 1932-1972,
via donation from
a number of individuals including the Field and
Osbourne estates
(Stevenson's step-children from wife Fanny Osbourne) as
well as Stevenson
enthusiasts Flodden W. Heron of San Francisco and William Percival
Jefferson, of
Santa Barbara.
Processing
History
Between 1991 and 1993, the Stevenson House Collection in Monterey
State Historic Park had limited preservation and arrangement work done
by
an independent contractor. The work included organization and
arrangement of the collection and rehousing of most of the materials in
archival
quality containers. The project was not completed due to lack of
funding and work ceased in 1993. As a result, there was no finding aid
created for the collection and no work done toward reconciling the
present
arrangement of items to the accession and object records within
the State
Parks system.
In 2002, the State Parks designated
funding to finish the work
already begun and hired another archivist. A
Microsoft Access database was
created listing the contents of each box
in the collection, record group
and series numbers assigned to each
folder and/or item by the prior
contractor, as well as CSP-assigned
accession numbers identified with each
item. An interim container list was
printed. This container list was
reconciled with the 1960 inventory
kept with the collection in its
storage space.
A preliminary
inventory was completed and a processing plan devised.
The primary level
organization scheme from the prior contractor was
retained, with each
collection treated as a separate record group with
series and subseries
as appropriate. Certain record formats, such as
monographs and
artifacts, were removed from their record groups and housed
as a distinct
group of Separated Materials because of their unique
storage
requirements.
Some item containers were changed to more appropriate archival
housing, and all photographs were sleeved in PAT-passed polypropylene
sleeves. All metal fasteners such as staples and paper clips were
removed and
replaced where appropriate with inert plastiklips. Monographs
were
housed in custom made book
boxes.
About the Collection and the
Stevenson House State Historic
Monument
The Stevenson House
Collection consists of primary and secondary
source materials, artifacts,
and memorabilia connected with the Scottish
author Robert Louis
Stevenson and the Stevenson House/French Hotel
in Monterey,
California. In the Stevenson House, a former rooming house,
Robert Louis
Stevenson lived for four months, September to December
1879. During his time
living in the rooming house he worked on
The
Amateur Emigrant
and waited for his future
wife Fanny's
divorce to be finalized.
It was in Monterey that Stevenson penned the
"Old Pacific Capital."
Some say that his setting for the tale
Treasure Island came from his walks along the
Monterey Peninsula.
Today, the Stevenson House has been restored as a
period home with several
rooms devoted to 'Stevensoniana'.
This
two-story adobe has sheltered families, government officials,
artists,
writers and fishermen, beginning in the Mexican era. First
owned by
Don Rafael Gonzalez, and reportedly built in the 1830s, the
two-story
adobe originally comprised the sala and one large room upstairs. A
Swiss businessman, Girardin, purchased it and added on the Houston
Street
section. Over the years it served many business purposes, and for a
time was known as The French Hotel. Stevenson lived in the building
during this period.
In 1937 the historic adobe was purchased by the
late Edith C. van
Antwerp and Mrs. C. Tobin Clark to save it from
destruction. They in turn
presented it to the State of California as a
memorial, and it is now a
unit of Monterey State Historic Park.
Biography
Robert Lewis (later: Louis) Balfour
Stevenson was born in Edinburgh
on 13 November 1850. His father Thomas
belonged to a family of
engineers who had built many of the deep-sea
lighthouses around the rocky coast
of Scotland. His mother, Margaret
Isabella Balfour, came from a family
of lawyers and church ministers. In
1857 the family moved to 17 Heriot
Row, a solid respectable house in
Edinburgh's New Town.
At the age of seventeen he enrolled at
Edinburgh University to study
engineering, with the aim - his father hoped
- of following him in the
family firm. However, he abandoned this
course of studies and made the
compromise of studying law. He 'passed
advocate' in 1875 but did not
practice since by now he knew he wanted to
be a writer. In the
university's summer vacations he went to France to
be in the company of other
young artists, both writers and painters.
His first published work was an
essay called "Roads", and his first
published volumes were works of
travel writing.
EARLY PUBLISHED
WORKS:
His first published volume,
An
Inland
Voyage
(1878), is an account of the journey he made by
canoe from
Antwerp to northern France, in which prominence is given to
the author
and his thoughts. A companion work,
Travels
with a Donkey in the Cevennes
(1879), gives us more
of his
thoughts on life and human society and continues in
consolidating the image
of the debonair narrator also found in his essays and
letters (classed
among his best works).
MEETING WITH FANNY,
JOURNEY TO CALIFORNIA, MARRIAGE:
His meeting with his future wife,
Fanny, was to change the rest of
his life. They met immediately after
his 'inland voyage', in September
1876 at Grez, a riverside village
south-east of Paris; he was
twenty-five, and she was thirty-six, an
independent American 'new woman',
separated from her husband and with two
children. Two years later she decided
to obtain a divorce and Stevenson
set out for California. His own
experiences continue to be the subject
of his next large-scale work
The Amateur
Emigrant
(written 1879-80,
published 1894), an account of this
journey to California, which Noble (1985:
14) considers his finest work.
In this work of perceptive reportage and
open-minded and humane
observation the voice is less buoyant and does
not avoid observation of
hardship and suffering. The light-hearted
paradoxes and confidential
address to the reader of the essays written a few
years before (1876-77)
and then published as
Virginibus
Puerisque
(1881) continue in the creation of his
original debonair authorial
persona.
Concluding this first period of writing based closely
on his own
direct experiences is
The
Silverado
Squatters
(1883), an account of his three week honeymoon at
an abandoned
silver mine in California.
SHORT
STORIES:
Stevenson's first published fictional narrative was "A Lodging for
the
Night" (1877), a short story originally published in a magazine,
like
other early narrative works, such as "The Sire De Maletroit's Door"
(1877), "Providence and the Guitar" (1878), and "The Pavilion on the
Links" (1880, considered by Conan Doyle in 1890 as 'the high-water mark
of [Stevenson's] genius' and 'the first short story in the world,' qu.
Menikoff 1990: 342). These four tales were collected in a volume
entitled
New Arabian Nights in 1882,
preceded by the seven linked stories originally called "Latter-Day Arabian
Nights" when published in a magazine in 1878. This collection is seen
as
the starting point for the history of the English short story by
Barry
Menikoff (1987: 126). The Arabian stories were described by
critics of
the time as 'fantastic stories of adventure,' 'grotesque
romances' 'in
which the analytic mind loses itself' (Maixner 1981: 117, 120),
and are
seen by Chesterton (1927: 169) as 'unequalled' and 'the most
unique of
his works'. They have an affinity with
The
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
in their setting
in the
labyrinthine modern city, and the subject matter of crimes and
guilty
secrets involving respectable members of society. Stevenson
continued to
write short stories all his life, and notable titles
include: "Thrawn
Janet" (1881), "The Merry Men" (1882), "The Treasure of
Franchard" (1883),
"Markheim" (1885), which, being a narrative of the
Double, has certain
affinities with Jekyll and Hyde, "Olalla" (1885),
which like Jekyll and
Hyde originated in a dream and also deals with the
possibility of
degeneration. The above short narratives were all
collected in
The Merry Men and Other Tales and
Fables
in
1887.
