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Title: Bud Howe’s Garage Records
Dates: 1933-1971, bulk 1941-1969
Collection Number: 1984-208
Creator/Collector:
Louis C. Howe
Bud Howe's Garage
Extent: 5 linear feet
Repository:
History San Jose Research Library
San Jose, California 95112
Abstract: Business records, shop manuals, automobile ephemera, personal papers, photographs, and other items created by Bud Howe and
his business, Bud Howe's Garage in San Jose, California.
Language of Material: English
Open to the public by appointment with the curator of Library and Archives.
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions
of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the
law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions
is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research."
If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user
may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its
judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.
Bud Howe’s Garage Records. History San Jose Research Library
Donated by Robert Howe in 1984
Biography/Administrative History
Born April 26, 1904, Louis “Bud” Howe spent his childhood in San Jose. In 1920, Mr. Howe joined the U. S. Army Air Service.
Discharged in 1921, he worked at various garages throughout the San Jose Area. In 1924 Mr. Howe married Maude Soto. Together
they had two children: Helene, born in 1927, and Robert, born in 1931. Records show Mr. Howe was self-employed beginning in
1929. He opened his own garage in 1933. In 1960, Mr. Howe campaigned and ran for California 2nd District Supervisor. Winning
third place among a field of four, Mr. Howe did not survive the primary runoff election. In 1969, at the age of 65 Mr. Howe
retired. Little is known about what happened to his garage after his retirement and subsequent death in 1984 at the age of
79.
Scope and Content of Collection
Mr. Howe’s business records represent a snapshot into how an automobile repair shop operated in the years between the World
wars, and then during a "golden age" of automobile operation in the Silicon Valley. The collection includes financial records,
business correspondence, shop manuals, and garage ephemera. Additionally, the collection includes some personal/family material
including photographs and negatives, Masonic and Shriners lodge programs, two copies of the Mayfair weekly newspaper dated
1947, and military records.
Small business
Nineteen fifties
Nineteen sixties
Nineteen forties
Automobile repair shops
San Jose (Calif.)