Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding aid of the The Bob Cormack Papers
90.253.852-859
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: The Bob Cormack Papers
Dates: 1867-1966
Bulk Dates: 1960-1966
Collection number: 90.253.852-859
Creator:
Cormack, Robert
Creator:
Lawrence, John, 1835-1908.
Collection Size:
.4 linear feet
Repository:
Autry National Center. Institute for the Study of the American West
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Abstract: The collection is comprised mainly of Bob Cormack's research on various topics in Western history, including the lives of
John Lawrence and Will James.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research. Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/research_application.php
or contact library staff at (323) 667-2000.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Library, Autry National Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the
Autry Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder,
which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Item identification] The Bob Cormack Papers, 90.253.852-859. Autry Library, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA
Acquired as part of the Fred Rosenstock Collection in 1990.
File 1: Correspondence and Research File, 1964-1966
File 2: Photographs, n.d.
File 3: Press Clippings and Miscellaneous, 1961-1966
File 4: Press Clippings: Sunday Empire, January 29, 1961
File 5: John Lawrence: Diary 1903
File 6: John Lawrence: Excerpts from The Memorandum of John Lawrence, Feb. 28, 1867-December 7, 1907
File 7: John Lawrence: Photographs, n.d.
File 8: John Lawrence: Research Notes, 1960
File 9: John Lawrence: Copy of his will, 1906
File 10: Will James: research file for Denver Westerners lecture and article, 1962
File 11: Will James: lecture to Denver Westerners Meeting, Nov. 28, 1962
File 12: Will James: Denver Westerners Monthly Roundup article, December 1962
Biography / Administrative History
Bob Cormack was born in Edgewater, Colorado in 1914. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California,
and then worked as a commercial artist both in Los Angeles and Denver for most of his life. As his research files indicate,
he had a deep interest in Western history. He joined the Denver Westerners in 1949, and was also a member of the Denver Kiwanis
Club.
John Lawrence is a prominent figure in the Cormack Collection. From the Colorado Historical Society web pages, "He helped
establish Saguache County and served it in various capacities, including state assemblyman, but it was through quieter gestures,
loaning money, employing the jobless, nurturing schools and churches, that he earned the respect and friendship of the people
Among these (largely Hispano) ranchers and farmers, Lawrence found the family he'd never had. When he died in 1908, his tombtone
was inscribed simply: "The Founder of Saguache County Coloraod 1835-1909."
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection is comprised mainly of Bob Cormack's research on various topics in Western history, including the lives of
John Lawrence and Will James.
The first four files contain Cormack's research notes and press clippings on general topics of Western history; the next five
are research files concerning John Lawrence, a prominent Saguache County businessman. Included in the files are a 1903 John
Lawrence diary and Cormack's transcription of parts of another Lawrence diary, dated 1867-1907. The last three files in the
collection contain Cormack's research for a lecture and article about the life of Will James. He gave the lecture to the Denver
Westerners in November of 1962, and published a copy of the lecture in the December 1962 Denver Westerners newsletter.
Publications by/about Bob Cormack:
Cormack's copy of The Denver Kiwanian, Vol. XXV, 1949 is located in the Rosenstock collection. This volume has a group of
letters sent to Cormack when he was secretary of the Denver Kiwanis club (1949) bound at the back. He also published "The
Exaggerated West of the Beadle and Adams' Dime Novels" in the 1963 All Posse Corral Brand Book of the Denver Posse of the
Westerners, Volume 19. He was editor of that volume (see Press Clippings and Miscellaneous file for more information.) Also
in Rosenstock Collection, ByLaws As Amended by the Kiwanis Club of Denver, Colo., 1937, Bob Cormack's copy.
By format, then chronological.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Cormack, Robert.
Lawrence, John, 1835-1908.
James, Will, 1892-1942.
Westerners. Denver Posse.
Kiwanas Club of Denver.
Colorado -- History -- 19th century.
Saugauche County (Colo.) -- History.
Photographs.
Diaries.
Clippings.
Colorado Historical Society has information on John Lawrence.