Scope and Contents
The collection contains material collected by Pherne Miller on her uncle, Joaquin Miller, including clippings and tear sheets, scrapbooks, photographs, and other memorabilia. The collection also includes outgoing correspondence by Joaquin Miller, and published works by him. Also available are the Pherne Miller personal papers that include correspondence, notebooks, and clippings of lectures.
Material by Joaquin Miller:
Outgoing correspondence written by Joaquin Miller (1868-1909) consists of letters to family and friends, including his sister Ella Luckey, brothers James H. Miller and George Miller, and Pherne Miller, his niece.
There are also copies of Joaquin Miller's published works, and some titles include multiple copies with different bindings. Works include Speciments; Pacific Poems; Songs of the Sierras; Songs of the Sun-Lands; Life amongst the Modocs: Unwritten History, among many others
Pherne Miller Material:
Pherne Miller correspondence is separated into outgoing (1935; 1960) and incoming letters, which are arranged alphabetically.
Other Pherne Miller material includes newsclippings, mementos, notebooks, broadside, and clippings regarding lectures by Pherne Miller on Joaquin Miller.
Material about Joaquin Miller and the Miller Family:
Material concerning Joaquin Miller that was collected by Pherne Miller includes newsclippings about his life and family, obituaries, tearsheets and clippings of articles by and about Joaquin Miller, a card index bibliography to works by and about Miller, and also a scrapbook containing sheet music and newsclippings about Miller and his daughter Juanita.
There are also published works about Joaquin Miller by athors Merritt Parmelle Allen; O. W. Frost; Hamlin Garland; Elbert Hubbard; Frank Klinge; Alfred Kreymborg; M.M. Marberry; Martin Severin Peterson; and Harr Wagner.
The collection also contains photographs of Pherne Miller, Joaquin Miller, and his parents and brothers including framed portraits, an ambrotype photograph in a gutta-perche case, tintype in velvet and leather case, and loose photographs. Photographs have been separated from the rest of the collection for preservation reasons and are stored under the call number PH030.
Dates
- Creation: 1868-1960
Creator
- Marberry, M. Marion, 1908- (Person)
- Peterson, Mark Severin, 1897- (Person)
- Wagner, Harr, 1857-1936 (Person)
- Frost, O. W. (Orcutt William), 1926- (Person)
- Klinge, Frank H.M. (Person)
- Hubbard, Elbert, 1856-1915 (Person)
- Kreymborg, Alfred, 1883-1966 (Person)
- Allen, Merritt Parmelee, 1892-1954 (Person)
- Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913 (Person)
- Garland, Hamlin, 1860-1940 (Person)
- Miller, Pherne (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
Joaquin Miller (1837-1913) was the pen name of writer Cincinnatus Hiner Miller, born on September 8, 1837, to Quaker parents. In 1852, the family moved to Oregon, traveling overland on a three thousand mile trip that took over seven months. They settled near Eugene, Oregon where they established a home and farm. Miller later married the Oregon poet Therese Dyer.
"Miller attended Columbia College in (what was then) Eugene City from 1857 to 1858. He taught school, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. From 1861 to 1862 Miller rode pony express from Walla Walla to Idaho mines but he soon returned to Eugene City to become a newspaper editor. In his newspaper, The Eugene City Democratic Register, he pleaded for an end to the Civil War. The editorials were suppressed as pro-Southern in sympathy and Miller sold out, moving briefly to Port Orford on Oregon's southern coast."
"In 1864 he drove a herd of cattle across the Cascade Mountains to Canyon City where he planted the region's first orchard and served as Grant County Judge until 1870."
"Miller's work Songs of the Sierras was published in Great Britain during a visit in 1870-1871. Among his other works of poetry and prose were My Life Among the Modocs, Unwritten History, In Classic Shades, and A Royal Highway of the World."
[Source: Oregon Blue Book online]
Extent
5 linear feet (5 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Joaquin Miller (1837-1913) was the pen name of Cincinnatus Hiner Miller, a Northwest writer, newspaper publisher, and poet. The collection (1868-1960) contains correspondence and published works by Miller, and also material collected by Pherne Miller regarding her Uncle Joaquin, including photographs, as well as her personal papers.
Arrangement
Material within this collection may have little to no intellectual or physical arrangement. Any arrangement may have derived from the records' creators or custodians. It may be necessary to look in multiple places for the same types of materials.
Physical Description
2 manuscript boxes, and one solander case; Photograph boxes: 1 oversize flat box, and 1 small box.
Processing Information
Collection processed by staff, 1971-1979; and Tanya Parlet, 2013.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
This collection received a basic level of processing including minimal organization and rehousing.
Description information is drawn in part from information supplied with the collection and initial surveys of the contents.
Subject
- Miller, Juanita Joaquina, 1880-1970 (Person)
- Miller, Pherne (Person)
- Miller family (Family)
- Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913 (Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- American literature -- Authorship
- Authors, American -- 19th century
- Authors, American -- 20th century
- Authors, American -- California
- Authors, American -- Oregon
- Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
- Poetry -- Authorship
- Poets, American -- 19th century
- Poets, American -- 20th century
- Poets, American -- California
- Poets, American -- Oregon
- Title
- Guide to the Joaquin Miller Papers
- Status
- Complete Description
- Author
- Tanya Parlet.
- Date
- 2013
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for production of this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
