Arthur Watterson Hoppe papers, 1870-2000, bulk (bulk 1950-2000)
Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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The collection consists of writings, correspondence, personalia, subject files, and photographs. The writings include manuscripts and other materials relating to Hoppe's books, magazine and journal articles, newspaper articles and columns, and other writings. Among these are volumes of photocopies of Hoppe's Chronicle column from 1960 to 1985 and from 1997 to 2000. Correspondence consists mainly of letters to Hoppe from Richard Delgado as well as some family correspondence. Among the personalia are biographical materials, personal documents, Hoppe and Watterson family history, materials from Edward Sayle Watterson and his wife Mary Prentiss, certificates, press badges, articles on Hoppe and his work, tributes, and scrapbooks of his family, his work, and his memorial service. Subject files consist of materials collected by Hoppe on a range of political and social topics. Photographs include portraits of Hoppe as well as family photographs.
- Biographical / historical:
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Arthur Watterson (Art) Hoppe was a political columnist and satirist for the San Francisco Chronicle for 35 years. Born in Hawaii in 1925, Art Hoppe was raised in San Francisco and educated at Lowell High School and Harvard University. In 1949, Hoppe began working for the Chronicle as a copy boy and shortly thereafter became a reporter. For his first major story, published in 1952, Hoppe and photographer Ken McLaughlin became the first newsmen on the scence when they skied to the streamliner City of San Francisco, which was snowbound in the High Sierra for three days. Other early articles included a 1956 series on Skid Row in San Francisco and a 1959 series on African-American crime in San Francisco. In 1960, Hoppe was chosen to write a humorous column on city hall politics. Eventually, his column broadened to deal also with state and national politics and even to encompass social satire. Hoppe published eight books, including three anthologies of his columns, four novels, and a memoir. He also wrote numerous short stories and articles that appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and other publications, as well as a few plays, some ow which were staged in San Francisco and Marin County. Hoppe was an avid yachtsmen and wrote many articles on the subject, including a 1948 account of ordering a 25-foot boat by mail from Japan (published in the New Yorker). Art Hoppe married Gloria Nichols in 1946. Together they had four children, Leslie, Andrea, Arthur, and Prentiss. He was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
- Physical location:
- Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
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University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481