Scope and Contents
The collection consists of the McComas diary, 1862-1867, and includes his account of his overland trip. Songs, speeches, and ballads are transcribed on the final pages. Four scrapbooks contain items written by McComas or of interest to him. A few of the pieces are by or about William Henry McComas, his brother, who came to Oregon in 1872 and was also in the newspaper business. There are also deed and mortgage records. The McComas diary was published in 1954 by the Champoeg Press, Portland, Oregon, under the title, A Journal of Travel.
Dates
- 1862-1911
Creator
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
Evans Smith McComas was born in Ohio. In 1860 he was living in Johnson County, Iowa where he taught school. He came overland to eastern Oregon in 1862 to the mines near Auburn. He tried other means of making a living, but was most successful as newspaper editor, and owned, edited, or contributed to a series of papers in eastern Oregon. He also promoted mines, patent medicines, and real estate.
Extent
12 linear feet (8 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Evans Smith McComas came from Iowa to Oregon to work in the mines in the 1860s. He later owned and edited newspapers. The collection consists of scrapbooks and the McComas diary, 1862-1867, which describes his journey on the overland trip to Oregon.
Arrangement
Collection is organized into one series: McComas papers, which includes the McComas diary, newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, and deed and mortgage records.
Diary Transcript
Diary transcript located in the Oregon Collection, "A Journey of Travel," by E.S. McComas, together with an introduction by Martin Schmitt, Champoeg Press, 1954. (Call no. F881.M3)
Processing Information
Collection processed by staff.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Diaries Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Gold mines and mining -- Oregon -- Auburn Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- McComas, William Henry
- Newspaper editors -- Oregon, Eastern Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Oregon Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Overland Journeys to the Northwestern United States Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Overland journeys to the Pacific Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Scrapbooks Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Title
- Guide to the Evans Smith McComas Papers
- Status
- Complete Description
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Vida Germano
- Date
- 2004
- 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 encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
