California Mission Sketches by Henry Miller, 1856

Summary

Creators:

Miller, Henry

Extent:

38 pencil sketches, 28 x 45 cm. 38 digital objects

Language:

Collection materials are in English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection of 38 pencil sketches of the California Missions are the earliest known attempt to depict the Missions in a series (1856). The artist Henry Miller was identified in Pioneer Notes from the Diaries of Judge Benjamin Hayes, 1929, pages 132-133. *

Henry Miller originally planned to sketch the principal towns and scenery of the eastern counties of Alta California, in order to publish his observations and illustrations. He deemed himself too illiterate to accomplish this, and decided instead to prepare for a panorama that would "embrace all that is remarkable and peculiar in this state."* He traveled through the southern counties, braving bandits, wild animals, and high fares for travel through mining districts. He slept in fields and survived with little funds, earning extra money by selling sketches along the way. He traveled along "the main road leading from Mission to Mission,"* from San Francisco to San Diego. He started his journey from San Francisco on February 5, 1857, and left Los Angeles on October 13, 1857 to return to San Francisco aboard the steamship Seabird.

* Account of a Tour of the California Missions, 1856; the Journal & Drawings of Henry Miller.San Francisco,Book Club of California,1952.

Acquisition information:

Unknown.

Physical location:

Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Rules or conventions:

Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

Website