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Title: Frank B. Durkee papers
Dates: 1886-1982
Bulk Dates: 1937-1980
Collection number: MS0049
Creator:
Durkee, Frank B.
Collection Size:
3.5 linear feet
(4 boxes + 1 oversized box + 1 oversized drawer)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The Frank B. Durkee papers consist 3.5 linear feet of reports, correspondence, photographs, and blueprints mostly documenting
his time as the director of the California Dept. of Public Works and as a member of the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency. The
papers include reports, subject files, and correspondence of urban renewal and redevelopment projects in Sacramento, California
in the 1950s-1960s.
Physical location: 27E1-2, 4D1 Drawer E, MC 1:19
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research use.
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.
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Frank B. Durkee papers, MS0049, Center for Sacramento
History.
The Frank B. Durkee papers were donated by Frank B. Durkee to the Center for Sacramento History on August 18, 1982 (accession
#1982/105)
Finding aid created by Sean Heyliger, August 26, 2019.
Biography / Administrative History
Frank Bidwell Durkee (1892-1983) was born in Chitwood, Oregon on December 3, 1892 to Edward Warren Durkee, a Union Civil War
veteran and a founder of Russell, Kansas, and Elizabeth (nee Monk) Durkee of Yorkshire, England. Durkee was raised in Oregon
until 1900 when his family moved to a farm in Miner County, South Dakota where they lived for three years before moving to
Chico, California in January 1903. After graduating from Chico High School in June 1913 he attended the University of Southern
California Law School for one year (1913-1914) and was eventually admitted to the California State Bar in 1926.
Following graduation from USC, he returned to Chico where we worked as a reporter for the Chico Enterprise (1914-1915) and
the Sacramento Bee (1916-1917) before his enlistment in the Mexican border mobilization in 1916 under the direction of General
John Pershing and served as a private in Company A of the California National Guard stationed at Camp Stephen Littel in Nogales,
Arizona. He returned to Chico in 1916 where he was the director of the Chico Chamber of Commerce. In 1921 he moved to Sacramento,
California and was hired as the Auto and Outing Section editor for the Sacramento Bee (1922-1923) and California Highways
and Public Works (1923-1928), the newsletter of the State Highway Commission. He joined the California State Department of
Public Works in 1927 as a member of the legal department as a general right of way agent for one year before rejoining the
department again in 1931 as a principal attorney. He remained with the department for the next 27 years and was promoted to
deputy director in 1948. He was appointed director of the Department of Public Works by California governor Earl Warren in
1951 and served as its director until his retirement in 1958.
After his retirement from the Department of Public Works, Durkee was appointed to the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency (1958-1973)
and chaired the city's Old Sacramento Committee (1966-1968). He played a key role in the development of the Old Sacramento
Historic District and was awarded the California Historical Society's fifth annual award for Historic Preservation in 1978
for his work in the establishment of the Old Sacramento Historic District and the Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park. In
addition to his role in historic preservation, he was also a founding member of the Sacramento Book Collectors Club (1939),
Comstock Club, American Society of Public Administrators Sacramento, and the Sophie Comstock Memorial Committee which erected
a memorial to the riders of the Pony Express in downtown Sacramento (1976).
Scope and Content of Collection
The Frank B. Durkee papers consist 3.5 linear feet of reports, correspondence, photographs, and blueprints mostly documenting
his time as the director of the California Dept. of Public Works and as a member of the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency. The
papers include reports, subject files, and correspondence of urban renewal and redevelopment projects in Sacramento, California
in the 1950s-1960s. The collection is organized into six series: Series 1. Biographical sketch Series 2. Correspondence /
subject files, Series 3. Sacramento redevelopment reports, Series 4. Photographs, Series 5. Membership directories, Series
6. Certificates. The correspondence / subject files series include files maintained by Frank Durkee mostly related to redevelopment,
historic preservation, and parks in Sacramento, California during the 1960s-1970s. Also included are five folders of correspondence
written by Frank Durkee to chief justice and former California governor Earl Warren. The second series, Sacramento redevelopment
reports consist of 80 reports written by the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency, Department of Housing & Community Development,
Sacramento City Planning Committee, and private design and architectural consultants on a variety of urban renewal projects
in Sacramento including the Capitol Mall, Old Sacramento Historical District, and the American River Parkway. The membership
and certificate series include items documenting Frank Durkee's membership in various clubs and professional organizations
in Sacramento.
Series 1. Biographical sketch
Series 2. Correspondence / subject files
Series 3. Sacramento redevelopment reports
Series 4. Photographs
Series 5. Membership directories
Series 6. Certificates
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency
Historic preservation--California--Sacramento
Old Sacramento Historic District (Sacramento, Calif.)
Urban renewal--California--Sacramento
California State Capitol (Sacramento, Calif.)