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Guide to the Edgar James Patterson papers
MSS.2007/48
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Table of contents
Title: Edgar James Patterson papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2007/48
Contributing Institution:
California State University, Sacramento Special Collections & University Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.75 Linear feet
(1 record carton, 1 manuscript box)
Date (inclusive): 1957-2001
Abstract: Collection consists of many newspaper clippings, records and certificates of his awards and accomplishments, important memberships,
his correspondence recommending persons for important positions as judges, as well as very laudatory letters regarding the
quality of his work from the Governors he served, from prisoners to whom he provided therapeutic counselling, and from organizations
to which he belonged.
Edgar James Patterson (1911-2001) was a member of the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) faculty for 29 years,
from 1965-1994. He was a part-time faculty member in the Criminal Justice Department and continued teaching into his eighties.
Patterson had a long and multi-faceted career in the Sacramento area, although he was actually born and spent his earliest
years in Louisiana. He first made his mark as sprinter on the Sacramento High School athletic team in 1929 and 1930.
His first major step in what was to become his career focus was his employment in 1939 as a member of the California State
Police. Several years later in 1942 he was called into WWII military service in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the San
Francisco District Shore Patrol (African American Division).
At the conclusion of the war he returned to the California State Police and was assigned to personal security duties for three
California State Governors: Earl S. Warren, Goodwin J. Knight, and Edmund G. Brown. During this time, he also managed to graduate
from CSUS with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminology in 1955.
In 1959, he began to work for the California Department of Corrections following his studies at the University of California
at Davis and at Stanford University. He began as a parole agent and then transferred to a Counselor-Psychotherapist position
at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville where he remained until his retirement from the Department in 1976.
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open for research. Some restrictions may apply.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, Chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. Requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce
from collections must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives.
Permission for publication is given on the behalf of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The Library,
California State University, Sacramento as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
[Identification of item including date], [Folder Title], MSS 2007/48, Edgar James Patterson papers, Department of Special
Collections and University Archives, The Library, California State University, Sacramento.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Patterson, Edgar James
African Americans.
California State Police
Criminology