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Finding Aid to the Friedel Klussmann San Francisco Beautiful Records
Circa 1940-2009
SFH 65
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Table of contents
Title: Friedel Klussmann San Francisco Beautiful Records
Date (inclusive): 1955-2009
Date (bulk): 1971-1981
Collection Identifier: SFH 65
Creator:
Klussmann, Friedel
Physical Description:
1 carton, 1 box, 1 flat folder
(1.17 cubic feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: The Friedel Klussmann San Francisco Beautiful Records contain documents related to the activities of San Francisco Beautiful
between 1955 and 1992. The material was collected by Klussmann in her role as president and retained by San Francisco Beautiful
after her death. The collection contains minutes, correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, and material related to events and
the administration of San Francisco Beautiful. It does not include by-laws or other governance documentation for the organization.
The collection includes materials from campaigns to save the cable cars in the 1970s and 1980s; Save the Cable Cars/Proposition
Q, Save the Cable Cars, and Cable Car Friends are heavily represented.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in
English.
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], Friedel Klussmann San Francisco Beautiful Records (SFH 65), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco
Public Library.
San Francisco Beautiful donated the materials to the San Francisco Public Library in 2011 and 2014.
Researchers are encouraged to see also the Subject Files (Transportation—Cable Cars) and the San Francisco Historical Photograph
Collection. The library has the San Francisco Beautiful newsletter (renamed
The Cable in 2002). Related materials at other libraries include cable car campaign literature of the Citizens Committee to Save the
Cable Cars (1954, at the Bancroft Library) and the Bohemian Club (“Resolved That It is Better to Save the Cable Cars…” 1964,
at Yale University Library).
During processing, scrapbooks were dismantled and put into file folders. Photographs and negatives require special handling.
San Francisco Beautiful was formed in 1947 in response to changes in the urban landscape. Ordinary citizens and neighbors
banded together to take their concerns about neighborhood blight, tree-planting, cable car service, and freeway construction
to local government. Since then, San Francisco Beautiful has worked to enhance the livability of the city and keep it one
of the most splendid urban settings in the world.
In later years San Francisco Beautiful sought solutions to problems caused by newsracks, advertising “wallscapes,” illuminated
billboards, streetlight glare and light pollution, motorized cable cars, and utility boxes. The organization also opposed
corporate sponsorship of the Golden Gate Bridge. More recently, San Francisco Beautiful spawned Friends of the Urban Forest,
an organization that plants trees throughout the city and partners with residents to maintain them.
Friedel Klussmann, a longtime Telegraph Hill resident, was the president of San Francisco Beautiful from 1947 until her death
in 1986. Prior to founding San Francisco Beautiful, Klussmann studied at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco
Art Institute). She was active in the San Francisco area art community, showing at the Oakland Art Gallery in 1932 and holding
membership in San Francisco Women Artists from 1933-46 and the San Francisco Artists Association in 1936 and 1944.
In addition to her artistic pursuits, Klussmann was cultured and well travelled. She wrote about the late-1950s adventure
she enjoyed with her husband, Hans, in “So This Is a Safari!” Her globe-trotting proved to her the value of the uniqueness
of her city.
Believing that beauty is good business, Klussmann used her charm and persuasive abilities to lead a variety of efforts to
maintain the character and aesthetics of San Francisco. Above all, she is most famous for her repeated campaigns against plans
to replace the city’s cable cars with buses. Klussmann is credited with saving the cable cars in the 1940s and 1950s, and
then again in 1971 and 1980. Despite her private nature, Klussmann led two “Save the Cable Cars” efforts and united neighbors,
politicians, philanthropists, and San Francisco fans from around the world to convince voters and local officials to keep
the cable cars.
In the early 1970s, the cable car system was rife with problems. The community, including Klussmann, was frustrated with the
poor maintenance of the system. Accidents were common and many cars were out of service while waiting for repairs, which led
to delays and cuts in service. In 1972 Klussmann founded Cable Car Friends, an organization of citizens dedicated to ensuring
that the cable cars were maintained and operated safely and efficiently. Cable Car Friends was a watchdog group that monitored
service and kept San Franciscans informed about the system’s problems and improvements.
Klussmann died on October 22, 1986, at the age of 90. Mayor Joseph Alioto called her “the queen, the grandmother of the cable
cars.” Mayor Dianne Feinstein said she was “one of San Francisco’s truly modern heroines.” The Hyde Street cable-car turnaround,
near San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, was renamed the Friedel Klussmann Memorial Turnaround in 1997.
The Friedel Klussmann San Francisco Beautiful Records contain documents related to the activities of San Francisco Beautiful
between 1955 and 2009. The material was collected by Klussmann in her role as president and retained by San Francisco Beautiful
after her death. The collection contains minutes, correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, and material related to events and
the administration of San Francisco Beautiful. It does not include by-laws or other governance documentation for the organization.
The collection includes materials from campaigns to save the cable cars in the 1970s and 1980s; Save the Cable Cars/Proposition
Q, Save the Cable Cars, and Cable Car Friends are heavily represented.
The minutes from San Francisco Beautiful meetings between 1960 and 1979 are significant because of their level of detail and
the number of meetings that were recorded. Also of note are letters Klussmann received from San Francisco Mayors Joseph Alioto
and Dianne Feinstein, and from Supervisor Harvey Milk. Also included is artwork attributed to Klussmann.
The collection has been organized into three series: Series 1: Organizational Files; Series 2: Cable Cars; and Series 3: Artwork.
Within Series 1, the folders are arranged chronologically. The folders in Series 2 are arranged by campaign, with related
materials at the end.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco Beautiful.
San Francisco Beautiful--Archives
Cable cars (Streetcars)--California--San Francisco
Civic improvement--California--San Francisco
Railroads, cable--California--San Francisco
Urban beautification--Citizen participation--California--San Francisco