This collection consists of letters addressed primarily to Samuel H. Willey relating to faculty and trustee appointments of the College of California. Included also are some early letters and memoranda concerning the establishment of a college at Benicia, California, and at the end there are specifications of the sale of part of the Oakland, California, property to Isaac Brayton. The collection also contains three letters by Frederick Law Olmsted concerning the college property in Berkeley, California.

The College of California was chartered in 1855 and operated in Oakland, California until 1869. Initially it functioned as a preparatory academy, under the name of College School, and the first college class of ten freshmen began in 1860. The aspirations of the College led it to search for a larger site as early as 1856, and this search gradually led to the acquisition of land north of Oakland at a site the trustees named Berkeley, after George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne.

1 box (.4 linear feet)

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Collection is open for research.