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This collection includes the correspondence of Alexander C. Christopher, who enlisted in the 6th Ohio Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, and his son Charles W. Christopher, an officer in the U.S. Navy, who was on sick leave in the Hawaiian Islands from 1875 to 1878. It contains two letters received by Alexander in 1863 from his commander, 9 letters from Charles to Alexander while he was in Hawaii and California, 5 other letters received by Charles, as well as 10 letters and 3 legal documents related to Charles Christopher's estate.

This collection includes two letters received by Alexander Christopher in 1863, nine letters from Charles to Alexander Christopher, 1875-1883, five letters received by Charles Christopher, 1868-1878, and 10 letters and three legal documents related to Charles Christopher's estate, 1884-1888.

Alexander C. Christopher received two letters from a friend, Nicholas Longworth Anderson, on January 31 and November 28, 1863. Nicholas Longworth Anderson was the commander of the 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment. The first letter discussed Nicholas Anderson's injuries, for which he received a surgeon's certificate, and mentioned a visit from Alexander's wife and daughter, "little Belle." The second letter included a memoriam for Major Graves, "a most gallant soldier and a most estimable gentleman." Anderson also wrote of his hope that the regiment would be disbanded soon, and said that he had received an anonymous letter accusing him of cowardice for remaining at home to heal from his wounds, signed by "One who pays your salary."

Charles W. Christopher's correspondence includes two letters of introduction written for him by naval officers, John Woolley and Louis Eugene Yorke; nine letters to his father, Alexander C. Christopher; and three letters received from friends, J. A. Hassinger and J. R. Carmody. In his letters to his father, he described his activities in Hawaii while convalescing from unspecified lung and throat ailments. He resided with Owen Holt, a rancher in Hawaii. Daily activities included assisting with cattle roundups, hunting for game in the mountains, reading, and going to town. In several letters, he was concerned about a lack of funds and anxious to draw his pay so that he could send money home to his father, who was apparently in financial difficulties as well.

In one letter from Waialua, Oahu, Charles described the funeral arrangements for a Chinese man who had died of an aneurism. "Mr. Holt has several Chinamen at work, but today, all except two were absent, on account of the funeral of one of their nation, Ah Kee by name. He had a small patch of cane, and came to see Mr. Holt on Thursday last about procuring some oxen for carting his cane to the mill…I believe they place a pig and a chicken by the grave, and afterwards eat them, and hold a species of high carnival" (1876 December 2).

He also shared his thoughts on naval work: "Seamanship and Gunnery are life studies. The former requires experience as well as theory, and the latter is so varied in its applications, and so constantly changing as to the instruments employed that no one man can be considered perfect in the branch. Like many other things in this world, the more insight one gets, the less does one know, unless some particular branch of the study is made a specialty" (1876 December 2).

In a later letter to his father from Harbin Springs, California, Charles described the scenery and mineral springs in the area (1883 December 2). By that time, he had lost much of his sight and had difficulty walking. After Charles W. Christopher's death in 1884, his father wrote to the Treasury Department to file a claim for "arrears of pay and mileage" due to the late Lieutenant Christopher. Between 1884 and 1886, he received five letters in response. Beginning in 1886, he also corresponded with a lawyer, John Paul Jones, regarding the case.

The Charles W. Christopher materials were formerly part of the Hawaiian Islands collection at the Clements Library.

The Amos Bradbury papers contain letters largely from Amos Bradbury to his mother Miranda Stanhope and brother Samuel Bradbury, Jr., which provide a valuable account of life in central California during the Gold Rush era.

The Amos Bradbury papers contain 67 letters largely from Amos Bradbury to his mother Miranda Stanhope and brother Samuel Bradbury, Jr., written between 1848 and 1863. His letters provide a valuable account of life in central California during the Gold Rush era. The collection holds 51 letters from Bradbury, 2 early letters from his brother Samuel, 9 letters from his mother, and 4 letters from Bradbury's friend Joseph B. Leonard. The letters track Bradbury’s movements between San Francisco (1850), Stanislaus (1851), Mountain Ranch (1852), Indian Gulch (1853-1857), Stanislaus River (1856-1860), and Mokelumne City, California (1862).