"Olalla" was written in a period of just
over two years (1885-7)
when Stevenson and Fanny were living in the
cottage Skerryvore in
Bournemouth. Despite problems of health and
finances, this was a period of
meetings with Henry James, W.E. Henley and
other literary figures, and when
he wrote the long short-story (published
as a single volume), his
'breakthrough book',
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde
(1886). Another
collection
Island Nights'
Entertainments
, tales with a South Sea
setting, was published in 1893, including
"The Bottle Imp" (1891), "The Beach
of Falesa" (1892, a long short
story of the same length as Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde), and "The Isle of
Voices" (1893).
TREASURE ISLAND AND "CHILDREN'S
LITERATURE":
Another fortuitous turning-point in Stevenson's life had occurred
when
on holiday in Scotland in the summer of 1881. The cold rainy weather
forced the family to amuse themselves indoors, and one day Stevenson
and his twelve-year-old stepson, Lloyd (Fanny's son by her first
marriage), drew, colored and annotated the map of an imaginary "Treasure
Island". The map stimulated Stevenson's imagination and, 'On a chill
September morning, by the cheek of a brisk fire' he began to write a story
based on it as an entertainment for the rest of the family.
Treasure Island (published in book form in 1883)
marks the beginning of his popularity and his career as a profitable
writer; it was his first volume-length fictional narrative, and the
first of
his writings 'for children' (or rather, the first of writings
manipulating the genres associated with children). Later works that fit
into
this category are
A Child's Garden of
Verses
(1885),
The Black
Arrow
(1883),
Kidnapped (1886) and its
continuation
Catriona (1893). The
four narrative
works mentioned in this paragraph, though they all have
youthful
protagonists and were all first published in magazines for
young people, are
also clearly intended for adult readers. The last three,
based on
careful documentary research, are fictions exploring history
and culture; and
the last two are interesting studies of Scottish
culture.
NOVELS AND ROMANCES:
Prince Otto (1885), his second
full-length narrative, is defined by
Andrew Lang as 'a
philosophical-humouristical-psychological fantasy'
(qu. Maixner 1981: 181). The action is
provocatively set in the
imaginary state of Grunewald, an unusual
choice for Stevenson, and it was
to historical Scotland (which had already
provided the setting for
Kidnapped
and
Catriona) that he turned for his
next full-length 'adult'
story,
The Master of
Ballantrae
(1889).
This is a Doubles narrative in which the
brothers James and Henry have
similarities with Jekyll and Hyde, not only
in their initials, but
also because of the mixed personality of the
'good' character, the
constant return of the persecuting Double, and the
simultaneous death of the
two antagonists. Both Calvino and Brecht
consider it to be the best of
his works, and it is highly praised by writers
as diverse as Henry
James, Walter Benjamin and Andre Gide. The novel
that he was working
on when he died,
Weir of
Hermiston
(published incomplete and posthumously in 1896), is
also set in Scotland
in the not-too-distant past and is often praised as
Stevenson's
masterpiece. The centre of the story is the difficult
relationship of an
authoritarian father and a son who has to assert his own
identity (a
theme present in many of Stevenson's works - and clearly a
way he used of
exploring and coming to terms with his difficult
relationship with his
own father).
IN THE SOUTH
SEAS
:
This very Scottish romance was written when Stevenson was far
away
on the other side of the world. His decision to sail around the
Pacific
in 1888, living on various islands for short periods, then
setting off
again (all the time collecting material for an anthropological
and
historical work on the South Seas which was never fully
completed), was
another turning point in his life. In 1889 he and his extended
family
arrived at the port of Apia in the Samoan islands and they
decided to build
a house and settle. This choice brought him health,
distance from the
distractions of literary circles, and went towards the
creation of his
mature literary persona: the traveller, the exile, very
aware of the
harsh sides of life but also celebrating the joy in his
own skill as a
weaver of words and teller of tales. It also acted as a
new stimulus to
his imagination. He wrote about the Pacific islands in
several of his
later works:
Island Nights'
Entertainments
already referred to;
In the South
Seas
(published 1896), essays that would have gone
towards the large
work on the area that he planned; and two other
narratives with a South
Sea setting:
The
Wrecker
(1892), and
The Ebb-Tide
(1894). The former is a
mystery adventure set in various places over the
globe but centred in
the South Seas (indeed at Midway Island, Latitude
0' deg;) with some dark
tones, especially in the fruitless search for
treasure and the massacre
of a ship's crew (for quite understandable
reasons!).
The Ebb-Tide (like "The
Beach of Falesa") gives a
realistic picture of the degenerate European
traders and riffraff who
inhabited the ports of the Pacific islands.
These South Sea narratives mark
a definite move towards a more harsh and
grim realism (Stevenson
himself (qu. Maixner 1981: 452) acknowledges
affinities of
The Ebb-Tide with the
work of Zola).
DEATH:
The authorial persona had changed
from the debonair flaneur of the
early works, but retained a joy in his
craft and a consciousness in the
shaping of his own life. He died in
December 1894 and even shaped the
manner of his burial: as he had
wished, he was buried at the top of
Mount Vaea above his home on Samoa.
Appropriately it was his own short
poem, "Requiem" (from an 1887
collection), that was written on his tomb:
'Under the wide and starry sky, /
Dig the grave and let me lie...'
