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Herbert S. Auerbach Collection on Mormons and Indians
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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
Herbert Samuel Auerbach was born on October 4, 1882, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was educated abroad, first at the J. J. Meier School in Wiesbaden, Germany, and then at the Conservatory of Music and Lausanne Technical School in Switzerland. After completing his studies, he toured the continent as a concert violinist. In 1906 he returned to the United States and pursued a master's degree in electrometallurgy at Columbia University School of Mines. He helped run the family business of department stores in Utah, and was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Utah. After the United States became involved with World War I, he became a major in the Ordnance Department until 1919. With diverse interests, Auerbach was also a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and a part of the Utah State Legislature for two terms. One of his favorite hobbies was Western history, which led to his collection of books, manuscripts, maps, documents, and pictures of the Old West. Auerbach was also a writer, poet, and philanthropist. He passed away on March 19, 1945.
The collection consists primarily of copies of letters, documents, stories, newspaper articles, reports, tables, and extracts from various sources collected by Auerbach and relating to Mormons and Indians. Included are a brief history of the Mormons; letters and reports regarding official Indian business in the Southwest and Northwest, often sent by the local Indian agent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or to local governors; documents found in the Indian Office at Washington, D.C., some of which concern the Mountain Meadows Massacre (Utah) in 1857; accounts of discussions regarding the restoration of refugee Indians to their homes in Indian territory (1883); a copy of a journal kept in 1849 by Isaac Foster en route to Alta, Calif.; a history (1888) of the Nauvoo (Utah) Legion relating an incident of the Black Hawk War; an itinerary of the mail route from Great Salt Lake City to San Francisco (ca. 1850); and a table of distances of the overland daily stage line from Kansas to Utah (1862).
Also present are two volumes of selected items of Utah and Mormon history; typescripts for a reminiscence of pioneering in California, "From Cradle to the Grave," by W. B. Meek and "The Mormons as I Know Them" by Charles Mostyn Owen (1859- ); 17 albumen cartes-de-visite (ca. 1870s) of unidentified persons; photostats of letters by John Wolcott Phelps (1813-1885) written while on a military expedition to Utah in 1857-1859; and a scrapbook (1922) of newspaper clippings about Auerbach and Utah.
The papers contained in this collection are, for the most part, typescripts taken from originals. The last series contains unprocessed material similar to materials included elsewhere in the collection, as well as a writing slate reputed to have been owned by Brigham Young.
The collection was formed as a result of a departmental practice of combining into one collection manuscript material of various accessions relating to a particular author.
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.
Finding aid written in 1994. Updated by Valerie Addonizio in 2010 and 2012.
Biography written by Alyxandra Cullen, '09.
No appraisal information is available.
People
Organization
Subject
- Black Hawk War (Utah), 1865-1872
- Coaching -- Kansas -- 19th century -- Timetables
- Coaching -- Utah -- 19th century -- Timetables
- Indian agents -- United States. -- 19th century
- Indian land transfers. -- 19th century
- Journals, American. -- 19th century
- Mormon Church -- History. -- 19th century
- Mormons -- Utah -- History
- Mountain Meadows Massacre, Utah, 1857
- Overland journeys to the Pacific
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2002
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- 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
Consists of correspondence, scrapbook, and bound volumes of Herbert S. Auerbach.
Arranged by genre of material.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
Contains 17 albumen cartes-de-visites (card photographs) mounted with photocorners on cut pieces of board. Some of the images may have originated in Europe (Scotland). Manuscript captions give additional date or location information if available.
Physical Description1 folder
1 box
1 item
1 item
Consists of biographies of individuals such as Isaac Foster, Max Schlessinger, and Charles Mostyn Owen, as well as others.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Physical Description1 box
BELLE - incomplete, 58 pp. A travel journal from Egypt (rhetorical?) to home in Colorado through Wapello, Iowa City, Tranquillity, Des Moines, Glenwood, Plattsmouth, Platt Valley, Cottonwood, and Denver.
Physical Description1 folder
BULLOCH, DAVID - Biography. 4 pp. Written by Wm. R. Palmer, Dec. 25, 1921, details a winter cattle drive in blizzard conditions in 1886. Bulloch traveled through Antelope Spring to Desert Spring, Nevada for a Mrs. Lawson, of Pioche, Nevada.
Physical Description1 folder
CARTER, JUDGE - Correspondence. 35 pp. Miscellaneous letters received circa 1860s. Judge Carter may have been integral to the running of Ft. Bridger.
Physical Description1 folder
CLAYTON, CHARLES, HON. - b. Oct. 5, 1825. Biography. 4 pp. Born in Derbyshire, England. Father was John Clayton, mother's maiden name was Mary Bates. Clayton was a pioneer to California at the same time of the first Mormon expedition.
