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Guide to the M.C. Hall Collection
MS 207
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Table of contents
Title: M.C. Hall collection
Dates: 1900-1925, (bulk 1900-1952)
Collection number: MS 207
Creator:
Hall, M. C.(Myron Crawford)
Collection Size:
4 flats
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library.
Special Collections and Archives
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Abstract: Contains photographs and clippings from Hall's career as promoter of automobile rallies and tours to Yosemite and as automobile
editor for
the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Call, and the Daily Palo Alto Times.
Physical location: Stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
M.C. Hall collection. MS 207. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Charles F. Hall and Linda Burman-Hall in 2003.
M.C. Hall (Myron Crawford Hall) was born May 8, 1897 in Palo Alto. A second generation Californian whose maternal descent
was traced to the Earls of Crawford in Scotland, M.C. was the son of the first Palo Alto druggist, Benjamin Fred Hall and
Addie S. Crawford. His grandfather was Myron Ward Hall, a Pennsylvanian who came to California during the gold rush in 1853,
where he planted the first soft-shelled walnut trees in the San Ramon Valley in 1873 on the site of what was to become Alamo
near Walnut Creek.
M.C."Husky" Hall graduated from Stanford University in 1918 with a focus in journalism. He worked his way through college
as sports and automobile correspondent to the San Francisco Examiner and other newspapers, and as a summer clerk and publicity
manager at Camp Curry, Yosemite. At Stanford, he blonged to Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and served as city editor of the Daily
Palo Alto Times (1915) and the Daily Palo Alto (now Stanford Daily, 1916).
During World War I, Hall was stationed in San Diego, Seattle, and Pensacola as a naval aviator, flying the calssic double-winged
"jenny" aeroplanes ans also licensed for dirigibles.
As a journalist, Hall worked for the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Call. As publicist, he worked briefly for
the Harry Elliott firm before establishing his own agency specializing in automobile accounts, and continued to plan car rallies
and motor tours for Yosemite Park.
During the "Roaring Twenties", Hall planned sports tournaments and entertainment as director of events for the Santa Cruz
Seaside Company and Casa del Rey (1924-1926), and as promotion manager for Del Monte Properties (1926-1929). During the early
1930's, Hall managed the California Mission Trails Association and the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce in Watsonville. In
1933 he returned to Santa Cruz as manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Convention Bureau.
A thirty-five year career in the real estate and insurance business began in 1942 with an office in Pasatiempo, followed by
a move to Pacific Avenue at the head of Cooper Street when Hall purchased the similiar business of Joseph Rutherford Hayes
Jacoby. Following World War II, an expanded firm was established at 1545 Pacific Avenue under the name M.C. Hall and Sons.
This corporation served as headquarters for branch offices in Felton, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, Scotts Valley, Capitola,
Soquel, San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, and Elsewhere. In parternership with his sons Robert and Charles, M.C. Hall was credited
with sub-dividing and developing residential areas of Empire Acres and Vista Mar Monte (near Bonny Doon), Mar Vista and Seacliff
(near Aptos), Pasatiempo Orchard, and Rancho Rio (Ben Lomond). Retiring as a broker in 1976, Hall continued activity from
a small office on Cooper Street.
Active in service organizations, Hall is remembered as Past President of the Santa Cruz Lions Club and the Santa Cruz Real
Estate Board, and as a member of the Santa Cruz Elks, Masons, including Scottish Rite (32nd degree) and Islam Shrine.
M.C. Hall died on September 18, 1990 at his home in Santa Cruz at the age of 93.
Scope and Content of Collection
Contains photographs and clippings from Hall's career as promoter
of automobile rallies and tours to Yosemite and as automobile editor for
the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Call and
the Daily Palo Alto Times.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Hall, M. C. (Myron Crawford)--Archives
Automobile industry and trade--California
Yosemite National Park (Calif.)
The three glass plates have been removed to the Historical Glass Plate Negative Collection. The images have been scanned and
prints of them have been substituted for the plates.