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Register of the Skaar (Sven) Collection, 1893-1973
Mss123
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Title: Skaar (Sven) Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1893-1973
Collection number: Mss123
Creator:
Grace Skaar
Extent: 0.5 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Skaar (Sven) Collection, Mss123, Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Sven Skaar was an amateur historian and novelist who lived in Nevada City, Calif. between
1945 and 1973. He operated Ott's Assay Office as a museum there from 1963 until his death
(1973). Skaar's research interests centered on persons and events associated with 19th
century California. He penned two completed novels on California figures: "Murder in the
Valley," based on the exploits of train robbers, Chris Evans and John Sontag; and, "One
more mountain," a fictionalized biography of Henry A. Meiggs. Skaar also left an
incomplete, untitled work on the Nathan Bowers Express, copious notes on the Henry Crabb
party's activities in southern Arizona Territory, and a lengthy account of the activities
of Idaho bandit, Henry A. Plummer.
The Sven Skaar Collection consists principally of notes and clippings related to Skaar's
fiction. There are also clippings and correspondence pertinent to his activities in
Nevada City and to the history of 19th century Anglo California with particular emphasis
on the northern mother lode.