RECEPTION:
Stevenson
establishes a personal relationship with the reader, and
creates a sense
of wonder through his brilliant style and his adoption
and
manipulation of a variety of genres. Writing when the period of the
three-volume
novel (dominant from about 1840 to 1880) was coming to an
end, he
seems to have written everything except a traditional Victorian
novel:
plays, poems, essays, literary criticism, literary theory,
biography,
travelogue, reportage, romances, boys' adventure stories,
fantasies,
fables, and short stories. Like the other writers who were
asserting the
serious artistic nature of the novel at this time he writes in a
careful, almost poetic style - yet he provocatively combines this with
an
interest in popular genres. His popularity with critics continued to
the
First World War. He then had the misfortune to be followed by the
Modernists who needed to cut themselves off from any constraining
tradition; Stevenson was felt to be one of the most constraining of
immediately-preceding authors for his sheer ability, and one of the most
insidious for his play with popular genres and for his preference for
'romance' over the serious novel. Condemned by Virginia and especially Leonard
Woolf (1927; not unconnected, perhaps, with the fact that one of
Stevenson's great supporters had been Virginia's father), ignored by
F.R.Leavis, he was gradually excluded from the "canon" of
regularly
taught and written-about works of literature. The nadir comes
in 1973 when
Frank Kermode and John Hollander published their
Oxford Anthology of English Literature. With
over two
thousand pages at their disposal in which to exemplify and
comment on the
notable poetry and prose produced in the British Isles
from '1800 to the
Present', not one page is devoted to Stevenson - in
the whole
closely-printed two thousand pages, Stevenson is not even
mentioned once!
Critical interest has been increasing slowly since then,
in some countries
more than others (cf. Ambrosini 1991), though there
have been few
single-volume studies when compared with the large
numbers of books published
every year on his contemporaries James and
Conrad. Stevenson, some might
say, has been fortunate to escape such
attention. Reading this
Mozartian and mercurial writer remains for many as
for Borges (1979), despite
critical neglect, quite simply 'a form of
happiness'.
Copyright 1997 Richard Dury. Used by permission from the
author.
Scope and
Content
The records of the Stevenson House Collection encompass the
breadth
of the Scottish writer's oeuvre, from manuscript letters and
first
edition books to original serial publications and works of art,
and are
supplemented by materials from other members of his family,
including wife
Fanny, mother Margaret, and step children Isobel Osbourne
Strong Field
and Lloyd Osbourne. The bulk of the collection is dated
between 1880
and 1920. Most of the collection was accumulated over
forty years,
1932-1972, via donation from a number of individuals
including the Field and
Osbourne estates as well as Stevenson enthusiasts
Flodden W. Heron and
William Percival Jefferson, both of San Francisco.
Significant items in
the collection range from three pages of manuscript
music in
Stevenson's hand (transcriptions of popular pieces adapted
for flageolet, a
recorder-type instrument played by Stevenson), a number
of autograph
letters, and a manuscript page from Weir of Hermiston, to
six scrapbooks of
press clippings and reviews about Stevenson,
meticulously kept and
annotated by Stevenson's mother, Margaret. Additional
items of note are six
glass plate photograph negatives from Williams of
Honolulu, documenting
Stevenson's lengthy 1888 visit with King
Kalakaua and Princess
Lilioukalani of Hawaii, three volumes of Fanny
Stevenson's Vailima diaries, as
well as three volumes of journals and a
significant collection of
correspondence and photographs of Charles Warren
Stoddard, Stevenson's
acquaintance and godfather to Austin Strong
(Isobel's son), a resident of
Monterey. The collections are supplemented by
a small group of materials
documenting the establishment of the
Stevenson House State Historic
Monument and the efforts toward preservation
of the historic adobe.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have
been used to index the description of
this collection
in a library's
online public access catalog:
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
Personal Names:
Colvin,
Sidney,
Sir, 1845-1927.
Field,
Isobel, 1858-1953.
Heron,
Flodden
W.
Osbourne,
Lloyd, 1868-1947.
Sanchez,
Nellie Van de Grift,
1856-1935.
Simoneau,
Jules, 1821-1908.
Stevenson,
Fanny Van de Grift,
1840-1914.
Stevenson,
Robert Louis, 1850-1894.
Stoddard,
Charles
Warren, 1843-1909.
Strong,
Austin, 1881-1952.
Subjects:
Authors, Scottish--19th
century--Biography.
California--History.
Historic
buildings--California--Monterey.
Monterey
(Calif.)--History.
Stevenson,
Robert Louis, 1850-1894--Biography.
Stevenson,
Robert Louis,
1850-1894--Criticism and interpretation.
Bibliography
Additional
information about Robert Louis Stevenson may be
found in the following
publications:
Online:
The Robert Louis
Stevenson Web Site, maintained by Richard Dury of
the University of Bergamo,
Italy: http://wwwesterni.unibg.it/siti_esterni/rls/rls.htm
Print:
Balfour Graham.
The Life of Robert
Louis Stevenson.
London:
Methuen and Co.,
1901.
Bell, Ian.
Robert
Louis Stevenson: Dreams of Exile.
Edinburgh/NY:
Mainstream/Henry Holt and Co.,
1992.
Calder, Jenni.
RLS: A Life Study.
London:
Hamish
Hamilton,
1980.
Calder, Jenni.
The Robert Louis
Stevenson Companion.
London:
Paul Harris Publishing,
1980.
Colvin, Sidney.
Robert Louis
Stevenson: His
Work And Personality.
London:
Hodder and Stoughton,
1924.
Daiches, David.
Robert Louis
Stevenson.
Norfolk,
CT/Glasgow:
New Directions Books/William Maclellan,
1947.
Furnas, J.C.
Voyage to
Windward: the Life
of Robert Louis Stevenson.
New
York/London:
William Sloane/Faber and Faber,
1951.
Neider, Charles (ed.).
Fanny and Robert
Stevenson: Our Samoan
Adventure.
London:
Weidenfeld and Nicholson,
1956.
Osborne, Lloyd.
An
Intimate
Portrait of R.L.S.
New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons,
1924.
Swinnerton, Frank A.
Robert Louis
Stevenson: A critical study.
London/New York:
Secker/George H. Doran,
1914.
Box Boxes 1-2
Record Group I.
Stevenson
House Administrative Records, 1937-1994
Physical Description:
2 document
cases
Scope and Content Note
This record group consists of a collection
of audio
material and paper records relating to the operation and
establishment of
the Stevenson House, as well as collections acquisition
and
management.
Box 1, Folder 1
Series i:
Correspondence, 1937
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence from Mrs. Tobin related to establishment of the
Stevenson
House.
Box 1, Folder 2
Series ii:
House deed restriction documentation, 1941
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence and written agreements related to establishment of the
Stevenson
House.
Box 1, Folder 3
Series iii:
House garden plans, 1948
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Native and historic plant lists and garden schematics related to establishment of the
Stevenson
House.
Folder 4
Series iv:
Indexes, 1959
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
1959 index of
Stevenson's mother's scrapbooks, compiled by
Anne
Issler.
Folder 5-10
Series v.
Inventories and registers,
1959-1963
Physical Description:
6
folders
Scope and Content Note
Inventories of the
Stevenson
House collections as well as collections of Stevenson
materials from
other repositories, including the Beinecke Library and Baker
Cottage on
Saranac Lake.
Folder 11
Series vi.
