Guide to the Letter book of the College of California, 1849-1867

Processed by The Bancroft Library staff

University Archives

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, 94720-6000

Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu

URL: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/university-archives

Guide to the Letter Book of the College of California, 1849-1867

Collection number: 308y.let

University Archives, The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

University Archives
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-2933
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft/university-archives/

Processed by:: The Bancroft Library staff
Date Completed:: 1999
Encoded by:: Xiuzhi Zhou

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Letter Book of the College of California,

Date (inclusive): 1849-1867

Collection Number: 308y.let

Creator: College of California

Extent: 1 box (.4 linear feet)

Repository: The Bancroft Library. University Archives.

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Letter book of the College of California, 308y.let, University Archives, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Related Collections

Documents of the College of California (308y.d)

Transfer of the College of California to the University of California (308y.tr)

Reports to the Board of Trustees of the College of California (308y.r)

Brief History

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.

In 1866, California took advantage of the Morrill Land Grant Act and created the Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College. The trustees of the College of California realized the implications for their own institution's lack of financial support and offered all the college's assets if the legislature would create a University of California combining the aims of the Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Arts College and the more humanities-oriented College of California. An act to found the university was passed by the California legislature and was signed into law on March 23, 1868. The College of California offered no instruction after the 1868/69 academic year.

Scope and Content

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.

item 1

Rogers, William M.

to Larkin, Thomas 06/25/1849

Establishment of university at Benicia

item 2

Lyman, Chester S..; 01/01/1849

Memo re establishment of a college

item 3

Blakeslee, S.V.

to Dimick 11/29/1849

Re donation of land in San Jose

item 4

Crockett, I.B.

to Billings, Frederick 12/29/1856

Declining trustee position

item 5

Kip, William Ingraham

to Willey, Samuel H. 11/17/1856

Acceptance as trustee.

item 6

Crockett, I.B.

to Willey, Samuel B. 12/04/1858

Declines trusteeship.

item 7

Coon, Henry P.

to Willey, Samuel H. 04/12/1858

Declines trusteeship.

item 8

Willey, Samuel H. 07/21/1858

Memo of election of W.C. Anderson as trustee.

item 9

Willey, Samuel H.

to Kip. William I. 11/13/1856

Notice of election as trustee.

item 10

Kip, William I.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/27/1859

Resignation as trustee.

item 11

Brierly, B.

to Willey, Samuel H. 02/26/1859

Resignation as trustee.

item 12

Kellogg, Martin

to Willey, Samuel H. 09/07/1859

Acceptance as prof.; church matters, Grass Valley.

item 13

Macondray, Frederick

to Trustees 04/20/1860

Resignation as trustee.

item 14

Ely, C. Arthur

to Willey, Samuel H. 03/28/1860

Re service to the college.

item 15

Cheney, D.B.

to Willey, Samuel H. 03/09/1860

Acceptance as trustee.

item 16

Sather, Peder

to Willey, Samuel H. 05/07/1860

Acceptance as trustee

item 17

Stanley, Edward

to Willey, Samuel H. 04/23/1860

Acceptance as trustee

item 18

Goddard, E.B.

to Trustees 05/10/1860

Berkeley prop.; Hillegas contract; water rights

item 19

Bushnell, Horace

to Trustees 07/09/1861

Declines office.

item 20

King, Thomas Starr

to Willey, Samuel H. 05/26/1862

Excuses absence from meeting

item 21

Anderson, William C.

to Willey, Samuel H. 03/28/1862

Willey as vice-pres and financial agent of college

item 22

Brewer, William

to Willey, Samuel H. 04/01/1863

Accepts professorship of natural science.

item 23

Sather, Peder

to Willey, Samuel H. 10/10/1863

Resignation as trustee

item 24

Anderson, W.C.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/02/1863

Resignation as trustee.

item 25

Cheney, D.B.

to Trustees 10/20/1863

Resignation as trustee.

item 26

Hendrickson, C.R.

to Willey, Samuel H. 10/20/1863

Resignation as trustee

item 27

Blake, William P.

to Willey, Samuel H. 12/26/1863

Acceptance as director of the college.

