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Register of the Whitsell (Leon O.) California History
Scrapbooks,
1926-1952
Mss186
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Title: Whitsell (Leon O.) California History Scrapbooks,
Date (inclusive): 1926-1952
Collection number: Mss186
Creator:
Leon O. Whitsell
Extent: 1.5 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of
Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language: English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Whitsell (Leon O.) California History
Scrapbooks, Mss186, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University
of the Pacific Library
Leon Otto Whitsell, lawyer and civic official, was admitted to the Iowa
bar in 1900. He then practiced law in Idaho and Colorado until 1910, when he
began citrus farming in Orange County, Calif. He was elected to the Orange
County Board of Supervisors from 1923 to 1925 and was also President of the
Orange County Community Chamber of Commerce. Governor Richardson appointed
Whitsell to the California Railroad Commission (1925-1938) and he was elected
President of the Commission in 1928. Whitsell was a member of the Commonwealth
Club of San Francisco and Grand Master of the Masons of California (1938
-1939). His hobby was the study of California history.
This collection consists of 11 scrapbooks of clippings from California
newspapers of the 1930s. Topics include California places and historical
events, biographies, book reviews, and western history. Included are typescript
transcriptions of historical articles as well as some correspondence regarding
Whitsell's research. The only scrapbook devoted to a single theme is "No.50"
which is dedicated to "California duels." Whitsell's numbering indicates that
there were at one time a very much larger collection of these scrapbooks than
is to be found here.