This handwritten volume is a compilation of several texts, including a diary of a sea voyage from Boston to San Francisco in 1852, an 1863 trip on the Columbia River, and miscellaneous handwritten recipes, notes and clippings.
The first section is a diary describing a voyage from Boston to San Francisco aboard the ship Staffordshire in 1852. Most days have brief entries, ranging in length from one to four sentences. Following the diary, there are several faint pages of writing pertaining to a trip on the Columbia River in 1863 that mentions Mr. [Henry] Spalding.
The second section of the volume, which is on larger paper, is a "Commonplace Book," or handwritten miscellany. It is filled with notes and clippings. It is in different handwriting than the first portion of the volume; it appears to have originally included about twice as many pages as are currently present. It includes notes from "Hillsborough 1862" [i.e. Hillsboro, Oregon]; recipes for soap, glue, blueing clothing, whitewash, potatoes, chocolate custard, rice pudding, sausages, and other items; lists of measurements; and home remedies including a "Cure of Small Pox."
No accruals are expected.
Pacific University owns the copyright to some, but not all, of the materials housed in its archives. Copyright for materials authored or otherwise produced as official business of Pacific University is retained by Pacific University and requires its permission for publication. Copyright status for other collection materials varies. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Collection is open for research.
The authors of the diary and commonplace book are not recorded. The ship's diary and trip on the Columbia appear to have been written by the same person, probably a man who went to California and then later to Oregon. The second half of the book appear to have been written by a resident of Hillsboro, Oregon; possibly a woman, though this is uncertain. Based on several references to Congregationalists ("Mr. Marsh", probably Sydney Harper Marsh of Forest Grove, and "Mr. Spalding", probably Henry Spalding), the authors might have belonged to the Congregationalist Church.