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Gaddis (William) Collection
OCH.WGC  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Biographical Information:
  • Scope and Contents
  • Conditions Governing Access:
  • Conditions Governing Use:
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition
  • Preferred Citation:
  • Processing Information:

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives
    Title: William Gaddis Collection
    Creator: Gaddis, William, 1920-
    Identifier/Call Number: OCH.WGC
    Extent: 4.73 linear feet
    Date (inclusive): 1928-2006
    Date (bulk): 1928-1932
    Abstract: William (Bill) Gaddis was born in Berkeley, California in 1920.  Gaddis was about ten years old when his father, a Captain in the United States Navy, was posted to command a ship on the China Station. He spent two years in Shanghai and Manila with his mother and sister while his father was at sea. While in Manila, Gaddis attended the American School and participated in local theater. During his travels he collected a number of playbills, menus, business cards, and maps which he organized into scrapbooks.
    Language of Material: English, Chinese

    Biographical Information:

    William (Bill) Gaddis was born in Berkeley, California, in 1920. Gaddis was about twelve years old when his father, a Captain in the United States Navy, was posted to command a ship on the China Station. He spent two years in Shanghai with his mother and sister while his father was at sea. While in Shanghai, Gaddis attended the American School and participated in local theater. He assembled a collection of playbills, menus, business cards, and maps which he organized into two scrapbooks.
    At the beginning of World War II, William Gaddis joined the U.S. Navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant before being discharged from the military because he was homosexual. This discharge occurred in late 1943 or early 1944. After his time in the military, he went on to become an electrician by trade and he traveled extensively around the globe from 1956-1958.

    Scope and Contents

    The William Gaddis Collection consists of playbills, menus, business cards, maps, and travel documents from William Gaddis's travels in Shanghai, Nanking, Japan, and the Philipines during the late 1920s to the early 1930s. Also included in the collection is a scrapbook of photographs given to Gaddis by his father of various locations in Asia in the early 1930s, a scrapbook compiled by Gaddis of his life in the San Francisco area in the late 1930s, and two binders from Gaddis' time in middle school.

    Conditions Governing Access:

    The collection is open for research use.

    Conditions Governing Use:

    Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

    Immediate Source of Acquisition

    William Gaddis.

    Preferred Citation:

    For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materials  guide.

    Processing Information:

    Tim Kaufler, 2012

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Ephemera
    Documents
    Photographs