Guide to the Clifford B. Hunter Collection
2010.13
Finding aid prepared by History San Jose
History San Jose Research Library
1650 Senter Road
San Jose, CA, 95110
(408) 287-2290
research@historysanjose.org
09/21/2011
Note
This finding aid was created using Archivists Toolkit based on a printed finding aid created in April 2010.
Title: Clifford B. Hunter Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 2010.13
Contributing Institution:
History San Jose Research Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
2.2 Linear feet
(5 boxes)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1910-1960
Date (inclusive): 1886-1998
Abstract: This collection consists of photos, correspondence, school yearbooks, publications, and other papers relating to Hunter’s
education, businesses activities and genealogy. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs and Hunter’s genealogical
research.
Language of Materials note: The materials are in English.
creator:
Hunter, Clifford B.
Biographical/Historical note
Clifford Brooks Hunter (1908-1998) was a technology entrepreneur and founder of Hunter Technologies Corporations, and long-time
resident of the Santa Clara. Hunter was born in 1908 in San Jose, California to Augustus B. Hunter (1884-1960) and Mary Jane
Hunter (nee Malley). He graduated from Santa Clara Union High School (SCHS) in 1928 and went to work on various projects with
his father. Hunter married Delores Nalley in 1939 and worked for a time at Signal Oil Co. installing hoists and air compressors
before he began selling automotive equipment in the Santa Clara valley. Hunter stopped working after a heart attack in 1950,
but in 1968 began a circuit board company with his wife, their daughter Judi, and son-in-law, Jim Craik. Among Hunter Technologies’
clients were IBM, NASA-Ames, and the U. S. Navy. The company was sold in 1987, after nearly 20 years of being held by the
Hunter family. Hunter more or less withdrew from the company after its sale, but remained active in the Santa Clara community
as a Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce and Santa Clara American (the city’s weekly newspaper) booster, a scoutmaster, and a
50-year Mason. He was also active in planning class reunions for the SCHS class of 1928 and was very active in performing
genealogical research on the origins of his family, who had been early Santa Clara Valley settlers. Hunter was a long-time
friend with journalist Dick Barrett (another SCHS 1928 graduate), a former columnist for the Mercury News.
Clifford B. Hunter marked the fourth generation of Hunters in the Santa Clara Valley. Augustus Brooks Hunter (1826-1902),
was the first of the Hunter clan to reside in the area, deciding to locate to the Santa Clara Valley in about 1852 for health
reasons. Augustus Brooks Hunter married Ann Rebecca Rutledge (d. 1905) in 1855. Rutledge was a descendant of Edward Rutledge,
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the cousin of another Ann Rutledge, who was purportedly the first sweetheart
of Abraham Lincoln. In Santa Clara, Augustus established a 160 acre ranch and a pear orchard. Augustus was elected to the
California Legislature in 1881, serving two terms, after which, in 1888, he became a San Jose councilman.
Frank A. Hunter (1860-1935), Augustus Brooks Hunter’s son, continued the family’s orchard interests until his death. Frank
married Lydia A. Ortley in 1882. Ortley was the daughter of Capt. J.J. Ortley, who sailed around the Horn to California in
1849 and later ran a fleet of packet boats that operated between Alviso and San Francisco, carrying quicksilver and produce.
Captain Ortley married Almira Wade in 1858, whose family came to California in 1849 through Death Valley as part of the Jayhawker
Party.
Frank’s son, another Augustus ‘Gus” Brooks Hunter (1884-1960), continued the family pear orchard after his father’s death,
and was the operator of an ambulance company and a Santa Clara County well inspector.
Conditions Governing Access note
The collection is open to the public for research by appointment.
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
Clifford B. Hunter Collection, 2010-13, History San Jose Research Library, San Jose, California 95112-2599
Processing Information note
The collection was processed by an intern in 2010.
Scope and Contents note
This collection consists of photos, correspondence, school yearbooks, publications, and other papers relating to Hunter’s
education, businesses activities and genealogy. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs and Hunter’s genealogical
research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Contact History San Jose for donor and accession information.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Alviso (Calif.)
