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California lettersheet collection

Owning Institution: California Historical Society

About this Collection

The collection consists of California lettersheets, mostly pictorial, created approximately between the years 1850 and 1870, with the bulk dating from the 1850s. Pictorial lettersheets are illustrated with lithographs or wood engravings depicting California and Western themes. Intended to be used as stationery during and after the California Gold Rush, these lettersheets served as a kind of reportage, depicting important events and popular stories of the day. Common illustrated topics and scenes include: murders and executions; the San Francisco Vigilance Committee; natural disasters, especially fires (San Francisco) and floods (Sacramento); the Gold Rush; mining life (from perspectives sentimental, cautionary, and comic); festivals, holidays, and parades; buildings and street scenes; and views of San Francisco, Sacramento, and towns throughout the state's mining region. View this collection on the contributor's website.
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35 items found in this collection

of 2
Sackett's Hotel
San Francisco, 1858
San Francisco--California
Sn. Fo. the morning after the great fire of May 4th. View ...
Stewart's plan for improving the plaza
The times!!!
View of Campo Seco and Quartz Mountain Tuolumne County
View of D Street, Marysville, Cal
View of the plaza of Marysville, Alt. Calif
View of the plaza of San-Francisco
What we want in California. From New-York direct. Family and fire-side
of 2