HHJ Part 4, Box 1, Folder 2 transcription
Helen Hunt Jackson's directions for distribution of her material goods after her death
Part 4, Ms 0348, Box 1, Folder 2, 10 items in 6 sleeves, transcribed by Nancy Knipe, 2002
Sleeve 1
1.Envelope with W. S. Jackson written on front:
List titled Gifts-
To Dr. Anderson-- My Omar Khayyam.-
__________________
To Mr. Gregg-
The old red bound Bible found among the Koords [sic, Kurds?], and presented to my father by the Rev. Justin Perkins Missionary.
To Mr. Risley-
My Facsimile of the Old Shakespeare
To Mr. Swinburne,
My Ship of Fools. 2 vols.
To Mrs. Hamp-
The carved Jap. vase on the mantel piece in sitting room carved out of
single joint of bamboo.
To Mr. Bass-
My chronicles of Froissart--2 vols.
On the side shelf [in our?]-- dining room
To Mrs. Bass-
The little writing desk on red cedar table, the one I kept my bills in.--
To Cousin Ann
The picture of Rennie on my writing table.
_________________
Other gifts will be found wrapped and addressed in the tray in the small trunk.
To Miss Woolsey-
All my old Quaker books.
__________
To Kate Horsford.
All the pieces of Japanese silk embroideries I have here.-
To Dr. Boericke-
my little set of Shakespeare-- & Arnold's poems-(on the bureau)--
--And I would like to have him have my crutches, canes & bed table & chair, to use in the Homeopathic Hospital here, for poor people.-They will be useful.
----------------------------
Sleeve 2
[One envelope addressed] Directions. Wm S. Jackson--
[2nd envelope marked] Lists of silver & Linen--
At Colorado Springs
I have asked Mr. Jackson to ask Miss Hatty or Miss Alice to come over and help you pack up all my clothes to go to Miss Helen.--
Be sure that the box containing that doll with the Norwegian [lined?] dress goes to her - also that queer wooden bonnet in the spare chamber drawer --
All the new unhemmed table clothes & napkins in the trunk, in the trunk room-
The pieced squares for silk bed quilt & the silk dress, rolled up with them.-
The photographs which stood on my bureau and the little shelves around it.-
All my bonnets.-
A box full of odds & ends in my upper drawer.-
The big parcel of open work done by the Indians.-
The silk squares for bed quilt are in a box or trunk in linen room.-
The big Japanese silk robe which used to hang on wall in the hall, send to Miss H.
_________________________________
Katy & Effie may have to divide between them as they please--of the things of mine, at home--
The blue camels hair suit-
The green flannel
The black silk polonaise
The black silk skirts
The stout blue garden suit [whole phrase lined through]
The pale blue muslin
The linen lawn with purple spots
The black grenadine polonaise -- silk skirt & outside wrap
The blue silk dress.
All the fans --& sewing materials & such things in the little bureau in my room.
All the white underclothes, shirts &c.-
I think these are all the dresses which are plain enough to be useful to Katy & Effie.-
Sleeve 3
Envelope marked Lists of Linen and Silver
List of linen.
Sheets.
15 Linen. [14 written over; changed to 15]
9 Cotton.
1 heavy bath sheet, linen.
Pillow cases.
Cotton 7 pairs square ones, buttons
9 plain ones
Linen 2 pairs square ones, buttons
Bolster cases.--
3 cotton ones.
3 linen ones.
Towels.
2 large bath towels
3 soft white "
6 rough " "
6 common ones with blue border and open work [# may be 5 written over]
5 fine ones, knotted fringe crinkle pattern
3 heavy huckabuck with 3 red stripes.
4 with Russian pattern in red and blue figures.
2 with red and blue stripes.
6 handsome birdseye pattern plain fringe.
2 large ones birdseye pattern with centre design.
2 large damask ones, striped.
2 Mummy cloth, knotted fringe
2 damask knotted fringe.
8 New heavy huckabuck
2 handsome with open work and fringe.
2 crash with open work.
2 old damask.
________________________________________________
For Servants room.
7 cotton sheets.
2 white spreads.
8 plain pillow cases.
5 plain fringed towels.
6 with red borders.
2 rough bath towels.
Blankets. Spreads &c.------
4 large double blankets.
5 medium size.
3 single width.
2 gray blankets.
2 comforters.
2 woolen quilts.
7 white spreads.--
Table Linen.
Table Cloths.
2 with polka spots.
1 fine block pattern.
1 large block "
1 leaf pattern.
1 star pattern.
1 Grecian border.
1 old one with set figure.