Bradbury’s earliest letters were addressed from Boston, where he worked in the shipping trade as a first mate. He first mentioned the idea of going to California in a letter to his mother from July 11, 1849. By September 28 of that year, he was at sea on his way to California and, by the next letter, dated January 3, 1850, was in Valparaiso, Chile, after traveling around Cape Horn. In his letter of April 28, 1850, written from San Francisco, he stated his intention not to pan for gold, but to start a store near the mines.

Along with Bradbury’s letters from 1850 and 1851 are 4 items from Joseph B. Leonard, Captain of the Boston ship Grotius, who was in San Francisco at the same time as Bradbury. These letters a were addressed to Miranda Stanhope and, for the most part, reported the safety and well being of her son Amos, and described some of the dangers of California life. Leonard's son, and a man named George Moore, accompanied Bradbury to the mines.

Amos settled in Stanislaus, California, in early 1851. In his letter of March 13, 1851, he described women near the mines: "Excepting indian squaws they are very numerous, although not any handsome." By 1852, Amos was running a successful public house in Mountain Branch, California, with George Moore, though by the end of the year, their business partner had abandoned the establishment. By early 1853, Amos owned three claims around Indian Gulch, California, and expressed renewed confidence to his family that he would discover gold. In his letter to his brother Samuel, of February 10, 1853, he explained the work involved in prospecting. On February 22, 1853, however, he mentioned to his mother that he was finding little gold. He continued prospecting this plot for a number of years and in the November 5, 1854, letter wrote "the height of my ambition is to get gold enough to make us all comfortable."

Bradbury scraped by on meager findings over the next five years. As early as July 13, 1860, in a letter to his brother, he mentioned the idea of running a ferry on the Stanislaus River, and by April 22, 1862, Bradbury reported to his mother that he had, in fact, pursued this line of work in Mokelumne City, California. By then he had made two trips up to Lockeford, California, which was 60 miles further up stream than any steamer had gone before. In his next letter, he mentioned that he had been made master of the Pert and intended to travel to San Francisco on a weekly basis. Bradbury was also master of the steamer the Fanny Ann (August 14, 1863). By February 25, 1863, he discussed buying a store, and that he had chopped off his "little toe."

This collection also includes 9 letters from Miranda Stanhope, Amos's mother, who expressed relief at hearing of her son’s good health, and shared news from Old Town, Maine. Her letters are emotional and demonstrate deeply-held religious beliefs. These letters may be unsent drafts, since they rarely contain signatures or addresses, and some of them are unfinished and two are undated. Of note is her letter to Amos of June 15, 1863, in which she discussed "the beautiful war" and the effect it has had on "the poor Negroes…[who] tear with their teeth, when deprived of their arms. Their very instinct, prompts to liberty or death." She went on at length about the desire of the Southerners to "perpetuate slavery...the worst system the world ever knew" and described slavery as an eternal sin: "Yes greatly have they injured us; but theirs is infinite, not ours."

The lone item in the Miscellaneous series is a two-page document written by Bradbury, which is possibly a fragment or draft of a letter, which is dated but not directed to a specific person.

The papers of Augustus F. Unger record the experiences of a failed forty-niner, who left a New England home to search for gold in California and returned broke.

While clearly not the complete correspondence of Augustus F. Unger during his California sojourn, this collection of nine letters and one document provides a vivid portrait of the experiences of a typical failed forty-niner. The letters span the entire period of time from his departure from home to his return; all were addressed to his wife, Sylvia, with four also being addressed to his "brother" (probably either a brother-in-law or "brother" Odd Fellow) Harmanus H. Bridges.

