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John Daggett Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
John Daggett was born in Newark, New York, May 9, 1833. He came to California around 1852, at age 19, with his brother David and was elected to the Assembly in 1858, and re-elected in 1859, and 1880. He bought into the Black Bear Mine in 1862, sold out in 1863, re-opened in 1866, and sold out again in 1872. He bought it again in 1884-85. Daggett was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1882. He was appointed Superintendent of the United States Mint in San Francisco in 1893, in which capacity he served for four years. He held interest in the Calico Mine in San Bernardino County. The city of Daggett, in this mining area, was named for him. He died August 30, 1919. [sketch from California State Library]
The collection consists primarily of 41 photographs (averaging 9.5x12 cm. and including 3 cyanotypes) taken by Daggett and documenting his life in the Black Bear, Siskiyou County, California, area: Daggett and his family, his home, mines, a quartz mill, Klamath Tribal members, mountain scenery. The majority are annotated with Daggett's descriptive notes on the verso. Also included is the letter (1914) Daggett sent to an unnamed cousin enclosing these photographs and a newspaper clipping announcing his selection as superintendent of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in 1893. Several captions written by John Daggett on the verso of photographs in Photographs series include racist Chinese accented English speech and racist terminology used to describe the Indigenous individuals depicted.
Purchased from Carmen D. Valentino in 2003 (AM2004-18).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Karla J. Vecchia and John Delaney in 2004. Finding aid written by Karla J. Vecchia and John Delaney in 2004. Collection and item-level descriptions were updated by Megan Bardis in September 2023. Harmful anti-Asian and anti-Indigenous language in folder titles were revised and contextualized as being creator-supplied description.
No appraisal information is available.
People
Subject
- Gold mines and mining -- California -- Siskiyou County -- Photographs
- Indians of North America -- California -- Siskiyou County -- Photographs
- Klamath Tribal members -- California -- Siskiyou County -- photographs
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Karla J. Vecchia; John Delaney
- Finding Aid Date
- 2004
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Unless otherwise indicated, information in quotation marks indicates inscriptions by Daggett on verso of photographs. "/" is used to indicate line breaks when needed for clarification.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 box
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The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes outdated terminology used to describe the Indigenous objects depicted, and previously served as the title for this folder. John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph reads: "Some of my home collections of Indian utensils – showing/ Baby carrying basket/Burden [carrying basket]/ Soup cooking [basket]/ [Soup] [?]/ Mortar ditto for pounding acorns/ Ladies bonnets/ Salmon net & twine/ Soup spoons –mussel shell for ladies & Elk horn for gents/ Bow & arrows & net for game carrying & etc – Black Bear Cal".
Physical Description1 item
The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes racist Chinese accented English speech.
This folder title was previously labeled using John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph, which reads: "My chef who says he has something 'belly good for bleckfuss' – The old cat Jakey always smells fish – Black Bear Siskiyou Co. Cal".
Physical Description1 item
1 box
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The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes racist terminology used to describe the Indigenous individual depicted.
This folder title was previously labeled using John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph, which reads: "Klamath River Indian with Armor".
Physical Description1 item
1 box
The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes racist terminology used to describe the Indigenous individuals depicted.
This folder title was previously labeled using John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph, which reads: "A load of 16 foot boards on a 6 foot donkey – Black Bear Cal / Indian woman + her white husband rigging at K mine".
Physical Description1 item
The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes racist terminology used to describe the Indigenous individuals depicted.
This folder title was previously labeled using John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph, which reads: "W. Mills + his full blood Indian wife + half breed children at Black Bear Cal".
Physical Description1 item
The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes racist terminology used to describe the Indigenous individuals depicted.
This folder title was previously labeled using John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph, which reads: "Jennie Logan + her half breed daughter Bessie/ Klamath River Indians Siskiyou Co. Calif".
Physical Description1 item
1 box
The caption written by John Daggett on the verso of this photograph includes racist terminology used to describe the Indigenous individuals depicted.
This folder title was previously labeled using John Daggett's caption on the verso of this photograph, which reads: "[?] + wife and Nenbose – Klamath River Indians on Sweat house/ Humboldt Co. Calif".
Physical Description1 item
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Consists of an autograph letter signed by Daggett to his cousin and clippings (photo and article) of Daggett announcing his appointment to Superintendent of the U. S. Mint in San Francisco.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 box
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