Napkins.
6 striped ones, with stars.
5 " " , with wreath.
8 breakfast size, stars.
9 " " , square check
12 " " , herring bone
10 " " , star & block
12 large ones, Grecian border
11 " " leaf pattern
12 " " smaller leaf pattern
Fruit Napkins.
6 pale buff color, openwork centers.
6 drab color-- openwork centers
6 " " openwork border.
6 drab, in block pattern.
6 drab & white.
6 drab with blue border, [5 changed to 6]
6 white with openwork borders.
12 red ones.
6 with yellow & 6 with with [sic] white
9 doylies for finger bowls, with red borders.-
_____________________________________
10 fringed tea napkins, large
5 fine small tea napkins, polka spot.
11 " " " other patterns
6 crochetted doylies for finger bowls.
6 oval napkins [4 changed to 6]
4 round ones [6? changed to 4]
1 fish napkin
1 oblong fringed one.-
List of Silver [1 of 2 lists--some variations in lists]
6 large forks marked H.
6 medium sized forks, marked H.
6 " " " / marked in German text - [?] on back.-
6 " " " marked [?] on front
6 table spoons marked M.W.H.
3 old table spoons marked D.W.
6 old Norwegian spoons
6 Tea spoons marked M.W.H.
6 dessert spoons " "
4 old tea spoons marked D.W. & V.
5 tea spoons marked W [?] on back
1 fork marked Murray.
2 butter knives
1 sugar sifter
1 cheese scoop
1 Fish Knife & fork.
1 soup ladle
1 dessert spoon with roses on handle.
1 doz coffee spoons
2 pairs salt spoons.
Two odd salt spoons.
2 [altered, could be 4] salt cellars.
4 peppers.
1 doz fruit knives with Japanese handles.
1 Set--tea pot -- coffee pot -- cream pitcher and bowl.
Common plated ware
1 dozen forks hammered handles.
1 dozen forks, two sizes.
6 table spoons.
6 dessert spoons.
6 egg spoons
6 fruit knives with ivory handles
" " " " silver handles
6 nut picks
2 nut crackers
12 plain tea spoons
11 with lines on handles
6 oyster forks.
1 mustard spoon.
Coffee pot - tea pot - sugar bowl - cream jug
Knives
12 large and 12 small of best set.-
Common ones - 12large & 12 small
[Picnic?] knives - 8 large & 12 small
List of Silver -- [2 of 2 lists, some variation from above list]
6 large forks marked H.
6 medium sized " "
6 " " marked on back in German text [?]
6 " " marked on front [?]
6 table spoons marked M.W.H.
3 old table spoons marked D.W.
6 tea spoons marked M.W.H.
6 dessert spoons " "
4 old tea spoons marked D.W.& V.
5 tea spoons marked [?] on back
1 fork marked Murray
1 dessert spoon (H.M Fiske)
1 doz coffee spoons
2 pairs salt spoons
2 odd salt spoons
2 salt cellars
4 peppers
1 doz fruit knives with Jap. Handles
2 butter knives
1 sugar sifter
1 cheese scoop
1 Fish knife & fork
1 Soup ladle
1 set -- tea pot -- coffee pot -- cream pitcher & bowl
___________________
Common plated ware
1 dozen forks - two sizes
6 table spoons
6 dessert spoons
6 egg spoons
6 fruit knives with ivory handles
6 " " " silver "
6 nutpicks
2 nut crackers
12 plain tea spoons
11 with lines on handles
6 oyster forks
1 mustard spoon
Coffee pot - teapot -sugar bowl & cream jug.---
Sleeve 4
Dear H.-
Among the things at the Berkeley, you will find a curious square made of three strips sewed
together -- & hand wrought in gay colors on white - It is from Damascus - very old - called a Kilim -- I was going to have it to throw over the foot of the big lounge in my room - which was to be covered with an old gold colored stuff which Mrs. Hunt has- & some fringe also to trim it-the fringe can be dressed over. So as to answer very well ~ the lounge will then match the low chair, covered with the same stuff.-
I do hope you can keep all this furniture and make a pretty home sitting room. Somewhere-you will not get half its value to sell it - such an old claw foot table as that is not picked up every day-- & the little Japanese bamboo cabinet has not its match in N. York !--The biggest Indian baskets I use for wood baskets to stand by fireplace-they are very effective-You'd better give Annie Davenport one--All made by the Mission Indians in Southern California.-
There are two old rugs which I think Mrs. Slater has in charge -- ( or else she sent them to Backus s -- I don't know which--) One is very ragged -- but is worth mending with worsted same shades--It is very valuable - Armenian -- a Kizkilim that many girls buy -- the other is a Bagdad rug.--There are two or three more at Backus's with the furs and curtains--all valuable--also a white owl at Backus's -- Keep that to put above the writing bureau as I had it-
There will come to you in the trunks from Colorado two very handsome new linen table clothes -- matching two sets of large dinner napkins, which are in the trunks to you from here-
I'd like to have Annie Davenport have one of these sets.-- they are equally valuable.-
There will he some more new table linen in the trunks--use it at home or put it away till you have a house of your own as you please-
I have changed my mind about giving the brass tray hanging on the closet door in the Berkeley rooms to Mrs. Gilder.--Have it carefully packed, and sent to
Mrs. Chas Dudley Warner
Hartford, Ct.