Physical Description1 folder
CONNORS, P. EDW - Correspondence. 1865. 11 pp. Letters written by Connors, stationed at Headquarters of the District of Utah, Camp Douglas, Utah Territory and Headquarters of the Plains, Julesburg, Colorado, to Judge W. S. Carter of Fort Bridger.
Physical Description1 folder
FOSTER, ISAAC G. - d. ca. 1879. Sept 24, 1849. Typescript, 5 pp. An autobiographical story, "Lost in a Mountain Fastness," details the two-week period in which Foster is lost in the mountains near the Sacramento Valley, is attacked by a bear, encounters Native Americans, suffers near starvation, and is returned to his wagon train.
Physical Description1 folder
FOSTER, ISAAC, REV. - d. July 6, 1868. Typescript, 34 pp. A journal dated March 26, 1849, through October 4, 1850, and titled "A Journal of the Route to Alta California, performed by the Rev. Isaac Foster, of Plainfield, Ills." This is a daily description of the journey overland with oxen from the Midwest (possibly Illinois) to Sacramento. A description of a boat ride to the East Coast from Sacramento to Panama, and return from Panama to the Northeast.
Physical Description1 folder
FOSTER, ROXANA C. - b. 1818, autobiography from 1818 to 1861. 8 pp. "A Sketch of the Life of Roxana C. Foster" includes a history of her family. Living in Grafton Co., N.H., her father was a contemporary of Franklin Pierce. She moved to Plainfield, Illinois, with brother in 1844, and describes life as a teacher, and talks about the inadequate facilities, but interested students. She took a position as a housekeeper, and married ISAAC G. FOSTER on June 26th, 1845. Gold rushes of California occur, she describes her husband's journey to and from the mines. (Miners are fleeced by both the captain of a boat, and the gamblers aboard, causing near mutiny by the passengers). She details her father-in-law's "fever" for life in California, and relates her journey with her husband and two small children through Council Bluffs during winter with Mormon neighbors. The Fosters lived in San Jose, Santa Clara, Half-Moon Bay, and Santa Barbara. She had six children.
Physical Description1 folder
GALLACHER, JOHN - b. April 30, 1850 - d. February 29, 1924. Biography. 3 pp. Born to a family of Mormons, and a baker by profession, Gallacher came to the U.S. on an early steam ship, and then overland to Utah Territory. Member of the state militia, and a restauranteur, he married ANNIE IMPEY in 1873 (see below). Ten children and their birth dates are listed.
Physical Description1 folder
GALLACHER, ANNIE IMPEY - b. January 26, 1852. Biography. 2 pp. Born in Kinsworth, England, to a family of Mormons, she braided straw for hats to earn money for the clothes of the elders. She followed her father to the U.S., and lived in Ogden, U.T. for a few years, and married JOHN GALLACHER (see above) a few weeks after moving to Salt Lake City.
Physical Description1 folder
GALLAND, DR. ISAAC - Correspondence. A letter dated April 5, 1841. 4 pp. Written from Philadelphia, and addressed to Joseph Smith, describes Galland's reception on an eastward journey.
Physical Description1 folder
HARRISON, RICHARD - b. 1808 - d. 1882. Biography. 1 p. An early Mormon pioneer, he helped develop an iron industry in Southern Utah, and was a member of the Territorial Legislature in 1855.
Physical Description1 folder
HARWOOD, JAMES - b. July 24, 1834. Incomplete autobiography (to April 1900). 31 pp. Born in Shipdham Co. Norfolk, England. His profession was saddler and harnessmaker. He describes his conversion to Mormonism, as well as the journey from Liverpool to New Orleans in 1851. He gives details of a cholera epidemic in St. Louis.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
HOLDERBY, MRS. LAURA B. - Correspondence. 6 pp. Letter dated April 25, 1915 to Arthur Horn of Washington D.C. "... tells of her personal experiences with Poke and other Confederate Indians, and her release."
Physical Description1 folder
KISKADDEN, ASENATH ANNIE ADAMS - b. November 11, 1848 - d. March 16, 1916. Biography. 1 p. Kiskadden was born in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, and was the daughter of Barnabus L. Adams and Julia Ann Banker Adams. She was an actress. She married JAMES KISKADDEN, and had a daughter, MAUDE ADAMS (b. November 11, 1872). Kiskadden died at St. Mark's Hospital, St. Louis.
Physical Description1 folder
MANLY, W.L. - b. April 4, 1821. Biography (until 1869). 12 pp. Born in Franklin County Vermont, Manly was a Western pioneer. There is a description of a difficult journey through Death Valley in 1849-50.
Physical Description1 folder
MARR, G.A. - Correspondence. 37 pp. Letter dated March 19, 1925. Correspondence to Brigham Roberts (President of the Eastern States Mission, Mormon Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.) regarding the position of businessmen in Utah and their religious affiliations.
Physical Description1 folder
MCCONNELL, JEHIEL. Correspondence. 2 pp. Letter dated December 14, 1877. He wrote from Orderville, (?), to his son HENRY H. MCCONNELL and family concerning personal information and a description of life in the community.
