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Guide to the Andrew Jackson Grayson Papers, 1844-1901
BANC MSS C-B 514  
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Table of contents What's This?

Key to Arrangement

PART I

Box 1

Letters written by Andrew Jackson Grayson, 1844-1869

Scope and Content Note

Arranged chronologically. Early letters relate mainly to family affairs. Those written after 1859 are concerned with ornithological matters. Some letters are copies in Mrs. Grayson's handwriting. See also letters in Part III (microfilm).
 

Letters written to Grayson.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization with a miscellany of single letters preceding the rest of the file, as follows:
 

Miscellany

 

Alemany, Joseph Sadoc, 1814-1888

 

Letter, Mar. 14, 1857.

Scope and Content Note

Letter of recommendation used during visit to Mexico
 

Allen, Henry Watkins, 1820-1866

 

Letter, Nov. 20, 1865

Scope and Content Note

Requests Grayson to become a correspondent for Allen's newspaper Mexican Times.
 

Allen, Joel Asaph, 1838-1921

 

Letter, June 10, 1868

Scope and Content Note

Requesting information on Mexican birds for Harvard College.
 

Almada, Gregorio, 1819-1870?

 

Certificate, July 24, 1861.

Scope and Content Note

Written in Spanish, acknowledging receipt of documents.
 

Brannan, Samuel, 1819-1889

 

Letter, Aug. 1, 1859

 

Cortés, Francisco

 

Letter, Oct. 1, 1861.

Scope and Content Note

Official letter written in Spanish.
 

Lawrence, George Newbold, 1806-1895

 

Letter, Aug. 8, 1869.

Scope and Content Note

see also letter written to Mrs. Grayson.
 

Magruder, John Bankhead, 1810-1871

 

Letter, Mar. 11, 1866.

Scope and Content Note

Letter of recommendation addressed to General Jose L. Uraga.
 

Rosecrans, William Starke, 1819-1898

 

Letter, Apr. 14, 1869.

Scope and Content Note

Written while minister to Mexico; includes two letters of recommendation.
 

Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887

 

56 letters, 1856-1869.

Scope and Content Note

Relate mainly to Grayson's bird collecting and to his shipments of birds and other specimens to the Smithsonian Institution.

See also letters written to Mrs. Grayson, Box 2.
 

Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878

 

6 letters, 1868-1869.

Scope and Content Note

Relate to Grayson's specimen collecting for the Smithsonian Institution.

See also letters written to Mrs. Grayson, Box 2.
 

Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873

 

2 letters, 1866.

 

Rio de la Loza, Leopoldo, 1807-1876

 

5 letters, 1866.

 

Smithsonian Institution

See also Baird, Spencer F. and Henry, Joseph.

 

Xántus, Janos, 1825-1894

 

4 letters, 1861-1863.

Box 2

Letters written by Mrs. Grayson, 1852-1901

Scope and Content Note

Include also letters written after her marriage. Arranged chronologically. Relate mainly to Grayson's work and her attempts to publish his portfolio of drawings. Some letters are copies of originals In the Smithsonian Institution. See also letters in Part III (microfilm).
 

Letters written to Mrs. Grayson

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically, with a miscellany of single letters preceding the file, as follows:
 

Miscellany

 

Crane, George Belden, 1800-1898

 

Letter, Dec. 8, 1871.

 

Lawrence, George Newbold, 1806-1895

 

Letter, Jan. 11, 1875.

Scope and Content Note

Suggesting that she give Grayson's notes and portfolio of western Mexican birds to the Library of Congress.
 

Martin, William H.

 

Letter, June 29, 1876.

Scope and Content Note

Concerns the Inclusion of Grayson's bird drawings in the California exhibit at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia.
 

Mercantile Library Association, San Francisco

 

Letter, Mar. 10, 1870.

Scope and Content Note

Acknowledgement of gifts. Included also: Certificate of membership.
 

Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1823-1887

 

19 letters, 1865-1885.

Scope and Content Note

Relate mainly to Grayson's work and efforts to secure its publication.
 

Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878

 

2 letters, 1869.

Box 3

Diaries, notebooks and manuscripts of Grayson's writings (listed by titles used by Grayson).

 

Bird biographies. Arranged alphabetically as follows:

 

American Peregrine Falcon

 

Ash Colored Hawk

 

Black Vulture

 

Blue-back or Crow Jay

 

Blue-billed Long-legged Duck

 

Blue Mocking Bird

 

Boat Bill Night Heron

 

Bull Headed Flycatcher

 

Burroughs Vulture

 

California Vulture

 

Caracara Eagle

 

Cooper's Hawk

 

Coot

 

Cow-pen Blackbird

 

Crimson Necked or House Finch

 

Double Crested Oriole

 

Fantail Flycatcher

 

Great Green Maccaw

 

Great Mexlcan Creeper

 

Great Mexlcan Tyrant Flycatcher

 

Hilgaro

 

Jauga or Paradise Oriole

 

King Vulture

 

Largest Kingfisher

 

Least Tit

 

Little Gros-beak Finch

 

Little Ground Dove

 

Little Mexican Crow

 

Little Peregrine

 

Long Tall Falcon

 

Long Tailed Hawk

 

Mangrove Rail

 

Mazatlan Boat-tailed Blackbird

 

Mazatlan Oriole

 

Mazatlan Swallow

 

Mazatlan Vireo

 

Mazatlan or Cactus Woodpecker

 