& give to Mrs. Gilder the carved dark wood panel which is on the wall between the lookingglass & the Bamboo cabinet.
--Mrs. Trimble will keep & advise you about all the packing & selling &c.-
Oh if your mother would only take a house somewhere -- all that carpet - rugs -- furniture &c would be so useful!-
Miss Kate Horsford will show you how to put on the Norwegian head dress.--With the costume.-
_____________________
The foreign china glass &c at French's will have to be all unpacked there & set out on a counter to be reassorted & divided & then repacked, half to go to Annie, and half for you. -- I have asked Miss Horsford to meet you there & tell you where the things are from, which is of course half their interest.-- The Horsfords have duplicates of it all.
--This Ind. subscription has near a year to run yet--so you can have it come to you-
I hope you will take the Christian Union too-It is a far better paper than the Ind.-
_______________
Sleeve 5
Directions
All my clothes and personal belongings of every description whatever to be sent to Helen Banfield--[Those at-crossed out] except what I have told Effie are for her and Katy.-
Those at the Springs. I want Miss Hatty to help Effie pack. I know she will be willing & she is the only person I am willing to have go over my trunks and boxes.
There is in the attic over the hall, one old trunk full of little Rennie's things. I have never had courage to open it. Let that go with the others to Helen.-
On the high bureau in my room, is a small box, black walnut, filled with relics of him-picture &c.-- & in one of the long trunks in the storeroom are two large photos taken of him after death -- all these I want destroyed at once. They are not of value to any one but me; & I prefer to have them destroyed now.
Do not delay this dearest Will.
______________________
Every scrap of writing-old letters-notebooks-rough drafts--MSS [boxes?]--destroy now--at once.-
Please do not put it off-
There are on a shelf in your closet, some vols of MSS. letters of my mother's. Those must go to my sister.--with them is a vol of correspondence [letters of, crossed out] my girlhood with
Henry Root-burn it-I have kept thinking it would work into a story some day
There is a box of old daguerreotypes, somewhere -my sister ought to have.
_______________________
The medallion of Rennie which is over the door, I want to have stay there for the present dear
Will.-If as I hope the dear wife who will soon love you & make you happy is some one who has known & loved me too, then I want it to stay there always.-but if it is a stranger to whom you heart goes out, then I want this medallion sent to Annie Davenport. I cannot bear that it should be under unloving strangers eyes.-
_________________________
The casks of china & glass in the summer kitchen contain some interesting things - china to match one in our best sets - a salad set - dishes for stuffed eggs - (I do hope Katy will know how to use them!)
--I forget now many of the things
--but the most interesting are two porcelain figures--they are reproductions in small of two of the Nineveli[?1 Statues made long before Christ!, dug up in Nineveli now in London.-- These are very valuable-- They had them at the Astor Library & I was so fascinated by the features of this old king & queen who lived years before Christ -- that I could not resist the desire to possess them. They would have stimulated me to many a poem -- in fact I had one half planned: -- there was one more figure which I meant to put in the Berkeley rooms
--Mrs. Trimble had that for the winter & it will now be hers.--I think you will be interested in these; and they will look well in one of the Side shelves in the sitting room -- They must not go on the mantle piece-- remember that -- nor have any other things near them.-
Reproductions of the Nineveli Marbles is what they are usually called. Mr. Sanders of the Astor Lib. imported them for me from London.
I believe there is a small lion's head [?]with them too-but I am not sure. Or a winged bull one of the Nineveli gods. That could stand on the shelf with them. There will be the most interesting things in the house.- _____________________
The mattress and blankets I have here ought to be rolled up and sent home. The mattress is needed for the bed in my room: it will have to be made smaller. What comes off will make two good little hair pillows.
They engaged to do this up at the Cal. Furniture Co. Rush St. where I bought them.
