H68.220.33

The Mining Business in 4 Pictures
c. 1850
12.25 in HIGH x 10.75 in|14.25 in WIDE x 0.75 in DEEP
(31.11 cm HIGH x 27.30 cm|36.19 cm WIDE x 1.90 cm DEEP)
Museum Purchase
H68.220.33

19th C. Gallery

Lettersheet. Description: The Mining Business in 4 Pictures. Lith. of Quirot & Co., San Francisco. N.d. Used. Baird #171. (DC 9/92) A tissue with the continuation of the lettersheet handwritten correspondence was found with a typed transcript. The transcript is dated San Francisco, Feb. 15, 1852. From the History Information Station: "...I also send a few engravings of this place, they are very correct...." As immigrants a long way from home, the forty-niners relied on the mails to communicate with distant loved ones. In response to this demand for correspondence, enterprising publishers created the pictorial lettersheet, a piece of illustrated stationery which could be folded into a handy mailer. A forerunner of the picture postcard, lettersheets sold in the hundreds of thousands. This lettersheet shows four scenes of life in the mines. Handwritten comments in the margins include a description of the typical miner's diet: "Breakfast: Fried ham--Pot of Tea. Dinner: Fried Ham--Pot of Tea. Supper:Fried Ham--Pot of Tea."

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