Unger was an excellent, enthusiastic writer and his letters are filled with the sorts of details that evoke a sense of the hardships and bad luck that he faced. During his first year in the west, almost regardless of the difficulties encountered, his letter remained unfailingly optimistic, yet his repeated failures at mining eventually did take their toll, and his last letters are marked by an abject dejection and the hope that somehow he might be able to learn from his experiences. The descriptions of prospecting, building a raceway, and mining have just enough gritty detail and the descriptions of his living quarters, of the camps, and of the journeys overland and to the mines are of particular interest.

This journal contains daily accounts written by Benjamin F. Ruggles while traveling west on ox-drawn wagons from Salt Lake City, Utah to Red Bluff, California.

The Ruggles journal represents the second of two journals kept by Benjamin Franklin Ruggles, documenting his overland journey from Minnesota to California and covering the portion of the journey from Salt Lake City to Red Bluff. Ruggles made daily entries in his journal and took his time in writing thoughtfully, describing the scenery, route and the numerous groups of travelers they encountered in their crossing. The details at times provide the most interesting reading, as in his discussion of trying to keep a dog and the oxen alive and healthy when crossing the alkali flats in western Nevada, but the value of the narrative lies as much in providing a closely observed, densely written account of an overland crossing by way of the Mormon and Honey Lake routes. In comparatively few words, Ruggles provides a strongly impression of the landscape and the difficulties encountered in desert travel. It is interesting to note the fear with which he viewed Native Americans, the "hateful sight of sneaking Indians" as he wrote, and although he never personally had any negative encounters with Native Americans, he was more than willing to consider them culpable of misdeeds. Lastly, Ruggles' journal also contains some interesting, though briefer entries for his first few months in Red Bluff. These passage sketch out in rough form the life in a northern California town that was in the process of changing from a frontier town to a more mature settlement.

The Busbey papers contain the personal and professional correspondence of William H. Busbey and many of his family members. Of note are letters to and from William and his brother during the Civil War; letters between William and his wife Mary after the war; and a letter from Ann Busbey, William's mother, which documents her 1894 trip west from Chicago, with vivid descriptions of the scenery in Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

The Busbey papers collect the personal and professional correspondence of William H. Busbey and several generations of his family. Included are 1,259 letters, 6 documents and receipts, 117 writings, 9 photographs, 134 newspaper clippings, and additional printed materials.

The earliest item in the Correspondence series is a letter from William's grandfather, Hamilton Busbey in Coles Country, Illinois, to his son Thomas (November 9, 1839). Included in the early letters are 33 items of schoolwork from the Busbey children in the late 1840-1850s, such as several essays, notes, and small decorated name tags. The collection also contains letters to and from William and his brother Hamilton during their service in the Civil War. The letters describe events at war, including the Battle at Stone River and watching gun boats patrolling the Tennessee River, as well as the brother's health and daily activities. Letters from Ohio report on deaths in the family back home and how the town and family are coping with the war. In one particularly poignant letter from a member of the Botkin's family, the author reports on local boys who have died and been discharged from the war, then writes:

"I have seen the tears trickle down the cheeks of old and young, while conversing on the subject of this unholy war. Secession, was their pet idol and it has ruined thousands, utterly bankrupt those who were wealthy, happy, and prosperous under the old flag. The new, has brought them nothing, but poverty and wretchedness -- well yes, I might say, it has brought swarms of Yankees, to bask in the salubrious rays of the glorious sun far down in the land of cotton..."

Approximately 70 letters were written by Mary (Molly) Busbey and William to each other, most of them in the months prior to their wedding in 1868. They wrote extensively about love and the health and welfare of their friends and family. Before their wedding, several letters were exchanged between Mary’s parents and William, regarding William's request for permission to marry their daughter. William's work as managing editor of the Inter Ocean is documented through letters to the editor and inter-office communication.

The Busbey family papers also collect letters to Mary from her family and friends, letters to their daughters Grace and Mabel, and letters to William from both his parents. Of note are three letters (23 pages) from Ann Busbey, William's mother, which document her 1894 trip west from Chicago, with vivid descriptions of the scenery in Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Mary's mother, sisters, and friends wrote about 70 letters to Mary, with news about the family’s health and economic well-being.

