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The collection consists for the most part of California "Gold Rush" papers (1849-1852) of several members of the Baldwin family of Utica, N.Y. There are four journals (1849-1852), as well as miscellaneous correspondence and documents (1845-1851), of James Baldwin, who sailed to California from New York aboard the packet ship George Washington in February 1849; one notebook on minerals and ores of Edward Baldwin, Jr. (of "Middle Chute, Gallatin Valley, N.T."); an 1809 citizenship document of Edward Baldwin (father); and miscellaneous correspondence and documents (1850) of Ebenezer Baldwin, who sailed for San Francisco from New York aboard the Saratoga in February 1850 and later died in California. James's journals begin with him aboard ship about to round Cape Horn, and follow his arrival in San Franciso and subsequent difficult life as a "Forty-Niner" prospecting in the gold regions: he learns that "everything that shines in California is not gold."
The collection is open for research.
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under
Purchased from Christie's auction in
No appraisal information is available.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Baldwin Family Gold Rush Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
This collection was processed by John Delaney on December 8, 2009. Finding aid written by John Delaney on December 8, 2009. Folder Inventory added by Hilde Creager '2015 in 2012.
The Baldwin family of these papers consists of Edward and Anna L. Baldwin and the three youngest of their nine children: Ebenezer E., Edward Jr., and James W., the youngest.
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, short story writer, and poet whose focus on issues of racial discrimination made him a prominent spokesperson for racial equality, especially during the civil rights movements of the 1960s. Baldwin grew up in Harlem and had a troubled relationship with his strict, religious stepfather. As a teenager, he became a preacher at a small church in Harlem. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1942, Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village and began publishing essays and short stories in national periodicals. Disillusioned with racism and homophobia in the United States, Baldwin left for his first extended stay in Paris, France, in 1948. He would go on to spend much of his life abroad living in Paris and later Saint-Paul de Vence, France, as well as in Turkey and Switzerland.
Baldwin published his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, in 1953, which was followed shortly thereafter by a play The Amen Corner (1954) and a collection of essays Notes of a Native Son (1955). Many of Baldwin's novels, including Giovanni's Room (1956), Another Country (1962), and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone (1968) engage the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class, particularly in the lives of African Americans and gay and bisexual men. His novels, plays, and essays explore the psychological effects of racism for both black and white Americans and reflect on the social upheaval of the civil rights era. Beginning in the early 1960s, especially following the publication of his best-selling book The Fire Next Time (1963), Baldwin became increasingly involved in social and political activism, using his platform as a literary celebrity to give lecture tours and interviews on race relations in the United States. Baldwin continued to write prolifically until his death in 1987 in France, where he was named Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1986.