Guide to the Manuscripts and Notes Chiefly Concerning the Comstock Lode, 1859-1936
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Note
History --History, United States (excluding California) --History, Nevada Arts and Humanities --Literature --American Literature
Guide to the Manuscripts and Notes Chiefly Concerning the Comstock Lode, 1859-1936
Collection number: BANC MSS P-G 244
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Contact Information:
- Processed by:
- The Bancroft Library staff
- Encoded by:
- Charlotte Gerstein
© 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Manuscripts and Notes Chiefly Concerning the Comstock Lode,
Date (inclusive): 1859-1936
Collection Number: BANC MSS P-G 244
Creator: Smith, Grant Horace, 1865-1944
Extent:
Number of containers: 7 cartons
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Material gathered in preparation for books on Mark Twain, John W. Mackay and the Comstock Lode. A collection of Shakespeareana
and a few miscellaneous essays included. The first four cartons contain papers of general historical interest, as follows:
1. Looseleaf notebooks concerning the Comstock, including photostats of contemporary newspaper items, chronologically arranged,
1853-ca. 1893; other notes on census, directories, society, roads, stocks, milling, theaters, Adolph Sutro, etc.; historical
sketches; accounts of individual mines; five miscellaneous articles; part of the original draft of Smith's Ms. on Comstock
history; maps and pictures. 2. Material on John W. Mackay and the Comstock story, in 11 looseleaf notebooks, a scrapbook,
and an envelope of loose clippings (used in part in his History of the Comstock Lode [Reno, 1943]). Includes notes on Mackay's
interests in the Nevada Bank, Water Company, Pacific Cable Company, and Postal Telegraph. 3. Material on Mark Twain in Nevada.
Includes Smith's completed manuscript, with pictures; miscellaneous Twain articles; and notes, clippings, and photostats.
4. Miscellaneous notes on early Nevada and California, relating to the Comstock, Twain, and Mackay; includes three file cases
of correspondence.
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], Manuscripts and notes chiefly concerning the Comstock Lode, BANC MSS P-G 244, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley.
Material Cataloged Separately
- Miscellaneous Comstock photographs and maps, etc., have been removed and cataloged as:
Pictures 6246-6347,
and
Portraits 1236-1278.
Scope and Content
The following data is given on this collection by the son of the donor, Grant H. Smith Jr., after he had spent some days in
trying to establish some semblance of order among these valuable and interesting papers. It is hoped that it will make future
study and research easier. Material included:
- Carton 1.
- Basic data on the Comstock, 1859-1936. Miscellaneous Comstock articles. Part of the original manuscript on the Comstock.
- Carton 2.
- Material on John W. Mackay and the Comstock Story. Includes data on the discovery, development and production of the various
mines and ore bodies.
- Carton 2A.
- MS of "John W. Mackay, Bonanza King"
- Carton 3.
- Mark Twain material -final manuscripts together with original notes, and drafts.
- Carton 4.
- Miscellaneous Comstock notes (three letter files)
- Carton 5.
- Miscellaneous notebook, original drafts, typewritten sheets, including duplicates, rewritten chapters and rejects. (Of little
value.)
- Carton 6.
- Shakespearean collection.
The material on the Comstock Lode and vicinity represents many hours of research and study on a subject which was dear to
the heart of my father, Grant H. Smith. Much of it is written with a love and passion characteristic of a nearly gone but
not forgotten breed of men known as "Mining Camp Men." They were refined and tempered in the mining camps of the West -Virginia
City, Butte, Downieville, Jackson, Sutter Creek, Chinese Camp, Dawson, The Klondike, Tonapah, Goldfield and many other roaring
booming mining camps.
Many of these men, though they often spoke their minds on various subjects, never put their thoughts on paper for posterity
to enjoy. Many of the younger generation have tried with questionable success to capture the flavor and spirit of these adventurous
days. While my Dad did not possess a glamourous style, his inquiring and thorough mind compiled a world of important information
on the Comstock Lode and other related subjects.
The original manuscripts have been torn apart and reshuffled as his ambitious program: a story of John W. Mackay, a history
of the Comstock, and the real story about Mark Twain in Nevada, was never realized. It had to be condensed and shortened into
a bulletin issued by the Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, 1943, under the title of
A History of the Comstock Lode. Therefore there is little or no continuity in the large Mackay-Comstock manuscripts and much of the material is out of place.
The real value will appear in the notes, clippings and letters included in the separate binders and in the short, complete
articles, short manuscripts, and data on production and methods of the mines.
The Shakespearean collection speaks for itself.
Key to Arrangement
Carton 1
Comstock Notes. Includes letters, clippings, short articles.
item 5.
Census, Directories, Social Notes, Roads, etc.
item 6.
Stocks, Milling Theatre, Sutro, Historical sketches.
item 7.
Individual Mines - Ophir to Utah.
item 8.