Physical Description1 folder
PAGE, JOHNATHON S. - b. June 4, 1833. Autobiography. 7 pp. "The Biography of Johnathon S. Page By Himself" states that Page was born near New Port, New Jersey. From the ages of 3 to 15 he was fostered with other families, and was then returned to his family. His professions were tanner and "merchandiser." In April 1850 he began to move West, and met up with Mormon emigrants in St. Louis. He lived in Council Bluffs, Salt Lake, Provo, Santaquin, and Payson. Page married MARY LEAVER (b. August 26, 1837- d. March 1896) on August 12, 1855, and had 13 children (some dates given). He saw the beginning of martial law in Utah. Describes Native American uprising, and a standoff with the U.S. Army in Echo Canyon and Fort Bridger. Page was a member of the 70 of the Mormon Church, and held may governmental positions from Justice of the Peace to a seat in the House of Representatives.
Physical Description1 folder
PERRY, HENRY. b. 1826 - d. 1909. Biography. 2 pp. Perry, born in St. Louis was a Fort Bridger/Henry's Fork hunter, guide, teamster, and builder. He traded with the Native Americans, especially the Shoshone peoples.
Physical Description1 folder
PROVOST, ETIENNE. Biography. 1 p. A description of the Salt Lake City area in the 1820s-30s.
Physical Description1 folder
REESE, COLONEL JOHN. b. October 15, 1808. Biography. 13 pp. Reese was born in Whitestown, Overda County, New York to John and Susannah (Owen) Reese. He lived in Erie, PA and NYC, where his parents died and he assumed responsibility for the family's younger children. He was a successful grocer, then a soldier. He established a traded route to Nevada, and a squatter government in the first permanent structure there. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the organization of a new territory. The Reese valley and river are named after him.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
SCHLESSINGER, MAX. b. 1829. Biography. 5 pp. "The Trials of a German Boy who wanted to come to California - How he got here, and what he has been doing since he came." Born in Kempen, Posen, Germany, he became a San Jose businessman.
Physical Description1 folder
WELLS, LOUIE. Letter/travel journal. Dated July 25, 1883. 3 pp. She describes journey through Nauvoo, and stay at German Hotel. She comments on the use of former Temple's rock in much of the local buildings. She visits Joseph Young's house, Brigham Young's, the Nauvoo Mansion, Riverside Mansion, and the homes of Joseph Smith, Aaron Johnson, and H. C. Kimball.
Physical Description1 folder
WILSON, JANE ADELINE, MRS.. b. June 12, 1837. Autobiography dated 1854. 14 pp. In this newspaper article she describes having been born in Alton, IL; moved to Texas; married James Wilson (February 1854), and joined a wagon train bound for California with her husband's family. Her husband and his father were murdered by Native Americans outside of El Paso. She returned to Texas (?) and was attacked and captured by a party of Comanches. During her captivity she was harshly treated and was ultimately rescued by a Mexican trading party, and returned to Santa Fe.
Physical Description1 folder
LOCKLEY, F. Autobiography. 102 pp. "The Lockley Manuscript" details life as a journalist at the Salt Lake Tribune in the 1870's.
Physical Description1 folder
MEEK, W. B. b. 1856. Autobiography. 81 pp. "From the Cradle to the Grave" discusses a lifetime spent in the mountains of California.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
OWEN, CHARLES MOSTYN. b. 1859. Autobiography/social commentary. 253 pp. Born in Oxford, England and arrived in the U.S. in 1879, "The Mormons As I Know Them" discussed Owen's relations with the Mormons, circa 1903-7.
Physical Description1 folder
For an "Early History of Ceder City and Vicinity" by Sen. John Urie, (13 pp.) see the biography of Richard Harrison.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
1 item
3 items
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
(Atchison, Kansas to Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory)
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Consists of clippings related to Mormons, religious practice, and the U.S. Army.
Arranged by subject of material.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
2 boxes
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
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1 folder
Consists of correspondence of the Office of Indian Affairs, including documents, reports, and records.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description5 boxes
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Includes a pamphlet dated 1938 January 8, Doc. No. 78, 25th Congress, Court of Inquiry - Operations in Florida, &c. Letter from Secretary of War transmitting copies of the Proceedings of a Court of Inquiry, convened at Fredericktown, in relation to the operations against the Seminole and Creek Indians, &c.
Physical Description1 folder
1 item
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 item
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1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
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1 folder
(Investigation of the Fort Phillip Kearny Massacre)
Physical Description1 folder
(Testimony of Fort Phillip Kearny Massacre)
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 item
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
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1 folder
Consists of copies of letters in Phelps' hand, dated from 1857 July 11 - 1858 May 30 while on a military expedition to Utah (1857- 1859).
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 box
1 box
Consists of unprocessed correspondence, clippings, and a slate reputed to have been owned by Brigham Young.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 box
1 box