Architecture--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
Computer industry--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
Electronic circuit design
Fruit trade--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
Genealogy
High schools--California--San Jose
photographs
Pioneers--California--Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County (Calif.)
yearbooks
Series 1: Genealogical Research
1975-1997
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear feet
(4 folders)
Santa Clara Historical and Geneological Society research
1995-1996
Language of Material:
English
Rutledge family
1995-1997
Language of Material:
English
Gold Country
1975-1993
Language of Material:
English
General
1984-1985
Language of Material:
English
Series 2: Personal Papers
1886-1998
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 Linear feet
(8 folders)
Donations
1981-1992
Language of Material:
English
Scope and Contents note
Photocopied and original correspondence regarding donations by the Hunter Estate. Also included is an original newspaper clipping,
two Electric Time Company, Inc. clock catalogs, ordering forms, as well as photocopied newspaper clippings.
Alviso
1889-1996
Scope and Contents note
Includes original and photocopies of newspaper and magazine clippings regarding Alviso, California. Also included are photocopied
pages of an 1889 directory with entries for Alviso residents, a photocopied map of Alviso, photocopied photographs, and a
photocopied excerpt of a book chapter entitled, "The Collapse of the First Alviso Bubble."
Dick Barrett
1995-1997
Language of Material:
English
Scope and Contents note
Includes papers regarding Dick Barrett, a friend of Clifford Hunter. Included are original and photocopied letters, a program
from Barrett's induction into the Santa Clara Unified School District's Hall of Fame, original and photocopied newspaper clippings,
and a short manuscript written by Barrett.
Newspaper clippings – Cliff Hunter
1975-1998
Language of Material:
English
Business papers
1886-1958
Language of Material:
English
Scope and Contents note
Contains business card from Gus Hunter, Packard Cars for Hire; envelope and mileage log from Cliff Hunter & Associates; letter
to George Hunter from Walter I. Hunter of Wilcox Fruit Company; property tax receipt for A. B. Hunter; Campodonico & Burns
receipt for F. A. Hunter; letter on Geo. H. Osen & Co. Dealers in Automobiles letterhead; certificate for 72 shares in the
Santa Clara Cheese Manufacturing Company made out to the Wilcox Fruit Co.; order form from the Santa Clara Cheese Manufacturing
Co. from I. A. Wilcox.
School papers
1923-1928
Language of Material:
English
Scope and Contents note
Includes two graduation diplomas, one from Santa Clara Union High School and one from the Elementary School of Agnew District,
as well as a roster of Santa Clara Union High School 1928 Graduates, and a dance card from a senior dance.
High school reunion papers
1938-1978
Language of Material:
English
Scope and Contents note
This file contains reunion announcement drafts and final copies, event check-in sheets, and a newsletter with classmate biographies
for the Santa Clara Union High School class of 1928. Also included is a "class history booklet" for the class of 1903, as
well as a banquet check and menu from The Velvet Turtle for a class of 1928 reunion.
Miscellaneous ephemera
1903-1998
Language of Material:
English
Scope and Contents note
Dance cards, personal notes and invitations, a recital program, a sympathy card, a wedding announcement, a manuscript about
the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, as well as communication relating to Clifford Hunter's quest to get permission to get copies
of the song "When Broadway Was a Pasture" and others.
Postcards
1900-1910
Language of Material:
English
Series 3: Yearbooks
1903-1938
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear feet
(10 volumes)
Scope and Contents note
Includes several copies of the Santa Clara Union High School yearbook publication
The Toscin.
Series 4: Photographs
1890-1985
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
0.7 Linear feet
Scope and Contents note
Hunter family portraits, 1906 Earthquake, San Jose and Santa Clara houses and storefronts (1940-1955), Alviso (1915-1985?),
Mount Hamilton/Lick Observatory, Stereograph slides (1898-1916), Miscellaneous photos (various photos relating to the Hunter
family, their friends, and activities; photo and negative of an airplane used in the 1927 film “Wings”). Also includes 2 Hunter
family photo albums (1890s?).
