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Finding Aid to the McLean Family Papers, 1850-1950
BANC MSS C-B 501
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Collection Title: McLean family papers
Date (inclusive): 1850-1950
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 501
Extent:
12 cartons, 6 volumes, 1 box, 1 oversize box and 1 oversize folder
17.5 linear feet
7 digital objects (7 images)
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: 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.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
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.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition,
the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor
restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner.
Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
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. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], McLean Family Papers, BANC MSS C-B 501, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Digital reproductions of selected items are available.
Photographs transferred to the Pictorical Collections of The Bancroft Library (BANC PIC 1905.06348-.06352--PIC, BANC PIC 1905.06380-.06391--PIC
and BANC PIC 1953.008).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
McLean, Agnes, 1861-1944
McLean, Agnes, 1861-1944, correspondent
McLean, Edward, 1818-1886
McLean, Edward, 1818-1886,?e correspondent
McLean, Fannie W., 1863-1951
McLean, Fannie W., 1863-1951, correspondent
McLean, Sarah (Chester), b. 1840
McLean, Sarah (Chester), b. 1840, correspondent
McLean family--Archives
Berkeley High School (Berkeley, Calif.)
California Civic League
Curry School of Expression
McAlpine Gold Mining and Milling Co
McAlpine Quartz Mine and Mill Site
National College Equal Suffrage League
San Francisco Settlement Association
Education-California--Berkeley
Pioneers-California--Oakland
Real estate agents-California--Berkeley
Real estate agents-California--Los Angeles County
Real estate agents-California--Oakland
Real property-California--Berkeley
Real property-California--Los Angeles County
Real property-California--Oakland
Social settlements-California--San Francisco
Suffrage-California--Berkeley
Women social reformers--United States
The McLean family papers were purchased by The Bancroft Library from Roskie and Wallace in 1952-1953.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Lara Michels in 2012.
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
Family correspondence; diaries; subject files; writings and speeches; scrapbooks; family financial records; real estate ledgers;
and materials relating to the McAlpine Mining and Milling Company. The correspondence consists of letters exchanged between
members of the McLean family as well as general correspondence. Among the family correspondence are letters from the 1850s
and early 1860s between Edward and Sarah McLean and family in Connecticut (some of which document the couple's voyage to California
in January of 1858). The bulk of the correspondence is that of Sarah, Agnes, and particularly Fannie McLean. Edward McLean's
real estate ledgers document his real estate interests in Oakland, Berkeley, and the Los Angeles Area. Subject files, writings
and speeches, and scrapbooks in the collection were created by Fannie McLean and document her work at Berkeley High School
as well as her activities in the settlement movement, women's suffrage, and other progressive causes. The collection also
includes a substantial number of files on the McAlpine Mining and Milling Company, including correspondence, bylaws, property
records, legal records, stock certificates and ledgers, and bills and receipts.