Special Collections and Archive

I. W. Lyon Family Papers

125 Items Gift of Horace D. Lyon, Mrs. Ralph Lyon, Dr. Romola Lyon

The papers of Israel Whitney Lyon (1827–1907) include the diary he kept aboard the Flying Cloud when the ship made its record-breaking trip from New York to San Francisco in 1851, the diaries and account books he kept as a dentist during the Gold Rush years in California, personal and family letters, photographs and documents, as well as papers relating to the establishment of his toothpowder business. The records of the firm, I.W. Lyon and Sons (makers of Dr. Lyon's toothpowder) are in the Baker Library of the Harvard School of Business.

The collection includes one letter written by Reverend Hendrickus Dow in 1790.