Edward Meyer Kern and Richard H. Kern papers

The Edward Meyer Kern and Richard H. Kern Papers consist of journals, notebooks, drawings, maps, documents, and correspondence which document the activities of Edward and Richard Kern in the West and the Pacific from 1845-1860. The collection was previously held by William E. Kern, a nephew of Edward and Richard, who owned a hotel in Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania, where it was found in the hotel basement by new owners, Fred and Ann Cron, in 1958. The collection was featured in Life magazine in 1959. Some of the papers were severely mildewed and damaged, including two journals, three notebooks, and a scrapbook of sketches and drawings. These were disbound and each page separately encapsulated in mylar after treatment. Some of the notebook pages are so damaged as to obscure the sketches, and one journal is missing the bottom quarter of its pages. The collection is housed in three boxes and is organized into four series: Writings, Drawings and Maps, Correspondence, and Other Papers.

Series I, Writings , is organized into two subseries: Journals and Notebooks. Journals are further organized into those by Edward Meyer Kern and those by unidentified authors, and are listed chronologically. Edward Kern's journals include an illustrated journal of the first Frémont expedition to California, kept from August 17, 1845 to February 15, 1846, and a journal of his voyage in the launch of the Vincennes while mapping the coast of Japan in 1855. The logbook for the U.S.S. Vincennes, kept from June 11 to December 26, 1853 is filed here under "Unidentified" as the identity of its author is not clear. The last journal is by an unidentified American pepper merchant in Singapore in 1832-1833. This journal and the launch journal had been damaged by mildew and were disbound for treatment. The pepper merchant's journal is missing the bottom quarter of its pages, affecting text.

The Notebooks include five that can be identified as Richard Kern's, and two identified as Edward's. These volumes contain sketches of New Mexico, Mexico, Arizona, Zuni Indians, and a map of Northern California. An 1850 notebook kept by Edward contains notes on his palette. Two of Richard's notebooks were damaged by mildew and were disbound for treatment. These notebooks consist primarily of preliminary sketches, but also contain a few finished drawings.

Series II, Drawings and Maps , is organized into three subseries: Edward Meyer Kern, Richard H. Kern, and Edward Meyer or Richard H. Kern. The drawings are listed chronologically within each section. They include twelve watercolors from Edward's voyage on the Vincennes, depicting Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, and Sydney, and two pen-and-ink maps: the track of the Vincennes as it navigated the globe in 1853-1856, and the coast of Japan showing the track of the Vincennes launch in 1855. One loose unsigned drawing has been attributed to Richard Kern: "La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Santa Fé N.M." dated 1850. Many more sketches and drawings are unsigned. Although they have not been conclusively identified as drawn by Edward or Richard, they are presumed to be by one or the other. Consequently, they have been placed in the subseries Edward Meyer or Richard H. Kern. Many of these sketches and drawings are views of New Mexico, where both lived from 1849 to 1851, and are often preliminary sketches with notes on color.

Series III, Correspondence , is organized into three subseries: Edward Meyer Kern, Others, and Unidentified. Kern's correspondence is organized into incoming and outgoing correspondence, and is listed alphabetically within each category. Among his correspondents are Cadwalader Ringgold, John Rodgers, and John Augustus Sutter. A letter from his brother-in-law William B. Wolfe describes Richard Kern's death in the Gunnison Massacre. The five outgoing letters include one from Hong Kong, which Edward describes. The one letter from Richard, filed under Others, is to an unidentified correspondent, about his work as assistant engineer to Captain Sitgreaves.

Series IV, Other Papers contains documents and miscellaneous papers arranged in chronological order, and includes an early deed of land from Michael Dietrich to John Kuhn, dated October 1795, and the letter of appointment of Edward Kern as Captain under Frémont in September 1861, signed by John C. Frémont.

Oversize consists of materials from Series I, II, and IV, and is arranged in box order.