Mexican Curved-bill Thrush

 

Mexican Ground Dove

 

Mexican Night Hawk or Texas Night Hawk

 

Mexican Painted Finch

 

Mexican Tyrant Flycatcher

 

Orange Legged Hawk

 

Orioles

 

Patagonia Pigeon

 

Pigeon Hawk

 

Red Bill or White Wing Pichichine

 

Red Crested Flycatcher

 

Red Crowned Flycatcher

 

Red Cuckoo

 

Red Eyed Blackbird

 

Red Fronted Parrot

 

Road Runner

 

Rose Breasted Thrush

 

Rosybreasted Fantail

 

Scaly Dove or Sand Dove

 

Sharp Shinned Hawk

 

Snake Bird or American Darter

 

Socorro Island Owl

 

Socorro Island Parrot

 

Socorro Towhee Finch

 

Socorro Wren

 

Solitary Dove

 

Sparrow Hawk

 

Tres Marias Island Wren

 

Tres Marias Yellow Headed Parrot

 

Turkey Buzzard

 

Urraca or Long-tail Jay

 

West Peregrine Falcon

 

White Breasted Squirrel Hawk

 

White Crested Hawk

 

White Fronted Parrot

 

White Headed Red Hawk

 

White Wing Dove

 

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Box 4

Account of trip to California, 1846

 

Autobiography

 

Birds of the Pacific Slope. Field notebooks. 3 vols.

Box 5

Catalog of Birds Collected In Northwestern and Western Mexico, Chiefly in the Locality of Mazatlan. With Remarks about their Migrations, etc.

 

Exploring Expedition to the Island of Socorro from Mazatlan, Mexico.

 

For the Academy of Science, Mexico. An appeal for increased zoological research.

 

List of Birds Described by A. J. Grayson

 

List of Socorro Island birds collected by A. J. Grayson, May, 1867.

 

Little Journal of Incidents Whilst on a Surveying Party with Von Schmidt in the fall of 1853in the Tulare Plains.

 

[Miscellaneous lists and notes on birds. ]

 

[Pocket notebook containing list of species, with references to field notebooks.]

 

[Pocket notebook containing sketches and notes on birds shot near Tehuantepec, 1857.]

 

Report upon the birds etc. the Tres Marias Islands on the western coast of Mexico

 

Socorro Island Exploring Expedition, Catalog of birds collected

 

State of Sinaloa

 

Systematized List of Mazatlan Birds So Far Recorded by A. J. Grayson

 

Tres Marias Islands

 

Voyage from Mazatlan to Tres Marias Islands

Box 6

Copies of published writings

 

Copy of the Hesperian,Vol. II, 1859 containing articles and reproductions of paintings of the following:

 

Crimson-necked House Finch

 

Red Cuckoo

 

Red-breasted or Cinnamon Teal

 

Swallow-tailed Flycatcher

 

Bearded Jay

 

Largest Oriole

 

Reprint of Natural History of the Tres Marias and Socorro from the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, June 7, 1871.

 

Copy of the Mazatlan Times (pp. 1-2) containing the article A Visit to Socorro Island.

 

Journal kept by Frances Grayson on trip from Tepic to Mexico City and return.

 

Scrapbook

Scope and Content Note

Contains clippings of articles written by Grayson add published in various newspapers and magazines including the Daily Alta California, Hutchings' California Magazine, Overland Monthly, Mazatlan Times, Mexican Times, California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, and the St, Helena Star. Also contains articles and clippings about Grayson including an article from Overland Monthly by Bret Harte; obituaries; articles about Mrs. Grayson, George Belden Crane, California history, and miscellaneous poems, etc.
Box 7

Publications by other ornithologists

 

Baird, Spencer Fullerton

Scope and Content Note

Review of American Birds In the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. 1864-ca. 1866
 

Coues, Elliott

Scope and Content Note

Prodrome of a Work on the Ornithology of Arizona Territory, 1866.
 

Lawrence, George Newbold

 

Birds of Southwestern Mexico collected by Francis E. Sumichrast for the United States National Museum, 1875.

 

Birds of Western and Northwestern Mexico, 1874. (Based on collections sent to the Smithsonian Institution by Grayson and others)

 

Catalogue of the Birds Found In Costa Rica, 1868.

 

Descriptions of New Species of American Birds, 1867.

 

Descriptions of Six New Species of Birds, 1866.

 

List of a Collection of Birds from Northern Yucatan, 1869.

Box 8

Personalia

Scope and Content Note

Includes biographies of Grayson; passports and marriage certificate of Mrs. Grayson and George B. Crane.

See also: Scrapbook in Box 6 and will and papers re Mrs. Crane's estate in Part III.
 

Drawings and sketches by Grayson of scenes, mainly In Mexico: Transferred to pictorialcollection.

Scope and Content Note

One pencil sketch is titled "Encampment on Kings river slough, 1853."
 

Genealogy of Grayson family.

 

Invitations for social events in San Francisco and Benicia, 1847-1853.

 

Obituary

See also: Scrapbook

 

Receipts, bill of lading, etc.

 

Autograph album

Scope and Content Note

Compiled by Mrs. Grayson in Mexico; some signatures from former Confederate officers.
 

Clippings

See also Scrapbook

 

Miscellany

Part II: Microfilm copy of Plates of Birds of the Pacific Slope.

Part III: Microfilm copy of letters written by Grayson and Mrs. Grayson (later Mrs. Crane)