Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: Gibbons (Stuart) Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1911-1976
Collection number: Mss225
Creator:
Sally Gibbons Wright
Extent: 2.5 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Gibbons (Stuart) Collection, Mss225,
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific
Library
Biography
Stuart Gibbons was born at Sonora, California on April 19,1896. He was
educated in the Sonora Public Schools, graduating from Tuolumne County Union
High School (1915). After graduation, Gibbons worked at various commercial jobs
before enlisting in the Navy (1917). Following his discharge (1919), Gibbons
returned to work at a Sonora bank, later becoming a life insurance salesman
(1921). The following year, he married Frances Bromley and went into
partnership with a navy friend at a small Lake Tahoe resort. In 1922, Gibbons
moved to Stockton where he became manager of the California-Western State Life
Insurance Co. By 1929, he was president of the Stockton Underwriters
Association. Gibbons continued to work for California-Western State Life until
1943. In that year, he became a private insurance carrier and operated his own
business until 1951, when he joined the firm of Frank Williams and Company as a
real estate and insurance salesman. Gibbons was for many years an active member
of the Stockton Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of their "Welcoming
Squad," and, in 1976, the Chamber dubbed him "Mr. Stockton" for this and other
community activities.
During the 1950s, Stuart Gibbons gained a reputation as a
conservationist for his successful efforts to arrange the purchase--by the
State of California--of the South Grove at Calaveras Big Trees. In 1952,
Gibbons spearheaded another successful drive to have Caswell Grove, an oak
forest on the Stanislaus River in southern San Joaquin County, also declared a
state park. Stuart Gibbons was active in a variety of ways in Stockton and San
Joaquin County public affairs. In 1948, he helped to form the Stockton
Recreation Commission. This agency oversaw the development of many park sites
throughout the greater Stockton area. From 1958 through 1960, Gibbons was a
member of the Stockton City Council. He later served on many civic improvement
committees, including the Sperry Building Restoration Committee (1968) and the
Cultural Heritage Board (1969-85). In 1976, he was instrumental in saving the
El Dorado School from demolition. Gibbons was also active in local history
organizations. The most notable of these were: the Pacific Center for Western
Studies, the Jed Smith Society, and the San Joaquin Pioneer and Historical
Society. Gibbons influenced the state legislature to create the "Mr.
California" award to honor excellence in local history scholarship. His
friends, Rockwell D. Hunt and R. Coke Wood, were the first recipients of the
award.
Scope and Content
The Stuart Gibbons Collection consists of Gibbons' Sonora (Calif.)
childhood papers and photographs , as well as later papers delineating Gibbons'
involvement with business, politics and historic preservation in Stockton
(Calif.).