Personal Papers
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Van Valen, Alexander
setName: label: See more items in
content: Alexander Van Valen Papers
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1849 - 1850
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0935, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This series consists mostly of Van Valen's personal correspondence and his 85 page diary documenting the 199-day journey aboard the bark Hersilia.  Van Valen describes the voyage and aspects of passenger life. The diary includes a list of the ship's passengers, hand-drawn maps, sketches, and business agreements.  Once in San Francisco, Van Valen writes about the city, mining operations, day-to-day life, and other miners.  After the diary ends,  handwritten letters provide descriptions of the environment and day-to-day life.  The collection also contains portraits of Van Valen and his family and a daguerreotype of his wife and daughters.  There is an unknown piece of writing in the "Map" folder and an American Seaman's certificate declaring Van Valen a United States citizen.