The Documents and Receipts series contains 5 business receipts and a document related to estate of Ezra P. Jones of Ohio.

The Photographs series is composed of 8 photographs of various members of the Busbey family.

The Writings series is comprised of copies of William Busbey’s published works and rough drafts of articles, stories, and speeches from his career in the newspaper business. Topics include the newspaper business, the press and the Cuban question (1898), the Monroe Doctrine (1905), family and genealogy, and a biographical sketch of William H. Busbey.

The Printed Material series is composed of miscellaneous printed items such as poems, advertisements, invitations, programs, and other items. Of note is a list of members of the 1st Kentucky Infantry, Company C (of which Busbey was a Sergeant), and a fairwell card to Elwyn A. Barron of the Inter Ocean signed by other 23 employees.

The Newspaper Clippings series consists of 134 newspaper clippings, including several copies of the Inter Ocean's tribute to William's personal and professional achievements after his death. Miscellaneous items, such as ribbons, children's cards, and empty envelopes, conclude the collection.

The Charles Collins diary consists of accounts, both credit and debit, between Collins, a carpenter, and his customers and suppliers in frontier California during and after the gold rush. The volume also contains twelve pages of a fragmented diary describing travel from Iowa to California, and life as a prospector, farmer, and carpenter.

The Charles Collins diary and account table is a leather-bound notebook that was purchased in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1844. The bulk of the book is made up of accounts, both credit and debit, between Collins, a carpenter, and his customers and suppliers. The last twelve pages, written back-to-front, constitute a diary covering the dates June 11, [1852]-July 4, 1853. Several pages have been ripped from the volume and the diary resumes in July 1867.

The first eight pages of the account book contain accounts from 1846 to 1849, when Collins was a carpenter in the East. After a number of cut-out pages, the accounts pick up again in 1855, when Collins was in California after an unsuccessful attempt to profit from the gold rush. Starting in Fort "Desmoin" (Des Moines, Iowa) on June 11, [1852], he makes entries in the diary through July 23, as his group headed west in wagons. After leaving Des Moines, they traveled 12 to 18 miles a day, arriving at Council Bluffs on the Missouri River on June 24, where they joined 11 other wagons. Twenty wagons in all crossed the Elkhorn River on June 29th and headed for the Platte. They celebrated the 4th of July by raising a flag and firing 13 guns. Since they were in Indian country, they circled the wagons and posted guards at night. Approaching Grand Island, they found two graves of individuals who died of cholera. They sighted Buffalo on July 22, and the next day they lost their cattle, which halted their travels for nearly three weeks.

The next diary entry starts on November 13, 1852, when Collins and his companions agreed to rent 15 acres of land from the local priest in exchange for giving him 1/5 of any productions. He reported almost daily rain. They killed deer every few days, encountered many drunken Indians, and tried, unsuccessfully, to prospect for gold. On January 10, John Richardson killed two bears and wounded two others.

On February 5, 1853, Collins stated that their search for gold had been unsuccessful. That day, John Richardson took off secretly with the white horse, complete with saddle and bridle, a blanket, a dog, a gun, and shot. Collins made a coffin for an old lady who died; he and the remaining “John” planted wheat and barley, and on February 24, the priest gave them the vineyard in exchange for half of all fruit it produced. They grew potatoes, cucumbers, melons, and buckwheat and supplemented this work by repairing various appliances for the priest and other people in the area, such as wheels and buggies, doubletrees, and cheese presses. A doctor named Page lived with them for two or three days, taking notes on the Mission for publication. The last diary entry is dated July 4, 1853.

Charles Watkins' letterbook contains copies of letters written by Watkins while searching for gold in California in 1854.