Miscellaneous items, ca.
1960
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Includes shelf labels, receipts, and notes
on scraps of
paper.
Folder 12
Series vii.
News clippings,
1937-1968
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Miscellaneous
Stevenson and Stevenson
House-related news
clippings.
Folder 13
Series viii.
Museum object provenance
documentation,
1963
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Documentation
of
provenance of particular items from the Stevenson House
collections.
Folder 14
Series ix.
Object
reproductions, 1968
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Registered
copies #9 and #10 of the
manuscript music for flageolet from the Heron
Collection, issued by the
Department of
Parks.
Folder 15
Series x.
Photographs, no
dates
Physical Description:
1
folder
Scope and Content Note
Assorted photographs of Stevenson House and the
gardens.
Box 35
Series xi.
Scrapbooks, 1945-1968
Physical Description:
1
item (See Box 35)
Scope and Content Note
A
scrapbook of clippings and ephemera from
Stevenson House, including
announcements and invitations. Housed
separately.
Box 2
Series i.
Audiovisual
Materials, 1949-1994
Physical Description:
13
items
Scope and Content Note
Audiorecordings in various
formats, including recording wire, of BBC
programs, oral histories, and
other topics related to
Stevenson.
Box Box 3
Record Group II.
Barkle Museum Collection, 1884-1940
Physical Description:
1
document case
(9
folders)
Scope and Content Note
The Barkle Museum Collection was donated to the
Stevenson
House by Mrs. T. J. Barkle in memory of her late husband. Mr.
Barkle
kept a small museum at his home to display treasures from his varied
collection of memorabilia. The Stevenson items donated were part of
that collection.
Box 3, Folder 1-3
Series i.
Correspondence, 1884-1940
Physical Description:
3 folders (3
items)
Scope and Content Note
Includes three manuscript
letters, two about Stevenson
and one to Barkle
himself.
Folder 4
Series ii.
Framed items, no
date
Physical Description:
1 folder (1
item)
Scope and Content Note
One framed postcard of Stevenson
House.
Folder 5-6
Series iii.
Pamphlets/
booklets, 1922
Physical Description:
1 folder (2
items)
Scope and Content Note
Two
pamphlets, one about the
Wendover, England environs and the second
Josephine M. Branch's story of
the friendship between Stevenson and Jules
Simoneau:
The Story of a
Friendship.
Folder 7-9
Series iv.
Photographs, ca.
1880s
Physical Description:
3
folders (6
items)
Scope and Content Note
Two albums and
four loose photographs
of Stevenson, family and friends, the Casco,
and South Seas views,
including
Samoa.
Box Boxes 4-13
Record Group III.
Field/Strong Collection, 1857-1948
Physical Description:
10
document cases
Scope and Content Note
This collection
was a gift to the Stevenson House from
Isobel Field, Stevenson's
stepdaughter, and her son Austin Strong. The
largest collection in the
series of collections, this group of
materials contains a number of
significant items including Fanny Stevenson's
Samoa diaries, Margaret
Stevenson's scrapbooks, and a number of original
photographs. The majority
of these items have no
dates.
Box 4, Folder 1
Series i.
RLS primary works, 1880
Physical Description:
1 folder (1
item)
Scope and Content Note
Tear sheets from
Fraser's Magazine, London, Nov., 1880. First
printing
of Stevenson's essay, "The Old Pacific Capital," and poem,
"The
Scotsman's Return."
Folder 2-4
Series ii.
RLS secondary works, 1898-1922
Physical Description:
3 folders (5
items)
Scope and Content Note
Second and special
editions of Stevenson
works, including "The Stevenson Baby Book," Austin
Strong's copy from the
San Francisco publisher John Howell, inscribed
5/27/1938. #33 of a
limited edition of 500 printed by John Henry Nash in
1922.
Folder 5-14
Series iii.
RLS family-papers, 1857-1946
Physical Description:
2
document cases (15
folders)
Scope and Content Note
Primarily manuscript materials, including diaries,
from wife Fanny and
stepdaugher Isobel.
Folder 5-14 , Box 5, Folder 1-4
Subseries 1.
Manuscript materials, 1857-1937
Physical Description:
(14
folders)
Scope and Content Note
Manuscript items, including
two volumes of Fanny
Stevenson's Samoa diaries and the manuscript for
Isobel Field's
autobiography,
This Life I've
Loved.
Folder 5
Subseries 2.
Other materials, 1946
Physical Description:
1 folder (4
items)
Scope and Content Note
Reader's
Digest,
May, 1946, international editions from Brazil,
Sweden,
Finland, and Arabia. Contains article on Fanny Stevenson
written by Austin
Strong.
Box 6-12
Series iv.
Other RLS-related materials 1871-1948
Physical Description:
1 document case and 6 larger
flat
boxes
Scope and Content Note
A large and
significant collection of
material encompassing a variety of formats
including ephemera, magazine and
journal articles, pamphlets and booklets, a
large group of photographs
and the scrapbooks meticulously kept by
Stevenson's mother Margaret
that feature a multitude of articles and book
reviews about her
son.
Box 6
Subseries 1.
Artwork and
framed items, no dates
Physical Description:
(7
items)
Scope and Content Note
Drawings, engravings, and framed
photographs of such subjects as
Stevenson, his friend Jules Simoneau,
the St. Gaudens bas-relief memorial to
Stevenson, and Annie Louise
Ide.
Box 7
Subseries 2.
Correspondence, 1937-1949
Physical Description:
(1
folder)
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence from Austin Strong and Isobel Field regarding collection
donation to Stevenson House.
Box 7
Subseries 3.
Ephemera, ca.
1930s
Physical Description:
(2
items)
Scope and Content Note
A photo postcard of Grez
sur Loing, France, and
philatelic cover from Samoa featuring three
commemorative stamps issued to honor
Stevenson.
Box 7
Subseries 4.
Magazine / journal articles, 1922-1948
Physical Description:
(2
items)
Scope and Content Note
Articles on the South Seas and Palm
Springs featuring Stevenson connections.
Box 7
Subseries 5.
Manuscript materials, 1871
Physical Description:
(1
item)
Scope and Content Note
Autograph manuscript: 4 page poem, "Answer to a
letter on Modern Creeds from a Brother Minister, by the Rev. I. Peter
Oldpath M.A." Manse of Kilcumber, 23 Jul, 1871 (probably was the property
of Stevenson's mother, daughter of the Rev. Lewis Balfour, Collinton
Manse).
Box 7
Subseries 6.
Monographs /
pamphlets, 1913-1919
Physical Description:
(2
items)
Scope and Content Note
Two
pamphlets about Stevenson's life
featuring
photos.
