Includes: Approx. 85 photographs of various family members; letters to E.A. Stickney; two early schoolbooks; and other ephemeral and manuscript material.
Significant little archive relating to this important family with roots in early San Francisco. Augustus Allen Stickney (1833-1880), originally from New York, arrived in San Francisco in the early 1860’s. He was a co-owner of the weekly literary journal The Californian from 1864 to 1866, forming friendships with Bret Harte, Henry George, and most particularly Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) in the course of publishing their works. He later edited and published the Alaska Herald in San Francisco, and was employed by the California State Printing Office in Sacramento at the time of his death. A carte-de-visite portrait of A.A. Stickney by John D. Godeus is present in the archive, as is his small New Testament presented to him by his mother in 1848; his membership certificate in the Odd Fellows, Brandon, Mississippi, 1856; membership certificate in the Odd Fellows’ Library Association, San Francisco, 1866; etc. A.A. Stickney married Belzora (Belle) Ross Clark (Born 1846, with Clark Family Register in the archive) in 1864. Edgar Allen Stickney (named after E.A. Poe) was born to the couple in 1872, and many of the photographs relate to him and his immediate family. He became a professional photographer, and also a typographer, like his father working for the State Printing Office. Another son, Charles Stickney, was born in 1877; he became a professional musician, and there are several photographs of him and his band, one of them taken by brother Edgar. Plus family photographs of children and grandchildren; birth and marriage certificates, newsclippings; ms. notes, and other items.