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Finding Aid to the McLean Family Papers, 1850-1950
BANC MSS C-B 501  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
Papers of the McLean family of California. Includes correspondence and other papers of Edward McLean, his wife Sarah E. McLean, and three of the McLean children: Agnes, Fannie, and Francis. The bulk of the collection consists of Fannie McLean's correspondence, scrapbooks, subject files, and McAlpine Mine records.
Background
Edward McLean (1818-1886) was the eldest child of Francis McLean and Sarah Childs Berry of Connecticut. In 1843, Edward graduated from Yale University. He moved to San Francisco in 1849 or 1854, partly in search of relief from his chronic asthma, and found work in the insurance business. In 1856, Edward relocated across the bay to Oakland, where he served as one of the original trustees and site selectors of the College of California. He returned to Connecticut briefly in late 1857 to wed Sarah E. Chester. Until 1869, Edward and Sarah resided in Oakland and had five children: Agnes, Edward Jr., Fanny, Francis, and William. Edward continued to work in insurance and also became a real estate broker in the firm McLean and Hardy. He played an active role in organizing and managing a range of East Bay properties, including the Bay View Homestead and the Academy Homestead. Edward was also an original member of the Oakland Board of Education, which was founded in 1868. In 1869, Edward and Sarah McLean moved to Los Angeles, again seeking a more hospitable climate for his chronic illness. He became a senior member of the real estate firm of McLean, Rust and Wilson and later of the firm McLean and Wilson, a prominent real estate agency in nineteenth-century Los Angeles. In Southern California, Edward McLean organized the Santa Gertrudes Company, which had lands in Downey, Fulton, and Norwalk as well as the Mutual Orchard Association, which had lands in Pasadena. Youngest daughter Fannie W. McLean graduated from UC Berkeley in 1885 and was an English teacher and vice-principal at Berkeley High School for over 50 years starting in 1886. She was also director of the San Francisco Settlement Association, vice-president of the National College Equal Suffrage League, and vice-president of the California Civic League. Fannie McLean wrote articles and was an active speaker on a range of progressive issues, including education reform and women's suffrage. Fannie also became one of the directors of the McAlpine Mining and Milling Company in 1902. Eldest daughter Agnes McLean (1861-1944) was a graduate of Samuel Silas Curry's School of Expression in Boston and taught physical education and public speaking at public schools in Berkeley and Los Angeles.
Extent
12 cartons, 6 volumes, 1 box, 1 oversize box and 1 oversize folder 17.5 linear feet 7 digital objects (7 images)
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Availability
Collection is open for research.