Box 8
Subseries 7.
Photographs, 1888-1940
Physical Description:
(38
items)
Scope and Content Note
Extensive collection of photographs, most
notably
an album of photos from Fanny Stevenson's funeral, numerous
photos of
Stevenson and life and locations on Samoa, including Vailima, and
one of
the last photos ever taken of
Stevenson.
Box 9-12
Subseries 8.
Scrapbooks, ca.
1877-1900
Physical Description:
(5
items)
Scope and Content Note
Margaret Isabella Stevenson's
scrapbooks,
totalling five in the collection. The scrapbooks collectively
contain over
1200 news clippings, mostly book reviews, about Stevenson's
work. In
addition, the scrapbooks contain several poems and letters, one
of the
Padre dos Reales handbills, genealogical material, and other
items.
Completely indexed by Anne Issler in 1960 (see Box
2).
Box 13
Series v.
Oversize materials,
ca.
1880s-1950s
Physical Description:
12
items
Scope and Content Note
Larger
framed photographs of Stevenson
in Hawaii with King Kalakaua, portraits
of Stevenson, Fanny Stevenson,
and Isobel Field as a child, as well as
phonograph recordings of Isobel
Field relating anecdotal experiences
of life with
Stevenson.
Box (See
note.)
Series vi.
Separated materials ca.
1850s-1913
Physical Description:
2
items
Note
Note: Both items in Separated Materials are housed with the
existing library of monographs in the Stevenson
House.
Scope and Content Note
An issue of
The Bookman,
Extra
Number,
1913, devoted to Stevenson, and his father Robert
Stevenson's personal cookbook.
Box Boxes 14-22
Record Group IV.
Heron Collection, 1814-1947
Physical Description:
9 document
cases
Scope and Content Note
The Heron Collection, the
second-largest collection of
materials in the Stevenson House Collection,
consists of manuscript
materials, first edition printings, and other
Stevenson-related materials
collected by Flodden W. Heron, a noted
Stevenson enthusiast. Mr. Heron
was active in the establishment of a number
of memorials to Stevenson
throughout California, including the
Stevenson House, and was president
of the Book Club of California, which
published a number of Stevenson
works in special limited edition
printings.
Box 14
Subgroup 1.
Robert Louis Stevenson - Primary Materials,
1879-1923
Physical Description:
8
items
Scope and Content Note
This series
includes manuscript items in Stevenson's hand, various
dates, and first
edition publications.
Folder 1-4
Series i.
Manuscript materials, 1886-1893
Physical Description:
(3
items)
Scope and Content Note
Two autograph letters from
Stevenson, one to his parents and
one to S.S. McClure, Captain of the yacht
Casco, three sheets of manuscript music in Stevenson's hand, along with an addressed Stevenson autograph
envelope to Mrs.
Sitwell.
Folder 5-9
Series ii.
First edition publications, 1879-1923
Physical Description:
(5
items)
Scope and Content Note
First publications of Stevenson in magazine or
pamphlet form, including "The Silverado Squatters" and
Father Damien among others.
Library See note.
Subseries a.
Monographs
no dates
available.
Physical Description:
See inventory at Stevenson
House.
Note
Note: All of the items described here are housed with the
existing
library of monographs in the Stevenson House and inventoried
separately.
Scope and Content Note
Heron donated his large collection of
first
edition books to the Stevenson House when donating this
collection of
materials. They are housed together with the rest of the books in
the
collection in the library at the Stevenson
House.
Folder 5-9
Subseries b.
Journals/pamphlets, 1879-1923
Physical Description:
(5
items)
Scope and Content Note
In additon to the titles
listed
above, this group includes an issue of
Edinburgh, Picturesque Notes, in a paper folder with six
etchings.
Box 14
Subgroup 2.
RLS secondary works, 1896-1942
Physical Description:
7
items
Scope and Content Note
Stevenson works that are not first edition publications,
including
second and later editions and fine art press limited
editions.
Series i.
Second and
later editions, 1896-1942
Physical Description:
(8
items)
Scope and Content Note
Second and later editions published as monographs,
fine art press
editions published by particular organizations or
individuals, and facsimile
editions.
Subseries a.
Monographs
and journals,
1896
Physical Description:
(2
items)
Scope and Content Note
An 1896
issue of
The Studio, featuring two
Stevenson
articles, as well as an interesting old paperback edition of
Treasure
Island.
Subseries b.
Fine art
press limited
editions, 1938-1942
Physical Description:
(3
items)
Scope and Content Note
Smaller art press editions of Stevenson, including a letter to
Mrs.
Virgil Williams and his short story, "The Sea Fogs," printed for
the
Bohemian Club by the Grabhorn Press, San Francisco, in
1942.
Subseries c.
Facsimiles,
no
date
Physical Description:
(1
item)
Scope and Content Note
Facsimile of
The Sunbeam Magazine, cover of
January,
1866. Edited and produced by Stevenson as a schoolboy.
Included are
explanatory typewritten
notes.
Series ii.
Derivative
works, no
date
Physical Description:
(1 item)
Scope and Content Note
A song cycle
by
Charles McCurrie based on
A Child's Garden
of
Verses.
Box 15
Subgroup 3.
RLS family- works, 1896-1913
Physical Description:
4
items
Scope and Content Note
Publications by members of Stevenson's
family.
Folder 1-4
Series i.
Publications/journals 1896-1913
Physical Description:
(4
items)
Scope and Content Note
A facsimile of Lloyd
Osbourne's
childhood paper,
The Surprise,
along
with two articles on life at Vailima by Isobel Field and an
article by
Nellie Sanchez, Stevenson's
sister-in-law.
Box 16
Subgroup 4.
Other Stevenson-related materials,
1895-1950
Physical Description:
7 document
cases
Scope and Content Note
The
largest portion of the Heron collection, this group of
materials consists
of manuscript materials from persons associated with
Stevenson, a nice
selection of photographs, and, most notably, Heron's
Weir of Hermiston collection: a group of
materials,
including the first edition publication, associated with
Stevenson's
final unfinished book considered by many to be his
masterpiece.
Folder 1
Series i.
Correspondence, 1948-1950
Physical Description:
(1
item)
Scope and Content Note
Manuscript address by Mrs. Virgil
Williams at
the dedication of the Stevenson monument, Portsmouth Square,
San
Francisco.
Folder 2
Series ii.
Manuscript materials, 1897
Physical Description:
(1
item)
Scope and Content Note
Manuscript address by Mrs. Virgil
Williams at
the dedication of the Stevenson monument, Portsmouth Square,
San
Francisco.
Folder 3-7
Series iii.
