Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Comstock Club records
MS0013  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Processing Information
  • Biography / Administrative History
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Comstock Club records
    Dates: 1962-1997
    Collection number: MS0013
    Creator: Comstock Club (Sacramento, Calif.)
    Collection Size: 16 boxes (7.75 linear feet)
    Repository: Center for Sacramento History
    Sacramento, California 95811-0229
    Abstract: The Comstock Club was organized in 1964 by nine Sacramento civic and community leaders who sought to preserve and strengthen the concepts and fundamentals of our democracy. They believed that this could be achieved by presenting, in a public forum, responsible and stimulating speakers covering a broad spectrum of political and intellectual subjects of current concern to our state and nation. The records contain audio recordings, photographs and speaking engagement flyers of prominent speakers who have addressed the club in Sacramento, California. Some of the speakers have been past presidents, scientists, entertainers, and activists. The records range from 1962 through 1997.
    Physical location: SV 01J05, 31B8, 31C10
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

    Access

    Collection is open for research use.

    Publication Rights

    All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH 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 patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], [box and folder number], Comstock Club records , MS0013, Center for Sacramento History.

    Acquisition Information

    Received from Ken Payne on February 10, 2017 by Alexander C. Guilbert of the Center for Sacramento History (Accession #2017/040).

    Processing Information

    Sorted and list prepared by Kathi Bristow, 2018. Finding aid updated with material from accession 1990/036 by Sean Heyliger, April 2019.

    Biography / Administrative History

    The Comstock Club was organized in Sacramento in 1964. Civic and community leaders wanted to provide a forum for speakers to present over a broad spectrum of subjects, and to provide an opportunity for audiences to hear in-depth talks on everything from civil rights, current political events, and advances in science and technology. The first President was Elmore J. Duffy, who patterned the organization after the San Francisco Commonwealth Club.
    Members included teachers, farmers, lawyers, state workers, and retirees. The club held talks two times a month, as well as evening receptions. The events were held at local Sacramento hotels, such as the Sacramento Inn and Red Lyon Inn, and included a luncheon along with the presentation by guest speakers. The club produced a monthly journal called, The Comstock, which contained summations of selected addresses to the Club and news of Club activities. The Comstock Club originally was a male-only club until 1977. Speakers were not paid for their engagements, nor were their travel arrangements paid for. It was an honorary speaking engagement only. Notables include Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Cesar Chavez, Steve Allen, George Wallace, Sally Ride, and Benjamin Spock.
    The Comstock Club was a nonprofit, impartial, educational organization of men and women devoted to the task of bringing into clear focus basic and timely issues confronting our society. It was funded through its membership. The Comstock Club “has held steady with a membership of 2,000 for the last 10 years,” according to a news article in the Sacramento Bee dated June 28, 1992. According to his article, The Comstock Club had held speaking engagements for twenty-seven years. The club was founded on a non-political and non-partisan platform. Their motto was “Searching for facts.” The Comstock Club Incorporated headquarters was located at 2206 K Street in Sacramento, California.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    This collection primarily documents over 35 years of speakers of The Comstock Club in Sacramento, California.
    The collection is approximately 7.5 linear feet in size and contains audio recordings, sleeved color photographs and some color 35mm negatives of features mainly guest speakers as well as some club forums and parties. The collection also contains a Comstock Club brochure. Within most folders is the accompanying speaker engagement flyer for the speaking events. The engagement flyers offer a brief biography of the speaker, his or her title, affiliation, subject matter to be presented, and include date of scheduled speaker or event. The flyers are legal size paper documents that include a remittance section to purchase tickets. The photographs are in color and vary in size with most photographs 4 x 4 inch or 4 x 6 inch. There are some folders in Series 2 which contain 35mm negatives. The collection dates from the 1980s through the 1990s. It was originally filed in a large metal alphabetical filing tree, with envelopes filed by the speaker’s last name. It consisted of photographs in their film processing envelopes or in plain envelopes with guest speaker names and usually the speaking date written on the envelopes. Within the envelopes were some speaking engagement flyers. The collection was sleeved in archival enclosures and reorganized and arranged into two series.
    Series 1 contains audio recordings of speeches delivered by keynote speakers at the Comstock Club. Series 2 includes photographs and often the flyer for the speaking event arranged in alphabetical order by the speaker’s last name, and then chronologically. There may be more than one folder for a guest speaker if more than one speaking engagement was presented by the same guest speaker. Some of the guest speakers included in the collection are past presidents, governors, ambassadors from other countries, senators, activists, entertainment celebrities, scientists, doctors, military leaders, leaders in space exploration, business executives. Most of the guest speakers have been identified, however there are some folders that may only contain the last name of the speaker, and a couple as “unknown” that were missing the speaker’s name.
    Series 3 contain the club’s organizational materials which consist of sleeved color photographs in archival folders and often accompanying flyers for forum events, such as the Economic Forums, which seems to have been held annually. Other folders contain photographs of other events such as club parties. Included in Series 3 is also a folder containing a brochure with provides a description of the Comstock Club. These folders are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically in an archival box.Series 4 includes flyers of Comstock Club speakers beginning in 1962 through 1994.

    Arrangement

    Series 1. Audio recordings Series 2. Speaker photographs Series 3. Organizational materials Series 4. Speaker series flyers

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    Sacramento (Calif.).
    Sacramento (Calif.)--History
    Sacramento (Calif.)--Pictorial works