Lorenzo Lorain letters

Collection

Identifier: Mss 417

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection consists of twenty-one autographed letters written by Lorenzo Lorain between 1855 and 1861. The letters contain descriptions of Lorain’s military service, including yellow fever epidemics, the forced removal of Native peoples from the western region of the Oregon Territory to the Coast Reservation, and his photography. The letters are addressed from West Point Academy, Aspinwall, Fort Dalles, San Francisco, Fort Walla Walla, Fort Umpqua, and Camp Day near the Klamath Basin. The correspondents include Lorain’s father, Dr. Henry Tilden Lorain, and his sisters, Mary Jane Ashman and Martha (Merty) Eliza Lorain. Also included in the collection are biographical research notes and correspondence concerning Lorenzo Lorain and Edward Perry Vollum, collected by Nancy A. Hacker between 1958 and 1968.

Dates

1855-1968
Majority of material found within 1855-1861

Creator

Lorain, Lorenzo (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Biographical note

Lorenzo Lorain was born in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania on August 5, 1831. After graduating from West Point Military Academy in 1856, Lorain was commissioned as a second lieutenant with Company L, Third Artillery, based at Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory. His company was reassigned to Fort Umpqua, in Douglas County, Oregon Territory, in August 1857. While at Fort Umpqua, Lorain and the other members of his unit were charged with overseeing and enforcing the forced removal of Native peoples from their homelands onto the Coast Reservation. Lorain was also one of the earliest photographers to work in Oregon and his photographs are the earliest known images of the region’s tribal communities. Lorain was transferred to Virginia in March 1861, at the start of the Civil War. After being wounded during the battle of Blackburn’s Ford in July 1861, Lorain transitioned into a series of teaching positions at West Point Academy, Lehigh University, and in the Department of Engineering at the U.S. Artillery School in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Lorain died on March 6, 1882 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (2 folders in shared box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Collection consists of correspondence by Lorenzo Lorain dating from 1855 to 1861, as well as biographical information about Lorain collected between 1958 and 1968. The bulk of the letters concern his time stationed at Fort Walla Walla and Fort Umpqua between 1856 and 1861.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Lorenzo Lorain letters gift of S. H. Lorain, July 1948 (RL2021-078-RETRO). Nancy Hacker's research notes were most likely acquired after 1968 (RL2021-079-RETRO).