Manuscript Register

This document describes a collection of materials held by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu

Posted to Internet: March 2003

Acquisition Note: The C.W. Irish Papers include material bought at auction in Davenport, Iowa, in 1977 from the Charles Irish Preston Estate; and also material donated by the Division of the State Historical Society, Iowa State Historical Department.

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright:  Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

Biographical Note

Charles Wood Irish was born in New York City on February 11, 1834, the son of Frederick Macy Irish and Elizabeth Ann Robinson. He was raised and educated in Iowa. In 1855, he married Susannah Abigail Yarbrough. They had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ruth (Mrs. Charles H. Preston).

As an engineer and surveyor, Irish served in a number of capacities. He was a city engineer for Iowa City and the first county surveyor in Tama County. In addition, he was a chapter member of both Iowa Society of Civil Engineers and the Agassiz Society of Iowa City.

Irish was involved with the first attempt to build a railroad across Iowa in the 1850s. Later he worked as a surveyor in the West during the construction of such railroad lines as the Chicago-Northwestern and the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe. He was appointed United States Surveyor General for Nevada by President Cleveland in 1886 and in 1893 was called to Washington to head the Bureau of Irrigation and Inquiry. At the time of his death in 1904, he was serving as the Deputy Mining Surveyor of Nevada.

In addition to being both an engineer and surveyor, Irish was a noted botanist, geologist, and astronomer. His observations of the total eclipse of the sun in 1869 at Iowa City and Nevada in 1889 resulted in international recognition.

Charles Wood Irish died September 27, 1904, at Gold Creek, Nevada.

Scope and Contents

The Papers of Charles Wood Irish are arranged alphabetically by folder title and chronologically within each folder. Materials include correspondence, diaries, letterpress books, surveyor notebooks, and terrain profiles. These papers reflect various aspects of Irish's career, including early railroad surveying done in Iowa and the West during the 1850s to the 1880s; Bureau of Irrigation activity, 1893 -- 1896; western mining data, 1889 -- 1900; and correspondence 1852 -- 1904, including letters from Joaquin Miller and John P. Irish.

Related materials

The Division of the State Historical Society, Iowa State Historical Department, has a collection of Irish-Preston Family Papers other than Charles Wood Irish. The Society also holds portraits of C.W. Irish and his wife by Isaac A. Wetherby.

Box List

Box 1

"An Account of the Detonating Meteor of February 12, 1875," by Charles Wood Irish (1 item)

Biographical Information, Charles Wood Irish, 1834 -- 1904 (5 items)

Books -- Belonging to Charles Wood Irish (7 items)

Business Cards, Charles Wood Irish (11 items)

Clippings, 1904, including Charles Wood Irish obituaries and funeral notice (33 items)

Correspondence

Box 2

Correspondence, cont.

Box 3

Correspondence, cont.

Diaries (14 items)

Box 4

Diaries, cont. (16 items)

Iowa City Sewer Map, December 28, 1885 (2 items)

Irrigation, 1893 -- 1894 (5 items)

Letterpress Book, August 9, 1893 -- August 23, 1894 (1 item)

Box 5

Letterpress Book , August 9, 1894 -- January 3, 1896 (1 item)

Letters, Index to Correspondence, June 1893 -- March 1896 (This correspondence relating to irrigation is not included in this collection.) (1 item)

Mining (Nevada), Surveyor General Forms, Reports, and Sketches, 1889 -- 1900 (9 items)

Official Documents, 1883 -- 1898 (10 items)

Photographic Notes, 1889 -- (1890s?) (4 items)

Photographs (68 items)

Postal Cards, Concerning Iowa Survey, 1874 -- 1876 (69 items)

Preston, Charles Irish (granson of Charles Wood Irish and Susannah Abigail Yarbrough Irish), clippings concerning his estate (2 items)

Railroad Notes, Reports on Railroad Needs, 1846 -- 1881 (12 Items)

Receipts, 1886 -- 1904 (14 items)

Box 6

Sales Receipt Pad, Elko-Tuscarora Mercantile Co. (1 item)

Surveyor Notebooks

Box 7

Surveyor Notebooks, cont.

Box 8

Surveyor Notebooks, cont.

Surveyor's Handbook, 1880 (1 item)

Transit Book, 1867, 1879, 1 undated (3 items)

West of Missouri River, 1879, 1880 (6 items)

Surveyor Notes, 1888 -- 1895 (6 items)

Terrain Profile (8 items)

Will of Mary E. Mitchell Ede, 1901 -- 1902. (Charles Wood Irish was heir and devisee) (3 items)