Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding aid to the James Duval Phelan Papers
1852-1937 (bulk 1886-1921)
SFH SF MSS 10/1-12
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: James Duval Phelan Papers
Date (inclusive): 1852-1937
Date (bulk): 1886-1921
Collection Identifier: SFH SF MSS 10/1-12
Creator:
Phelan, James D., (James Duval), 1861-1930
Physical Description:
12 folders
(0.56 cubic feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Miscellaneous collection of correspondence, ephemera, poetry, with small amounts of clippings, personal and business documents,
speech notes, and a photographic montage of Villa Montalvo. Most of the collection spans Phelan's terms as Mayor and Senator,
including the years in between.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in
English.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San Francisco Public Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco
Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], James Duval Phelan Papers (SF MSS Box 10), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
This collection was donated to the San Francisco History Center in two accessions (April 1982 and December 1986) by Louise
Melcher. Many of the items in the collection appear to have been removed from a scrapbook.
Researchers are encouraged to see the San Francisco History Center's subject and biographical files, the San Francisco Historical
Photograph Collection, and to check the San Francisco Public Library online catalog. The Book Arts and Special Collections
Center includes the James D. Phelan California Authors Collection. Researchers are also directed to the James D. Phelan Papers,
1880-1930, at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Originally, a 6-page typewritten inventory of the "Phelan Collection" was created, apparently after the first accession arrived,
to which was then appended pages 7 through 14 (comprising the second accession, presumably.) Many items were individually
foldered (with a total of 58 folders), and the box order had little relation to the inventory. Over the years, a few items
relating to James D. Phelan that were not part of the original accessions found their way into the collection. These included
a
News-Call-Bulletin metal 'cut' and printed material, which have been relocated or cataloged. The current arrangement gathers material into twelve
folders.
Phelan was the son of a pioneer California banker. He was elected as a reform mayor of San Francisco, serving 1897-1902. He
was then elected to the U. S. Senate and served from 1915 to 1921. A Democrat and a supporter of Woodrow Wilson generally,
he also advocated for the exclusion of "Orientals." A patron of the arts, his home at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, California
served as a hub for writers and artists. Many of these are represented in the correspondence.
Miscellaneous collection of correspondence, ephemera, and poetry, with small amounts of clippings, personal and business documents,
speech notes, and a photographic montage of Villa Montalvo. Most of the collection spans Phelan's terms as Mayor and Senator,
including the years in between. Correspondents include George T. Bromley, Ina Coolbrith, Edward Robeson Taylor, Woodrow Wilson,
and others. There are also a handful of anonymous cards and letters against him, one of which contains an explicit death threat.
Poems are a combination of manuscripts, typescripts, and print; most are dedicated to Phelan by writers he patronized. Ephemera
includes guest membership cards to social clubs, invitations, tickets, calling cards, a few election items, and other materials
documenting Phelan's involvement with high society.
The collection is arranged by type of material. Correspondence is divided into "received" and "sent," with "received" arranged
alphabeticaly by sender.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Phelan, James D., (James Duval), 1861-1930 -- Archives
Legislators--California
Mayors--California--San Francisco