Description
This collection contains correspondence, reports,
maps, plans, photographs, realia, and ephemera relating to the life and career of
William L. Honnold (1866-1950), a pioneering American mining engineer in South
Africa, who later became a major benefactor to the Claremont Colleges, and his wife,
Caroline Burton (1868-1954). The collection documents in particular Honnold’s early
career in the coal fields of Minnesota and gold fields of California; his activities
in furthering the technique of deep mining in South Africa; his position as arguably
the first mining engineer in to fully combine the roles of engineer, business
entrepreneur, and top corporate executive; his long friendship with Herbert Hoover
and his contributions to World War I relief in Belgium and Northern France as a
member of the Commission for Relief in Belgium; his long friendship with Sir Ernest
Oppenheimer, and their founding of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa;
his “retirement” to California in the 1920s, and his subsequent business ventures,
many with members of the Mudd family; and his philanthropic activities, the bulk of
which benefited the Claremont Colleges, as well as his alma maters, Knox College and
the Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University). Photographs from
Honnold’s life in South Africa graphically portray Johannesburg’s elite at the
height of the Edwardian age. Extensive financial records from the 1920s onward,
including virtually complete accounts paid, document the contemporary cost of
living, such as food; workmen’s and servants’ wages; automobile maintenance; travel;
jewelry, artwork, and other luxury items; and taxes.