Magazine / journal articles, 1895-1950
Physical Description:
(4
items)
Scope and Content Note
An assortment of articles
relating to
Stevenson.
Box 17
Series iii.
Monographs / pamphlets, 1875-1940
Physical Description:
(13
items)
Scope and Content Note
A nice selection of
pamphlets and small
books by persons associated with Stevenson, some
with Stevenson as the
subject. Items of note include copies of the
Anderson Galleries auction
catalogues from the 1914 and 1915 sales of
Stevenson's estate, as well
as an interesting analysis of Stevenson's
handwriting conducted by
Gertrude Hills, personal secretary and librarian
to Edward Beinecke, the
noted collector of Stevenson material (along
with much more) and founder
of the Beinecke Library at Yale University.
The volume was a gift to
Heron from Beinecke and inscribed to Heron by
him in
1940.
Box 18
Series iv.
Ephemera
and collectibles, 1932-1949
Physical Description:
(14
items)
Scope and Content Note
An assortment of postcards,
clippings, programs and keepsakes
from the dedication of the Stevenson Memorial
in San Francisco,
Stevenson House, and other locales and events
associated with
Stevenson.
Box 19
Series v.
Art work and framed items,
no
dates
Physical Description:
(10
items)
Scope and Content Note
Framed and
unframed sketches,
reproductions, and clippings of Stevenson, the Casco,
places and buildings
associated with Stevenson, as well as a nice
portrait of
Heron.
Box 20
Series vi.
Scrapbooks,
ca.
1920-1932
Physical Description:
(3
items)
Scope and Content Note
Three
scrapbooks maintained by Heron containing
an assortment of clippings,
ephemera, and other items associated with
Stevenson. Includes articles
about the wreck of the Casco, and a group
of articles and keepsakes
illuminating the dedication of the bronze
plaque placed by the Literary
Anniversary Club on the Stevenson House,
Monterey, November 13, 1932
and the special exhibition at the San Francisco
Public Library of the
same year.
Box 21
Series vii.
Photograph
materials, 1888-1944
Physical Description:
(13
items)
Scope and Content Note
Photographs of buildings in California
where Stevenson lived, Stevenson
and his family, various Scotland locales
associated with Stevenson and
ceremonies and banquets associated with
Stevenson monuments in
California.
Box 22
Series viii.
Weir of Hermiston
collection, 1814-1940
Physical Description:
(6
items)
Scope and Content Note
This impressive collection of
material contains a number of items
connected with Stevenson and his
inspiration for the book
Weir of Hermiston,
including Stevenson's personal
copy of George Sinclair's
Satan's Invisible
World,
containing the story of
Major Weir, a first edition copy of
Stevenson's novel, and two autograph
pages of Stevenson's
manuscript.
Box Boxes 23-24
Record Group V.
Hitchcock-Walker Collection, 1707-1937
Physical Description:
2 document
cases
Scope and Content Note
The Hitchcock-Walker Collection is another
collection
of materials donated to the Stevenson House by Mrs. Ripley
Hitchcock,
widow of Mr. Hitchcock, a Stevenson enthusiast, in memory of
her sister,
Mrs. W.G. Walker. The collection contains a number of
items from the
Anderson Gallery sale of Stevenson's estate in 1915,
materials sold by
Isobel Field after the death of her mother, Fanny.
Although a number of
the items are not Stevenson primary or secondary
materials, they were
owned by him. Items of note are some very early
18th-century pamphlets,
some Stevenson ephemera, and 9 prints of the Williams
of Honolulu set
of 12, a complement to the six glass plate negatives
contained in the
Osbourne Collection.
Folder 1-2
Series i.
Artwork / graphics, 1886
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Woodcut portrait of Stevenson by T. Johnson.
Signed and
dated proof on plate paper, 1886 (Item #266 in Anderson Gallery
catalog).
Folder 3
Series ii.
Ephemera, ca.
1940
Physical Description:
10
items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted items, including
a Christmas card with
reproduction of a Stevenson poem dedicated to
Charles Baxter, sent as
greeting from Gertrude Hills, private secretary
and librarian to Edward
Beinecke (poem is part of Beinecke collection
at Yale), theatre programs,
clippings and postcards reflecting various
Stevenson-related topics
including his J.S. Sargent portrait, Saranac
Lake cottage, and St. Giles
memorial.
Folder 4
Series iii.
Framed items, 1915
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
A framed lithograph illustration of Samoan high chiefs
from
an article in
Mid-Pacific
Magazine,
November 1915
Folder 5
Series iv.
Memorabilia, 1880-1940
Physical Description:
8
items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted items of memorabilia including a
letter to Stevenson from the Union
Club of Sydney inviting him to membership
(1890), and a receipt for
his contribution to the Advocates Widow's
Fund (1880); a pamphlet
publishing an address before the Stevenson
Fellowship of San Francisco by
Edwin Wiley; a pamphlet keepsake produced by
Meirie and Eugenie Dutton
about Stevenson's gift of his birthday to
Louise Ide including
reproductions of the deed of gift, his letter to
Ide, and clippings about Ide;
and pages from a Vailima supply order
book.
Folder 6
Series v.
News clippings, 1914-1915
Physical Description:
6
items
Scope and Content Note
Miscellaneous news clippings about the
Anderson Gallery auction of 1914-1915.
Folder 7-10
Series vi.
Pamphlets / tear sheets, 1707-1923
Physical Description:
16
items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted articles, both Stevenson- and
non-Stevenson-related, of
interesting and varied
significance.
Folder 7-8
Subseries a.
RLS-related, 1886-1923
Physical Description:
(7
items)
Scope and Content Note
Articles by or about Stevenson
from various
magazines, including Lloyd Osbourne's "Intimate Portrait
of RLS" and
Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez' "In California with
RLS."
Folder 9-10
Subseries b.
Non-RLS-related,
1707-1793
Physical Description:
(9
items)
Scope and Content Note
An interesting
selection of 18th
century pamphlets and some late 19th century
articles on the South
Seas.
Folder 11
Series vii.
Photographs, 1888-1892
Physical Description:
10
items
Scope and Content Note
10 photos, 9 of Williams' set of 12 (all
approximately 8" x
10") and 1 by Notman, Sydney, 6" x 9" in
folder.
Box 24
Series viii.
Scrapbooks, no
dates (ca. 1950)
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Clippings mostly on modern
Hawaii.
Box Box 25
Record Group VI.
Howell
Collection, 1884-1944
Physical Description:
1 document
case
Scope and Content Note
The Howell Collection was donated to the Stevenson
House by John
Howell, a noted San Francisco rare book dealer and
publisher.
Folder 1
Series i.