item 28

Billings, Frederick

to Willey, Samuel H. 03/22/1864

Re presidence and finances.

item 29

McGill, Alexander T.

to Shedd, William 03/05/1864

Re candidates for presidency.

item 30

Brewer, William H.

to Trustees 04/22/1864

Resignation as professor.

item 31

Brewer, William H.

to Willey, Samuel H. 04/22/1864

Re his resignation.

item 32

Blake, William P.

to Trustees 05/20/1864

Rept as director mining & agricultural college.

item 33

Swain, Robert B.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/18/1864

Acceptance as trustee.

item 34

McLane, Louis

to Willey, Samuel H 06/09/1864

Declines trusteeship.

item 35

Shedd, William G.T.

to Willey, Samuel H. 03/02/1864

Re presidency.

item 36

Jackson, C.T.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/20/1865

Asking for revised proof.

item 37

Sherman, William

to Willey, Samuel H. 10/19/1864

Acceptance as trustee.

item 38

Alvord, William

to Willey, Samuel H. 10/19/1864

Acceptance as trustee.

item 39

Bellows, Henry W.

to Willey, Samuel H. 11/21/1864

Re professorship of Schutz.

item 40

Olmsted, Frederick L

to Willey, Samuel H. 11/21/1864

Re trees for college grounds.

item 41

Stiles, Anson G.

to Willey, Samuel H. 10/28/1864

Acceptance as trustee.

item 42

Hilgard, Julius E.

to President 02/21/1865

Coast Survey reports and charts.

item 43

Bayles, James

to Willey, Samuel H. 03/11/1865

Re death of Rev. L.C. Bayles.

item 44

Torrey, John

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/01/1865

Absence from commencement.

item 45

Olmsted, Frederick L

to Willey, Samuel H. 08/31/1865

Re plan of college grounds.

item 46

Briggs, Martin C.

to Willey, Samuel H. 07/07/1865

Acceptence as trustee.

item 47

Olmsted, Frederick L

to Willey, Samuel H. 07/25/1865

Re name for college property or town.

item 48

Barnes, William Henry

to Willey, Samuel H. 09/05/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 49

McLane, Allan

to Willey, Samuel H. 11/21/1865

Pacific Mail Steamship Co donation for library.

item 50

Stow, J.W.

to Willey, Samuel H. 12/06/1865

Acceptance as trustee.

item 51

Stebbins, Horatio

to Willey, Samuel H. 12/07/1865

Acceptance as trustee.

item 52

Billings, Frederick

to Willey, Samuel H. 02/14/1866

Resignation as trustee.

item 53

Hitchcock, Roswell D.

to Willey, Samuel H. 04/05/1866

Declines college presidency.

item 54

Cleaveland, H.W.

to Willey, Samuel H. 07/13/1866

Thanks for degree.

item 55

Sawyer, E.D.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/13/1866

Thanks for degree.

item 56

Dwinelle, John W.

to Trustees 07/07/1866

Acceptance as trustee.

item 57

Bank of California 09/01/1866

Re sale of gold; statement of balance.

item 58

Stone, A.L.

to Willey, Samuel H. 02/09/1866

Acceptance as trustee

item 59

Scudder, Henry

to Willey, Samuel H. 02/11/1867

Acceptance as trustee.

item 60

Willey, Samuel H.

to Lees & Waller 07/03/1867

Instructions re funds.

item 61

Lees & Waller

to Willey, Samuel H. 08/05/1867

Reply and statement

item 62

Conness, John

to Willey, Samuel H. 05/20/1867

Thanks for commence invitation; praise for college

item 63

Wylie, James

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/14/1867

Thanks for degree.

item 64

Shafter, Oscar L.

to Willey, Samuel H. 07/03/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 65

Sargent, A.A.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/19/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 66

Swezey, S.I.C

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/21/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 67

Bidwell, John

to Willey, Samuel H 06/20/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 68

Lake, Delos

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/19/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 69

Gates, F.

to Willey, Samuel H. 06/18/1865

Thanks for degree.

item 70

Specification re sale of property to I. Brayton.