Miscellaneous Comstock Articles:
a. Did Grosh Brothers Discover the Comstock?
b. The Original Gold Hill Bonanza.
c. Why the Comstock Lode Remained So Long Undiscovered.
d. The Production from the big pit.
e. Comstock Balance Sheet, 1881-1935.
f. Milling Low Grade Ores from 1901 to 1936.
item 9.
Part of the Original Draft on the Comstock History.
item 10.
Miscellaneous Comstock photographs, maps, etc.
Additional Note
(Removed and placed in the Pictorial Collections.)
Carton 2
John W. Mackay & The Comstock Story
item 1a.
John W. Mackay, Bonanza King and the Comstock Story.
Additional Note
(The manuscript is badly mixed as the material was used in publishing the
History of the Comstock Lode, University of Nevada, Bulletin No. 3, July, 1943, Mackay School of Mines, (Grant H. Smith), and was never rearranged prior
to the author's death in 1944. It was also rewritten and rearranged so many times that the sequence is broken though the table
of contents gives the original outline.)
item 1d.
Continuation of above with appendix.
item 2.
John W. Mackay and The Comstock Mines. (Part of original manuscript.)
item 3.
John W. Mackay - Comstock Period, pages 1 to 92.
item 4.
Early Draft of Comstock Mackay Story.
item 5.
Comstock Notes - Mackay. Miscellaneous, Virginia City.
item 6.
Comstock Notes - Mackay. Nevada Bank, Water Co., Cable Co., Postal Telegraph.
item 7.
Comstock Notes - Mackay. Pacific Cable Obituary Notices.
item 8.
Mackay Duplicates and Rejects.
item 9.
Clippings on Clarence Mackay's death.
item 1.
Mark Twain in Nevada. (Final manuscript complete with pictures.)
item 3.
Miscellaneous Mark Twain Articles
a. Mark Twain in Nevada. (Original draft).
b. Mark Twain in the West.
d. Notes on J. Ross Browne
e. Did Mark Twain visit Mono Lake?
item 4.
Mark Twain Notes No. 1. (Original Notes Clippings and Photostates.)
item 5.
Mark Twain Notes No. 2. (Original Notes Clippings and Photostates.)
item 6.
Mark Twain, 1864-1868. (Original Notes Clippings and Photostates.)
item 7.
Mark Twain. (Rejects, Duplicates, Discards, and miscellaneous notes.)
item 8.
Mark Twain. (Rejects, Duplicates, Discards, and miscellaneous notes.)
item 9.
Mark Twain. (Rejects, Duplicates, Discards, and miscellaneous notes.)
item 11.
Mark Twain, Steve Gillis. (See note on fly leaf.)
item 12.
Harpers Weekly - Mark Twain's Birthday edition.
Carton 4
Miscellaneous Comstock, Mackay & Mark Twain Notes
item 1.
Miscellaneous notes on early Nevada and California. Mainly The Comstock and Mark Twain.
item 2.
Miscellaneous notes on early Nevada and California. Mainly The Comstock and J. W. Mackay.
item 3.
Miscellaneous Information.
a. Articles and reports on The Comstock and Western mining in general.
b. Interesting Articles, Letters, Mine reports, etc.
c. Miscellaneous and unrelated articles and pamphlets.
Carton 5
Miscellaneous Notebooks, Original Drafts, Typewritten sheets including Duplicates, Rewritten chapters and rejects.
Additional Note
No listing of contents. Of little value without a tremendous amount of sorting and arranging.
Carton 6
Shakespeare Notes and Books
item 1.
Shakespeare Dictionary - 6 Parts. By: Arthur E. Baker, England.
item 2.
Phillip Stubbes's Anatomy of the Abuses in England in Shakspere's Youth, Part 1. The New Shakspere Society, London: 1877-9.
item 3.
Harrison's Description of England in Shakspere's Youth. The New Shakspere Society, London: 1881.
item 4.
Phillip Stubbes's Anatomy of the Abuses in England in Shakspere's Youth, Part 2. The New Shakspere Society, London: 1882.
item 5.
The Three Stages of Shakespeare. By: A. C. Swinburne. Fortnightly Review. London: Chapman & Hall. January 1, 1876.
item 6.
The Authorship of the Second and Third Parts of "Henry VI," by C. F. Tuckerbrooke. Translations of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Press. July, 1912.
item 7.
Desiderius Erasmus. By: Warren Olney - 1920.
item 8.
Glossary of Words and Quotations - Shakespeare's Plays.
item 9.
Marlowe and Shakespeare - 4 Copies.
item 10.
Quotations from Shakespeare.
item 11.
Miscellaneous Ess
ays. By: Grant H. Smith. (Not concerning Shakespeare)
item 12.
Miscellaneous Notes, Clippings, Articles and Speeches on Shakespeare.