Among the most interesting and literate Gold Rush collections in the Clements Library, Charles Watkins' letterbook contains copies of 14 lengthy, descriptive letters, written to his siblings during a sojourn in California in 1854. With an exceptional eye for detail and an enjoyable sense of humor about himself and others, Watkins' letters provide a startlingly carefree perspective on the California scene, where even personal misfortunes paled in the face of overwhelming opportunities for "fun."

Watkins' upbringing remains something of a mystery, although a few hints can be gleaned from his correspondence. His letters indicate a highly practiced hand, and the larding-in of classical allusions suggest that his education may have been somewhat better than average.

Nearly every letter is polished and well thought out, and suggest he was as wide a reader as he was a traveler: at times, his readings of romance stories and dime novels seem to have helped him to cast his own experiences for his sisters and brother. Thus, in describing his meeting with a group of California Indians, to his sister, Abby, he recreates the dime novelist's melodramatic Indian: "The California Indians are different from any others that I have ever met with, they are filthy in their habits and treacherous in their disposition. I had an encounter with a few of them at night shortly after my arrival in the mountains. I had lost my way travelling alone about 10 miles from Coloma and did not know exactly where I was, stopped by two of the Indians belonging as I afterwards learned to a camp near Coloma, my hand was instantly on my trusty revolver and visions of poisoned arrows, scalping knives, burning at the stake &c &c flitted through my mind as I prepared for the combat, it was a fit scene for a novel or tragedy..." (1854 May 20). After building the suspense and drawing out the encounter at great length, in the tradition of the classic dime novel, Watkins suspends the conclusion of his story to a later letter, where he deflates the apparent danger of death-by-poison-arrow into a pathetic account of poverty and beggary.

Watkins' letters include fine descriptions of the passage across the Nicaraguan, and some excellent descriptions of the wandering life among the central and southern mining districts. Particularly in his early letters, he provides fine descriptions of mining techniques and mining activities, and the composite picture that emerges of the miners themselves is fascinating.

This collection includes 13 letters that Charles T. Hancock, Jr., wrote to his parents in Mount Vernon, New York, while working for the Civilian Public Service (CPS) near Glendora, California, from 1943-1944. He discussed his life in camp, the scenery, pacifism, and his leisure activities.

This collection primarily contains 13 letters that Charles T. Hancock, Jr., wrote to his parents in Mount Vernon, New York, while working for the Civilian Public Service (CPS) near Glendora, California, from 1943-1944. He discussed his life in camp, the scenery, pacifism, and his leisure activities.

Hancock addressed his letters to his parents, Charles T. and Florence R. Hancock, who had recently moved from the Bronx, New York, to Mount Vernon, New York. He composed 13 letters between June 21, 1943, and August 29, 1944, primarily about his time at the Civilian Public Service Camp at Petersham, Massachusetts, and at the San Dimas Civilian Public Service Camp in Glendora, California, where he worked in agricultural jobs and helped with a timber survey near Big Bear Lake. He described life at the camps and in Glendora, where he spent some of his leisure time and socialized with students from Scripps College. He visited Ensenada, Mexico (letter of May 15, 1944), and commented on the currency, attitudes toward the war, the Mexican Army, and the scenery. On his return to California, he passed through San Diego, where he noticed the camouflage netting around Consolidated and Douglas airplane manufacturing plants. Hancock made occasional remarks about pacifism and mentioned Methodist and Quaker religious meetings. In his letter of July 18, 1944, he enclosed an excerpt from Eleanor Roosevelt's column "If You Ask Me," in the Ladies Home Journal, and a program from a London String Quartet performance.

Additional items are an undated letter to Florence Hancock from H. Brewster of North Hollywood, California, a brochure for the Padua Hills Theater and its "Mexican Players," and a newspaper clipping about a home in Chatham, Massachusetts.

The Dalton family papers document three generations of the Dalton family of Boston, Massachusetts: Captain James Dalton, Peter Roe Dalton, and Peter Roe Dalton, Jr. This wealthy family was involved in transatlantic shipping and local Boston politics.

