Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Preliminary Guide to the Thomas Driscoll Collection
Bernath Mss 7
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Thomas Driscoll Collection
Dates: 1836-1953
Bulk Dates: 1890-1918
Collection Number: Bernath Mss 7
Creator:
Driscoll, Thomas
Extent:
ca. 3 linear feet
(1 document box, 1 records container, 2 oversize boxes, and 1 map cabinet drawer)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections
Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010
Physical Location: Del Norte (boxes 1-2, 4); Annex 2 (box 3); Del Sur (Map Cabinet 20/4).
Abstract: Driscoll served as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army's 91st Division during and after World War I. Collection includes photographs,
pamphlets, intelligence reports, newspaper clippings, and correspondence. Also includes Theodore Roosevelt correspondence,
Gen. Sheridan letter, and some nineteenth century photographs of Brazil.
Language:
English.
None. Collection is partially stored off-site; advance notice required for retrieval.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Thomas Driscoll Collection. Bernath Mss 7. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California,
Santa Barbara.
Donation from Mrs. Thomas Driscoll, ca. 1968-1970.
Much of the following information is drawn from the June 1972 issue of
Soundings, a UCSB Libraries publication.
Alice Lawrason Bacon [Mrs. Thomas Driscoll] was born on Nov. 19, 1885, in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Albert W. Bacon. A. W. Bacon was Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. As a young man he fought for the Union in the Civil War,
serving on Farragut's flagship. Later he became a career officer in the Navy, stationed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1873,
then Nice, France, and Mare Island in San Francisco Bay.
During the Spanish-American War, as his last sea duty, A. W. served on Admiral Dewey's flagship in the Pacific. At that time
Mrs. Bacon and Alice returned to Washington, D.C. and Alice renewed her friendship with the Theodore Roosevelt family. She
had met Roosevelt earlier when he was a young Congressman. A. W. had visited Santa Barbara with the fleet in 1898 and decided
he would like to settle there after he retired. In 1901 the family moved to Santa Barbara.
Thomas Driscoll was from San Francisco. He and Alice Bacon met at a Santa Barbara polo match and were married at the Santa
Barbara Mission in 1905. They moved to San Francisco, were caught in the 1906 earthquake, and then moved to Burlingame. Thomas
served in World War I as Lt. Colonel and Division Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army's 91st Division. After the war he
was involved in business, but died suddenly in 1937 while playing tennis. Alice stayed in San Francisco for a while, then
moved back to Santa Barbara where she remained for most of the rest of her life. She died in Dec. 1985.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains correspondence, documents (including intelligence reports), maps, pamphlets, photographs, posters
and related WWI material of Thomas Driscoll. Also included are non-WWI materials such as correspondence from Theodore Roosevelt,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Calvin Coolidge; 19th century photographs of Philip H. Sheridan (Civil War General), Brazil and
Brazilian royalty; and early 20th century picture postcards, some of Santa Barbara.
Mrs. Driscoll also gave her library to UCSB. Included were inscribed first editions, Santa Barbara history, Californiana,
literature, and religion. A number of these are located in Special Collections, have been cataloged separately, and can be
searched in Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries online catalog.
The following newspapers have been transferred to UCSB Special Collections newspaper area:
New England Spectator -- Apr. 27, 1836
Santa Barbara Daily News, - Dec. 2, 1922
New England Spectator -- Apr. 27, 1836
Santa Barbara Daily News, - Dec. 2, 1922
See: List of World War I materials in UCSB Special Collections.
See also: Mrs. Thomas Driscoll Oral History (OH 34).
See also: Mrs. Thomas Driscoll Oral History (OH 34).