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Register of the Hodghead (Beverly L.) Speeches & Other
Papers,
1894-1910
Mss146
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Title: Hodghead (Beverly L.) Speeches & Other Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1894-1910
Collection number: Mss146
Creator:
Beverly Eckles Hodghead
Extent: 0.25 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], Hodghead (Beverly L.) Speeches & Other
Papers, Mss146, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of
the Pacific Library
Mr. Beverly Lacy Hodghead (1865-1928) was mayor of Berkeley (California)
from 1909 to 1911. An attorney and politically active Progressive Democrat,
Hodghead was instrumental in the development a new charter for the city of
Berkeley (1909). Berkeley's city charter, based on that of Galveston, Texas,
promoted government as a sound business operation with knowledgeable
commissioners, rather than one of partisan politics where city positions are
given out as favors. Changes included: a primary election in which all
nominations were made by non-partisan petition; a small council with each
councilman elected at-large and serving as a commissioner of a department; and,
ultimate veto power to the people through the initiative, referendum or
recall.
Beverly Hodghead was educated at the University of California and at
Hastings College of Law, San Francisco (1891). He was admitted to the
California bar in that year and began practice in San Francisco. Active in many
legal and political organizations and endeavors throughout his life, Hodghead
was Vice President of the Board of Freeholders, Berkeley; President of the
League of California Municipalities (1910-1911); Chairman of the arrangements
committee for the meeting of the American Bar Association in San Francisco
(August 1922); Master of Ceremonies at the Commonwealth Club banquet for Chief
Justice Taft and Lord Shaw (1922); and representative for the California Bar
Association at the American Law Institute, Washington (1924).
The Beverly Hodghead papers consist primarily of about forty speeches.
The majority of these are devoted to explaining the Berkeley city charter.
Other speeches consider the roles of citizens in support of municipal
government, the annexation of Berkeley by Oakland and the creation of a dam in
the Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide a water source for San Francisco.