Artwork / graphics, no
date
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Reproduction of a pen and ink
drawing of
Stevenson House by F.H. Randall, showing south end stairway
added to rear of
house about 1920.
Folder 2
Series ii.
Ephemera, no
dates
Physical Description:
3
items
Scope and Content Note
Photo postcards of Stevenson and two Samoan
locations.
Folder 3
Series iii.
News clippings, 1934-1944
Physical Description:
6
items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted Stevenson-related
news
clippings.
Folder 4-6
Series iv.
Pamphlets / tear sheets, no
dates
Physical Description:
3
items
Scope and Content Note
Facsimile of Lloyd Osbourne's
account of Stevenson's death,
"Letter to Mr. Stevenson's Friends," and tear
sheets of John Steinbeck's
article "How Edith McGillicuddy Met R.L.
Stevenson,"
Harper's Magazine.
Folder 7
Series v.
Photographs, no
dates
Physical Description:
2
items
Scope and Content Note
An assortment of photos including a photo of Mt.
Vaea and
the road leading to Stevenson's tomb, Samoa, inscribed to
Howell from
Isobel Field in her Samoan name,
Teuila.
Folder 8
Series vi.
Reproductions- manuscript, 1886-1898
Physical Description:
4
items
Scope and Content Note
Reproductions of three
Stevenson
letters and two manuscript pages from Jekyll and Hyde given to a
Stevenson admirer by Fanny Stevenson in 1898.
Folder 9
Series vii.
Reproductions- print, no
dates
Physical Description:
2
items
Scope and Content Note
Stevenson's "Requiem" and 3 pages of
The Surprise, Lloyd Osbourne's
little
paper.
Folder 10
Series viii.
Typed transcriptions-
correspondence,
1884-1898
Physical Description:
4
items
Scope and Content Note
Typed
transcriptions of the Monterey letters listed above, a typed
transcription of a
letter to Stevenson from George Meredith, 1884, and
a photocopy of a
letter to Stevenson from Richard Mansfield,
1888.
Folder 11
Series ix.
Typed transcriptions-
other, 1949
Physical Description:
6
items
Scope and Content Note
Various typed
transcriptions of
chronological timelines of Stevenson's life, various
Stevenson poems,
pages from a Sothebys 1949 sale of Stevenson
material, and other
items.
Box Boxes 26-27
Record Group VII.
Jefferson Collection, 1888-1932
Physical Description:
2 document
cases
Scope and Content Note
The Jefferson Collection, a
collection donated to the
Stevenson House by another Stevenson enthusiast
William Percival
Jefferson, consists of assorted Stevenson-related
materials. Items of note
are the large collection of tear sheets of
first-published articles by
Stevenson in a number of magazines, and memorabilia
from the Stevenson
Society of America, responsible for the acquisition
and maintenance of
the cottage on Saranac Lake in New York, one of
Stevenson's homes in
the United States and now a
memorial.
Box 26, Folder 1-2
Series i.
Correspondence, 1926-1932
Physical Description:
2
files
Scope and Content Note
One letter file, flat, containing correspondence between Jefferson,
Will H. Low and Livingston Chapman, primarily concerning the Stevenson
Society of America and Will Low's artwork used for the bookplate
in
Jefferson's books donated to the Stevenson
House and one file of general correspondence relating to the donation of the Jefferson Collection to the Stevenson House.
Folder 3
Series ii.
Ephemera, no
date
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Advertisement for hotel in
Grez.
Folder 4
Series iii.
News clippings, 1914-1928
Physical Description:
22
items
Scope and Content Note
Various clippings
concerning the Stevenson
Society of America, and other Stevenson-related
articles, book reviews
and obituaries.
Folder 5
Series iv.
Pamphlets, 1923
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Stevenson's Baby Book, facsimile edition published by John Howell, 1923.
Folder 6-7
Series iv.
Photographs, 1888-1930
Physical Description:
14
items
Scope and Content Note
Copies of various photos of Stevenson,
Stevenson's family, and friends, including copies of many of the Williams
photos and also of the cottage at Saranac Lake, New
York.
Folder 8-14
Series v.
Publications, 1881-1930
Physical Description:
38
items
Scope and Content Note
A large collection of tear sheets
of
first-published articles by Stevenson in a number of magazines, and
memorabilia from the Stevenson Society of
America.
Box 27
Series vi.
Miscellaneous material, no date
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Empty Stevensoniana box/case, leather
spine,
marbled boards. Formerly used to house most of the clippings
and
publications, as well as
photographs.
Box Box 28
Record Group VIII.
Osbourne Collection, 1881-1915
Physical Description:
1
document case
Scope and Content Note
The Osbourne
Collection was donated to the Stevenson
House by the widow of Lloyd
Osbourne, Stevenson's stepson. The
collection, though smaller than the one
donated by Osbourne's sister Isobel,
contains a number of significant
items, including a set of glass plate
negatives from Williams of
Honolulu, documenting Stevenson's trip to
Hawaii and his visit with King
Kalakaua on his way to
Samoa.
Folder 1-2
Series i.
Art work / graphics, no
dates
Physical Description:
37 items in two
folders
Scope and Content Note
19 page proofs of
publishers' illustrations.
Includes 3 pictures of the crew on board the Casco,
Stevenson included; 3
taken on islands during the cruise; 3 of Vailima;
7 from Stevenson's
early life, and Mary Fairchild Low's 1912 portrait
of Fanny Stevenson.
In addition, 18 Davos Press woodcuts, all images
known except for two.
Each on fine Japanese paper, numbered 1-18 in pencil
by Stevenson or
Lloyd Osbourne.
Folder 3
Series ii.
Correspondence, 1912
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
S.
Gautereaux to Fanny Stevenson, 1912. Gautereaux
seeks permission to dramatize
some of Stevenson's
stories.
Folder 4-5
Series iii.
Memorabilia, 1873-1915
Physical Description:
2
items
Scope and Content Note
Facsimiles of two manuscript letters of
Stevenson: April
1873, regarding his life, and 3 desiderata. Also, remarks
and prayers
for funeral of Fanny Stevenson, presumed to be in Lloyd
Osbourne's
hand.
Folder 6
Series iv.
Pamphlets,
1923
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Stevenson's Baby Book, facsimile edition published by John Howell, 1923.
Lloyd Osbourne's presentation copy from John Howell.
Folder 7-10
Series v.
Photographs,
1881-1890s
Physical Description:
17
items
Scope and Content Note
Numerous
Stevenson family photographs, many
inscribed by Stevenson, Fanny, or
Lloyd.
Folder See Box
35
Series vi.
