| Category | Institutional Archive |
|---|---|
| Organization | The Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens |
| Country | USA |
| Address | 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA 91108, USA |
| Telephone | 626-405-2206 |
| Fax | 626-449-5720 |
| dlewis@huntington.org | |
| URL | http://www.huntington.org |
Jack London Collection
A sometime tramp, oyster pirate, seaman, socialist, laundryman, and miner, Jack London (1876-1916) is as famous for the lives he lived and the myths he wove around them as he is for the short stories and novels he wrote. Some that either focus on or touch upon the subject of leprosy are short stories in The House of Pride & Other Tales of Hawaii (1912). These South Sea tales include "Koloau the Leper" "The Sheriff of Kona." and, Good-Bye, Jack!
The 594-box Jack London Collection could properly be termed the author's personal archive, because of its size and completeness. The majority of the pieces range in date from 1903 to 1917, and with almost sixty thousand pieces, the collection is the largest literary archive at the Huntington. Amongst these are some that relate to leprosy in Hawaii.
Photographic Prints (filed alphabetically by subject) can be located in Boxes 457-463.The photographs are all original (either contemporary prints made prior to 1917 or later prints made from the original negative). Each print is filed in its own envelope. The photographs are arranged by subject. Amongst these is an array of South Sea Island photographs and a collection titled
"Hawaii Including Molokai, Maui, and Oahu, 1907" (JLP 428). This is a collection of more than 125 photographs. Scenes include the Fourth of July parade on Molokai, coastal scenes on Molokai, a rodeo on Maui, Pearl Harbor, and the Haleakala crater. Jack and Charmian London are featured in many of the photographs.
Most of the photographs Jack and Charmain London took on their travels and at home were pasted into ninety-three small and thirty large photo albums. The Huntington Library's Jack London Collection contains only one of these albums: The Dirigo Voyage, 1912. Almost all the other albums are still owned by the Shepard family. In 1976, these albums were loaned to the Library for the purpose of copying. Each photograph was copied (and each page of the album was also copied in its entirety) on thirty-five millimeter roll film. Contact prints of these photographs have been assembled and are available for reference in Boxes 486-510. Each box contains five albums. Those pertinent to leprosy are in the following folders:
"Jack London Subject File"
London arranged clippings, pamphlets, and other notes according to subject. This subject file recreates his filing system and arranges London's clippings in accordance with it. Box 544 includes material on Leprosy.
Writings of Jack London
Box 519
The Huntington Library also holds the Papers of Nathaniel Bright Emerson, 1766-1944 (bulk 1860-1915) (1,887 items).
The collection contains a wide range of material including research notes, correspondence, short stories, essays, poetry, notebooks, biographical sketches, diaries, book reviews, land deeds, wills, affidavits, ephemera, photographs and early drafts of Emerson's published work. The majority of the collection was written, collected or translated by Emerson; however, the collection does contain material by other Emerson family members and notable historical figures of Hawaiian history, such as W. D. Alexander, William R. Castle, Abraham Fornander, Davida Malo, Robert W. Wilcox, and several others. The subjects covered in this collection include leprosy and the leper colony on Molokai.
Some of the subjects are as follows:
The library holds an unpublished inventory of this collection. About one-fourth of the items in the collection is in Hawaiian, many of which do not have English translations.
Call number mssEMR 1-1323
The library's collections are open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information please see http://www.huntington.org/WebAssets/Templates/content.aspx?id=586
Entry updated January 2016
| Name | Daniel Lewis, Dibner Senior Curator, History of Science, Medicine & Technology |
|---|---|
| Organization | The Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens |
| Address | 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA 91108, USA |
| Telephone | 626-405-2206 |
| Fax | 626-449-5720 |
| dlewis@huntington.org | |
| URL | http://www.huntington.org |