Guide to the Florence Cunningham Collection 1979.2553

Finding aid prepared by Catherine Mills
History San Jose Research Library
1650 Senter Road
San Jose, CA, 95110
(408) 287-2290
research@historysanjose.org
09/15/2011

Note

This guide was produced using Archivists' Toolkit. Information was taken from an original inventory of unknown date and authorship.


Title: Florence Cunningham Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 1979.2553
Contributing Institution: History San Jose Research Library
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 4.0 Linear feet (4 boxes)
Date: 1852-1961
Language of Materials note: All of the materials are in English.
Abstract: Florence Cunningham was a local Saratoga historian, whose collection includes notebooks documenting her travels in the Sierras, Yellowstone and western United States with notes on wildlife and plants. Much of her correspondence is to various people regarding historical research. Also included are a large variety of California catalogues and her extensive notes on a wide range of topics pertaining to the natural and political history of northern California. Two boxes contain Cunningham's correspondence and notes on the Moreland School District in San Jose, and the dedication of a school in the name of one of its earliest teachers, Samuel C. Rogers.
creator: Cunningham, Florence R., 1880-1965

Biographical/Historical note

Florence R. Cunningham was born in 1880 and settled in Saratoga, California in 1881 with her parents Ebenezer and Amanda. Cunningham was educated as a teacher with an interest in historical research on the Santa Clara Valley. She served as chair of the history and landmarks committee of the Saratoga Foothill Club and was instrumental in forming the Saratoga Historical Foundation in 1960. Cunningham died in 1965. She is the author of "Saratoga's First Hundred Years," a history of the Western Santa Clara Valley and Saratoga.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Found in collection.

Conditions Governing Access note

The collection is open to the public for research by appointment.

Scope and Contents note

Florence Cunningham was a local Saratoga historian, whose collection includes notebooks documenting her travels in the Sierras, Yellowstone and western United States with notes on wildlife and plants. Much of her correspondence is to various people regarding historical research. Also included are a large variety of California catalogues and her extensive notes on a wide range of topics pertaining to the natural and political history of northern California. Two boxes contain Cunningham's correspondence and notes on the Moreland School District in San Jose, and the dedication of a school in the name of one of its earliest teachers, Samuel C. Rogers.

Conditions Governing Use note

Property rights reside with History San Jose. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact History San Jose Research Library.

Preferred Citation note

Florence Cunningham Collection 1979-2553, History San Jose Research Library, San Jose, California 95112-2599.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Cunningham, Florence R., 1880-1965
correspondence
ephemera
Moreland School District (San Jose, Calif.)
Natural history--California, Northern
Saratoga (Calif.)
Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) Description and travel.

 

San Jose State Songbook

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet (1 book)
 

Travel Notebooks 1920-1924

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.5 Cubic feet

Scope and Contents note

Travel notebooks include Cunningham's postcards and descriptions of summer in Lake Tahoe in 1920, a trip to Yellowstone in 1924, and notes from trips to western United States in 1923-1924.
 

Tree Book

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet (1 notebook)

Scope and Contents note

A notebook containing photos, pictures and information on trees.
 

Correspondence

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.5 Linear feet

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence of Charlotte Cunningham Finkel, Florence Cunningham's niece, regarding the publishing of her aunt's manuscript; letters from Florence Cunningham to her parents during a cross-country trip in 1933; correspondence between Florence Cunningham and various people, mostly concerned with her historical research.
 

Pamphlets

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.5 Linear feet

Scope and Contents note

Contains catalogues of Luther Burbank, and miscellaneous pamphlets on California resources, highway landscaping, big trees, nursery catalogues, trees and recreation.
 

Notes

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.5 Linear feet

Scope and Contents note

Topics of notes include trees, birds, plants, history of the Bay Area, supplements to the travel notebooks, the Sempervirens Club, notes on Sunol and Forbes, Quito Ranch, Valencia family, Spanish period, Mission Santa Clara, De Anza, Cupertino, Portola, McManus and the Irish, Mt. Hermon, ranchos, legal cases, California emigration, Kirkwood, Saratoga newspapers, Selma history, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Alviso family, and Saratoga history.
 

Ledger with newspaper clippings

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet (1 ledger)
 

Moreland School District materials Bulk, 1945-1961 1852-1961

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 1.0 Linear feet (2 boxes)
 

Millie Zeller letters 1945-1962

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet (2 folders)

Scope and Contents note

Letters from Millie Zeller, daughter of Samuel Curtis Rogers, and other members of the family.
 

Arizona letters 1945-1951

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence with various persons in Arizona on the subject of Samuel Curtis Rogers teaching there.
 

Moreland School District correspondence 1959-1961

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence with the Moreland School District on the naming of Samuel Curtis Rogers School.
 

Correspondence regarding early schools in California 1946-1947

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet
 

California Historical Society correspondence 1948-1949

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear feet

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence with the California Historical Society regarding publication of an article on Moreland School District.
 

Clippings and ephemera

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Miscellaneous correspondence

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Miscellaneous notes on paper

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Draft Moreland School District manuscript

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Analysis Moreland School Rolls notes 1852-1854

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Moreland Register and Moreland family notes

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Arizona Moreland notes

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Moreland Story Manuscript notes

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

General School Law notes

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet
 

Moreland Notes and Citations

Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.1 Linear feet