Correspondence (incoming) - W-Z

Palace Hotel, of the new Trinity church, of the California building at the Chicago Exposition, and of the remodelling of the University Club, as well as various other things which show remarkable talent and even genius. Now I have no interest in this young man further than that aroused by my admiration for his talents and character, and my desire to see your beautiful creation kept beautiful, and developed according to the ideas and plans already adopted. I think if you speak with Mr.Crocker he will agree with me in my estimate of this young man. Mr.Brown, as supervising architect, would, as it seems to me, prevent mistakes which men of less experience and ability are sure to fall into. President and Faculty:Looking very carefully over your instructing body, including the president:- discussing various matters with them, and inspecting their modes of teaching, I am satisfied that this most important part of the work is going thoroughly well. More than that, I am convinced that you have no mistake in the choice of your president: more and more I am satisfied that he is exercising a great and growing influence on general education on the Pacific coast, and that he is selecting as his colleagues bright young men of character and brains who have a reputation to make and can make it. Students:I also had a good opportunity to look over the student body, and was greatly pleased with it. Looking into the faces of

about two-thirds of them nearly every day for three weeks, and talking with many of them at the Encina dormitory, I found them as good a body of men, in every respect, as can be found in any university in the land. Better material no instructor could wish. The Library:An excellent beginning has been made in the way of books but there are various departments in which additional equipment of this sort is greatly needed. I do not advocate at all the collection of "learned lumber", but every professor needs the books, which show him the progress of his science or art thus far, preparatory to his developing it further. If there is one truth which the great doctrine of evolution has in these days forced into men's minds, it is that great improvements in civilization are rarely if ever sudden and complete creations; they are generally developed out of the past by a constant process of improvement; hence it is, that, in every department, the professor, to do thoroughly good work, needs the accumulated thought and work of those who have gone before him, on which to base his own. In Mr. Woodruff you have an admirably competent librarian, and the sum of $7000 to $10000 expended very soon under his direction would be money well laid out from every point of view. Art Gallery:Among the things which I especially admired was the gallery which I especially admired was the gallery which Mrs. Stanford has provided for the fine arts and objects of interest. I have said more than once since my return

that it is most sumptous and complete art gallery connected with any university or college in the United States, indeed, one of the most perfect in the world. While there will be ample space in it for the rare and beautiful things of interest that you have already collected, especially those relating to your son and yourselves, its main purpose should be to contain a gallery of casts representing the whole development and progress of sculpture from its Egyptian and Assyrian beginnings through Greek, Roman, Mediaeval and Renaissance art, down to and including modern times. Such a gallery, supplemented by a collection of large photographs, would be of immense value in connection with historical studies, and would be of ever-increasing interesting to students generally, and to the public at large. All the great universities of the world have shown their appreciation of this fact during recent years by the establishment of such galleries. We here are now making a beginning; I having given over three thousand large architectural and artistic photographs, and Mr. Sage having made us a gift of $8000 for casts. These casts are ordered under the direction of our professor of Archaeology from Bruciani in London, the modelling establishment of the Louvre in Paris, and the similar establishments in Berlin, Rome and Athens. Your Instructor in Art, Mr. Bolton Coit Brown, is abundantly able to draw up the schedules required. Should you wish to see a very fine gallery of architectural casts and photographs, you can do so at the French government collection in the Trocadero Palace at Paris. For from

$20,000 to $25,000 a superb gallery of casts and artistic photographs could thus be had at Palo Alto. Each costs but little, but each represents exactly and fully some great work in the history of art. My suggestion would be that the casts be ordered so that they can be shipped, in one, or at least in a few cargoes, directly to San Francisco, and not examined by the custom house officers until they arrive at Palo Alto, thus avoiding all difficulty as regards breakage. We have made this arrangement here. In fact at this moment a large collection of boxes filled with these casts is awaiting the arrival of the custom-house officer from New York, to go through the formalities required by the government. Conclusion:- In conclusion, I trust that you will pardon what might seem under other circumstances a volunteering of advice. I should not venture it but for your kind questions at various times, and I am emboldened especially by my desire to see your great and noble plans worthily carried out, as well as by my admiration for what you have already achieved. With all good wishes, I remain, Andrew D White

W.G. Wright San Bernardino, California, July 21, 1889 Dear Sir: I have a large collection of local [Lepid.?] + [Coleopt.?] which will in due time be given to some institution where it will be taken care of and made useful. Would like to know how you are getting along in entomological matters. If you come down here please come + see me + my things. Yours Truly W.S. Wright 78 F. St., S.B.