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