The Dalton family papers (168 items) contain 29 letters, 35 financial records, 30 receipts, 1 account book, 66 legal documents, 2 genealogical booklets, 2 genealogical essays, and an image of the Dalton house. These document three generations of the Dalton family of Boston, Massachusetts: Captain James Dalton, Peter Roe Dalton, and Peter Roe Dalton, Jr. See the Detailed Box and Folder Listing section for a list and description of each item in the collection.

The Documents, Letters and Receipts series contains commercial papers and letters, including business letters, contracts, insurance agreements, estate documents, deeds and leases, bills of lading, wage-payment receipts, customs house receipts, and army provision orders and receipts.

• Records of transporting building material (boards, shingles, staves), and food (beef, herring, mackerel, molasses, sugar) between Boston and the West Indies.
• Shipping records for the following ships: Abigail, Mauritius, Nancy, Packett, Polly, Resolution, Sarah, Swallow, Two Friends, and Willmill.
• Documents detailing James Dalton's losses from the Great Boston Fire (March 20, 1760 and April 16, 1761)
• A letter from Peter Roe Dalton to James Dalton (his father) discussing trading efforts in Charleston, South Carolina, and noting sickness in the area (November 27, 1766)
• Documents concerning the Revolutionary War relating to supplying Boston troops (1777-1781)
• Two letters about the Mexican War written on board the US Ship Lexington (March 15, 1847 and June 4, 1848)
• A letter from N.J. Dalton, in which he described travels in California and an Indian hunt that killed 125 Indians for murdering a rancher and stealing 7 head of cattle.
• Voucher for the Honorable William Stoughton Esquire, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (April 26, 1693)

The Account Book series consists of a 44-page volume of accounts for the estates of Peter Roe Dalton (1743-1811) and his son Peter Roe Dalton, Jr. (1791-1861).

The Genealogy and Miscellaneous series (6 items) is comprised of two booklets with birth and death information on the Dalton Family and Simeon Skillin's ancestors; two essays on the lives of James Dalton and Peter Roe Dalton; a list of Dalton-owned church pews in King's Chapel in Boston (1754-1876); and an image of the Dalton house in Boston, on the corner of Water Street and Congress Street, which was occupied by James and Peter Roe Dalton.

This collection consists of 18 letters that Elaine Fisher (later Hanson) received from members of the United States Army during World War II. Fisher's correspondents, who included her future husband, Frank Hanson (9 letters), discussed their experiences while training at camps within the United States and while on duty in North Africa, Hawaii, and Europe.

This collection consists of 18 letters that Elaine Fisher (later Hanson) of Muscatine, Iowa, and North Powder, Oregon, received from members of the United States Army during World War II. Her correspondents discussed their experiences while training at camps within the United States and while on duty in North Africa, Hawaii, and Europe.

Technician Fifth Grade Frank Rado Hanson, a member of the 817th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Company B, and Elaine Fisher's future husband, wrote 3 letters while in training at Camp Phillips, Kansas, in September and October 1943, and 6 letters while serving in France, Belgium, and Germany between October 1944 and April 1945. He discussed his love for Elaine, mentioned his participation in recent military actions, and commented on the military's drinking culture.

Private Robert Armstrong, whom Fisher had known in Muscatine, wrote 3 letters while undergoing medical training at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, between July and September 1942. As well as writing about his life on base, Armstrong detailed his drinking habits and his experiences with local women. After being promoted to corporal, Armstrong wrote 3 additional letters about his service with the Medical Detachment of the 435th Signal Battalion in Italy and North Africa, describing the scenery and Roman ruins.

Fisher also received 1 letter from Private William Hendrix of the 371st Bomb Squadron, then in training at Ephrata Air Base in Washington (June 13, 1942), and 2 letters from Corporal Kenneth H. Maach of the 210th Field Artillery Battalion, who was stationed at Camp Young, California, and in Hawaii. Both soldiers discussed military life; Maach included descriptions of the Californian wildlife and a Hawaiian luau, and enclosed a photograph of a hula dancer letter in his letter of October 16, 1943.