Separated
materials, 1888
Physical Description:
6
items
Scope and Content Note
Six 8" x 10"
glass plate negatives by
Williams of Honolulu. Famous photographs of
RLS and family during their
visit to the kingdom of Hawaii in
1888-1889. Includes: 1) RLS in his
bunk at Waikiki playing the flageolet, 2)
Lloyd Osbourne in Hawaiian
dress, 3) RLS family concert scene, 4) family
poker game, 5) RLS, Lloyd and
Henry V. Poor, 6) RLS and family around
a veranda
table.
Box Box 29
Record Group IX.
Owings Collection, 1850-1960
Physical Description:
1 document
case
Scope and Content Note
The Owings Collection consists of materials
found by
the subsequent owners of Isobel Field's home in Santa Barbara,
discovered during renovations in a concealed space in one of the walls
of the
home.
Folder 1-15
Series i.
Manuscript
materials, 1850-1925
Physical Description:
20
items
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence to Stevenson and his wife Fanny, as well as to Lloyd
Osbourne and others.
Folder 1-9
Subseries 1.
Correspondence, 1886-1925
Physical Description:
(10
items)
Scope and Content Note
Primarily correspondence to Stevenson
and
Fanny.
Folder 10-15
Subseries 2.
Other manuscript materials 1850-ca.
1890
Physical Description:
(12
items)
Scope and Content Note
Manuscript items
relating to others in the Stevenson family, including a legal
manuscript
copy of the final estate of Robert Stevenson, Esq., 1850, and
Isobel
Field's Haiti diaries.
Folder 16
Series ii.
Ephemera, 1860-19xx
Physical Description:
4
items
Scope and Content Note
Notice to subscribers from Charles Baxter and
Sidney Colvin
regarding additional volumes to the series of
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Edinburgh
Edition;
Thomas Stevenson's copy of annual endowment appeal essay from the
Church
of Scotland, 12/23/1860; pamphlet of Scotch proverbs; Dance card
from
ball in Hawaii, 11/19/1888.
Folder 17
Series iii.
Indexes, 1960
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Anne
Issler's index to Owings collection,
2/16/1960.
Folder 18-19
Series iv.
Photographs, ca.
1890
Physical Description:
22
items
Scope and Content Note
Two photographs, unidentified subjects, by
Arnold Genthe, and a series of 20 photographs of Apia, Samoa and
environs,
and the native peoples.
Folder See Box
35
Series v.
Separated materials, no
date
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
An 8" x 10" glass plate negative of
an
unidentified male artist with palette.
Box Boxes 30-35
Record Group X.
Miscellaneous Accessions, 1857-1961
Physical Description:
6 document
cases
Scope and Content Note
These miscellaneous
accessions are additional
materials donated to the Stevenson House over the
years and not documented as
discrete collections. Items of note include
the Charles Warren Stoddard
papers, significant for their
documentation of this Monterey writer and
the handling of his estate after his
death.
Box 30, Folder 1-5
Series i.
Art work /
graphics, no
dates
Physical Description:
5
items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted etchings and lithographic reproductions
of portraits of Stevenson,
Stevenson memorials, and other family
members.
Folder 6
Series ii.
Derivative works,
1857
Physical Description:
1
item
Scope and Content Note
Duplicate of the
autograph manuscript listed in Box 5, folder
6.
Folder 7-17
Series iii.
Ephemera / keepsakes, 1891-1949
Physical Description:
28+
items
Scope and Content Note
Various postcards of Stevenson
House and other locales associated with Stevenson, brochures using the
"F.H" (Flodden Heron) woodcut of Stevenson, documenting publication of
works about Stevenson and dedication ceremonies for memorials, banquet
programs.
Folder 18-21
Series iv.
Framed
items, no
dates
Physical Description:
4
items
Scope and Content Note
Photo
reproductions of photos and paintings of
Stevenson.
Box 31-32
Series v.
Journals,
1887-1915
Physical Description:
9 items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted issues of periodicals, featuring work by and about Stevenson.
Box 31
The Bookman, Oct-Dec 1914 and Jan-Mar 1915
Physical Description:
6 items
Scope and Content Note
Six issues
of The Bookman, featuring serialized work by Stevenson.
Box 32, Folder 1-3
Miscellaneous journals,
1887-1913
Physical Description:
3 items
Scope and Content Note
Contains
articles
about Stevenson and his life in
Monterey.
Folder 4-8
Series vi.
Manuscript materials, 1883-1953
Physical Description:
7
items
Scope and Content Note
A collection of assorted
manuscript items including an autograph letter of Stevenson addressed to "My
Dear
Captain," presumably about the Casco, no
date.
Folder 9-13
Series vii.
Pamphlets / booklets, 1912-1954
Physical Description:
11
items
Scope and Content Note
An assortment of pamphlets
about
Stevenson and other topics, including
Hawaii.
Box 33, Folder 1-19
Series viii.
Photographs, no
dates
Physical Description:
77+
items
Scope and Content Note
A large
group of photographs primarily of the Stevenson House over the
years and
the gardens, also various other Monterey views. Includes
copies of a number of photographs thoughout the
collection.
Folder 20-33
Series ix.
Tear sheets / news clippings,
1891-1951
Physical Description:
17+
items
Scope and Content Note
Assorted
news clippings
by and about Stevenson and Stevenson House, including an
1891 article
titled "In the South Seas" written by Stevenson for the
April 5th
edition of the
San Francisco
Chronicle
and
Stevenson's obituary from the
Illustrated
London News,
December 22,
1894.
Box 34, Folder 1-8
Series x.
Stoddard,
Charles Warren (1843-1909) - papers, 1894-1910
Physical Description:
40+ items in 8
folders
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence,
ephemera, two manuscripts,
news clippings, photographs, and three volumes of
journals from
Stoddard, primarily from his years in Monterey, where he
died in
1909.
Box 35
Series xi.
Oversize
materials, 1893-1996
Physical Description:
20+
items
Scope and Content Note
This series consists of all oversize materials larger than 8.5" x
14" that need to be stored flat. They are arranged according to size
and weight in the box. Assorted items from the
collections, including a
collection of ephemera from Baker Cottage, Saranac
Lake, New York, and
a lithograph of a watercolor of Stevenson House by
Rowena Meeks Abdy,
titled and signed by the
artist.
Box Box 36
Record Group XI.
Separated Materials, 1888
Physical Description:
1 manuscript
box
Scope and Content Note
These separated materials consist of
the glass plate
negatives from the Osbourne Collection, along with
three additional
glass plate negatives removed from the Field/Strong
Collection, one removed
from the Owings Collection, and another removed
from Miscellaneous
Accessions for safekeeping and appropriate
storage.