Scope and Contents note
The George Allan Dyson Papers consist of diaries for 1861-1866, 1868-1870, 1908, 1919, and 1931, a letterbook containing copies of letters sent from Virginia City, Nevada, in 1867, and descriptive essays about Virginia City, and two ledgers, 1892-1893, 1905-1924. Among letters received are fifty-five from Fannie L. Chapman, 1868-1870, written from Black Earth, Wisconsin, Bellvue, Nebraska, Paradise, California, and St. Helena, California. Unpublished manuscripts include a fifty-two-page autobiography titled “Geoffrey Dayton,” and essays on mining days in Nevada. Business records include maps, reports, and descriptions of the Lucky Boy Mine, Gold Hill, Oregon, and other mine papers.
There are four manuscript periodicals in the collection, all edited by Dyson: The Star of Hope (volume 1, number 1, March 3, 1865, published by the New Year and Good Hope lodges, Independent Order Good Templars, St. Helena, California); The Templars Gazette (volume 1, number 1, March 3, 1876, published by Brownsville Lodge No. 250, I. O. G. T.); The Temperance Banner (volume 1, number 1, February 1, 1881, published by the Brownsville Blue Ribbon Club, with printed cover); The Temperance Star (n.p., n.d.).
Dates
- 1861–1931
Creator
- Dyson, George Allan, 1843-1935 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access note
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 note
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 note
George Allan Dyson was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, in 1843 and came to the United States around 1845. In 1861, he went to California, via Panama, and worked in San Francisco, St. Helena, California, and Gold Hill, Nevada, as a tinsmith and gold miner. He returned to the Midwest in 1869, but came west again in 1874, this time to Brownsville, Oregon. He established the town’s first newspaper, the Brownsville Advertiser, in 1878, mined in central Idaho in the 1880s, and moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1899, where he resumed his trade as a tinsmith.
Extent
2.0 linear feet (2 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
George Allan Dyson was born in England in 1843 and his family moved to the United States soon after. In 1861 Dyson sailed to California to work in the gold mines. A few years later he moved to Brownsville, Oregon and established the town’s first newspaper, the Brownsville Advertiser, in 1878. Dyson mined in central Idaho in the 1880s, and moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1899, where he worked as a tinsmith until his death in 1935. The collection consists of diaries, letters, ledgers, manuscripts and an autobiography.
Arrangement note
Collection is organized into the following series: Diaries; Diaries and notebooks; Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and business papers.
General Physical Description note
2 containers
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.
- Chapman, Fannie L.
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Diaries Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Gold miners -- West (U.S.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Gold mines and mining -- Nevada Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Lucky Boy Mine (Gold Hill, Or.) Subject Source: Local sources
- Manuscripts for publication Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Maps Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Mines and Mineral Resources Subject Source: Archiveswest
- Oregon Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Tinsmiths -- West (U.S.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Virginia City (Nev.) Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Title
- Guide to the George Allan Dyson 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 is 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
