Joaquin and Juanita Miller collection
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains correspondence, photographs, printed materials, and manuscript materials from 1878-1941. Among the manuscript material is an unpublished manuscript titled "When I was Emperor." All of the photographs are of Joaquin Miller, some accompanied by his daughter and Dr. Frederick Cook.
Dates
- Creation: 1878-1941
Creator
- Miller, Joaquin (Creator, Person)
- Miller, Juanita Joaquina (Creator, Person)
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.
Biography
Cincinnatus Hiner (not Heine) Miller, better known by his pen-name, Joaquin Miller, American poet and journalist (1837-1913), was born near Liberty, Indiana.
His father, a Quaker schoolmaster brought the family west in 1852, settling in Oregon, where young Miller received a cursory education. When he was seventeen he set out for California and lived among the Indians and in mining camps. This was a period of highly colored adventuring and lasted until 1858 when he returned to Oregon and completed his education at Columbia: College in Eugene. After an interval as pony-express rider, Miller became a newspaper editor, in Eugene, in 1862 and 1863. It was at this time that he began to write verse. His first volume of poems was published at his own expense in 1868. In 1870, after visiting the eastern states, Miller went to England, posing as a romantic Wild West figure and budding genius. He was lucky enough to be sponsored by Tom Hood and to have his Songs of the Sierras published by Longmans. Overnight he became the "literary lion" of London. He "had it made." A compulsive traveler, Joaquin Miller wrote as he went, profusely--in prose and in verse--describing places visited, the life and character of the people and the political aspects of the time. His wanderings carried him to Europe, up, down and across the United States, to Canada, the Klondike, Mexico, China and Japan.
When the real-estate boom of the late eighties brought new life to the west, Miller returned to California to establish a permanent base. He bought one hundred acres in the hills above Oakland and built a house and guest cottages which he called "The Hights" [sic.] and began to be accepted as one of the California circle of writers which included Ina Coolbrith, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Prentice Mulford, Edmond Clarence Stedman, George Sterling, Jack London, Samuel L. Clemens, and others.
In his later years "the poet of the Sierras" became something of a legend, but his fame was based perhaps more on Joaquin the personality, than on Joaquin the writer of memorable verse.
Extent
2 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection contains correspondence, photographs, printed materials, and manuscript materials from 1878-1941. Among the manuscript material is an unpublished manuscript titled �When I was Emperor.� All of the photographs are of Joaquin Miller, some accompanied by his daughter and Dr. Frederick Cook.
Arrangement
The collection has been arranged into 4 series: Series 1. Correspondence Series 2. Printed materials and ephemera Series 3. Manuscripts Series 4. Photographs
Physical location
Please consult repository.
Acquisition Information
Purchased with John Kemble Western Americana Fund, 2007.
General Physical Description note
no content
Subject
- Miller, Joaquin (Creator, Person)
- Miller, Juanita Joaquina (Creator, Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Joaquin and Juanita Miller collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Katie Hassan and Kelley Wolfe Bachli
- Date
- © 2007
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in: English
Repository Details
Part of the 01 - Special Collections & Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library Repository
800 North Dartmouth Ave
Claremont CA 91711 United States
Email: specialcollections@claremont.edu