The clothes that are here can be packed up by Effie & sent straight from here to Helen. I think two trunks will hold them all, after Effie takes out what I have given her.
_______________________
The old rusty key of hammered iron on top of the little Japanese cabinet in my room send to Mrs. Truesdell - it is a key I picked up in the dirt inside the La Purisima Mission.-
There are also, somewhere, two ragged old rawhide book covers, tied up, & I think marked - The covers of the original Mission Records at San Diego Mission.- The priest there gave them to me-In the store room are two very old candlesticks, to go on the wall.
These are from Carmel Mission-All these Mrs. Truesdell would value as I did. Please send them to her - with this description of what they are.-also send her the old looking glass sconces from San Diego Mission.-
All my old Quaker books I want sent to Sally. She may write that Quaker story I wanted to. These would better be sent straight from here in the little stateroom trunk where they are already packed--& after the MSS. & papers which are in the top tray are burned - the package of embroideries for the Horsfords can be put in that. & Sally will forward it to them.
--There are two casks of china & glass of mine stored at French's in Boston - all brought from abroad-curious and interesting.
These I would like you to divide between Annie and yourself.-
Mrs. [Prof.?] Horsford has duplicates of them all.-So you can learn from them where the different things came from.-
In regard to the furniture of the apartment in N. York - I hope that now you have a little income of your own you can persuade your mother to settle somewhere & have a pleasant house in which case this furniture will be useful for your own room; otherwise, it would better be sold all but the two writing desks. The big one I want you to keep always -- Ramona was written at it.-- The small one by the door I want given to Mrs. Trimble: unless there is something she would like better. The brazen circular tray on the closet door to Mrs. Gilder.--
--The person who takes the apartment may be glad to buy most of the things.-
My clothes will all be sent to you-use them as is best in the family.-
--Don't one of you put on a shred of black for me. This is my earnest request.-
There are furs & rugs stored at Barker's in New York. Mrs. Hunt knows about them.-- The gray
squirrel lining there I would like given to Mrs. Oliver Johnson--
--I think she has no fur lined coat---
--There is a box at the Berkeley never opened -- went from Boston last spring -- has vases etc. in it --That I want sent to Miss Woolsey Newport. I hardly remember what was in it-- but I think there will be somethings she will like.--
--I have told dear Nivley [?] that if there is anything in the rooms she would like, she is to take it -- but I am sure there is not -- & her own rooms are full already -
I did think she might possibly like the easel book case -- or the curious old Japanese carving -- but I won't leave them to her for fear she would not like them--
-- Oh -- I know what she might like -- the little water color painting by Tilton -- Give her that: unless she likes the others better. --
The white [Pongee?] silk dress trimmed with the Indian work I would like kept as it is-it will be an interesting heirloom for your grandchildren if fire and flood spare it so long. The embroidery was done by an old Mission Indian woman, 84 years old, in San Juan Capistrano Cal. (She had never had spectacles) She is the one described in my article in the Cent Mag. On the Mission Indians.-
Sleeve 6
Directions for Effie.-
Here in S.F.-
Get Miss Thibault to help you to read this.
--Buy a new trunk to take home these things which are for you & Katy to divide between you.-
--All my underclothes except the merinos.
The blue cloth suit.
The gray striped shawl.
[something crossed out] My sun umbrella.
One of the little white shawls
The night sacks
The black cashmere cloak with purple lining.
The old black silk dress (the one with fringe on the skirt)
The water proof cloak
The gray petticoats.-
All the sheets & towels we have here -- except so many as will be needed in packing the
trays of the trunks to go to Miss Helen.-
All my other clothes & possessions except for books which are here to be packed to go to Miss Helen. - all the new napkins you have hemmed here - put in with the clothes.
In the trays of the small square trunk - are several little parcels addressed to people in Colorado --take them out-- & carry them home.--
-pack also in your trunk -- to go home - the big book Omar Khayyam - and the two vols - "The Ship of Fools"
Those are to be given to people at the Springs. Mr. Jackson has their names. -
The new flannel wrappers give to Mrs. Apponyi for that poor woman who had the baby. -- Give her also my plaid shawl, and my blue felt bonnet.
Effie--cards to be taken home & opened there.- [written on small envelope]
Card No.2. is to be sewed on the under side of that heavy table cloth with the curious red fringe at the ends that we had on the dining table all last summer.
Card No.1. to be sewed onto the fringed curtain which is hung at the door of my bedroom.-
I want to make sure that it is never forgotten what these two valuable old embroideries are.-
Helen Hunt Jackson
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