Title: Edwards Family Collection

Dates: 1870-1950

Collection Number: Manuscript Boxes 4260-4264

Creator/Collector: Edwards, Clarence W. Edwards, Edward D. Edwards Otasue, Constance

Extent: 4 manuscript boxes; 15 1/4 x 11 3/4 x 3 in., 1 manuscript box; 25 1/4 x 19 1/4 x 5 in

Repository: California State Library. California History Room

Abstract: The collection consists of multiple scrapbooks and some loose photographs belonging to the Edwards family of Fresno, California. The items range in date from the 1880s to the 1940s. Most of the scrapbooks were assembled by Clarence W. Edwards, who was the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools from the 1920s through the 1940s. The majority of the newspaper clippings and other ephemera he saved in his scrapbooks pertain to education, his job as County Superintendent, or the many re-election campaigns he ran in.

Language of Material: English

Collection is open for research.

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Edwards Family Collection. California State Library. California History Room

The collection consists of multiple scrapbooks and some loose photographs belonging to the Edwards family of Fresno, California. The items range in date from the 1880s to the 1940s. Most of the scrapbooks were assembled by Clarence W. Edwards, who was the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools from the 1920s through the 1940s. The majority of the newspaper clippings and other ephemera he saved in his scrapbooks pertain to education, his job as County Superintendent, or the many re-election campaigns he ran in. In 1923 he married Alice Short. Their daughter, Constance Edwards, was born in 1924 and assembled one of the scrapbooks in the collection when she was about 11 or 12 years old. She was active in several clubs and sororities in Fresno during junior high and high school, and eventually attended first Fresno State College and then University of California Berkeley. In 1948 she married Fred Otasue. The remaining scrapbooks in the collection were assembled by Clarence Edwards’ father, Edward D. Edwards. He was an attorney in Fresno for many years and a Confederate Veteran. He was an active member of United Confederate Veterans, frequently attended veterans’ reunions, and kept in touch with other veterans. He also appears to have been an ardent Democrat and was actively involved with Democratic political campaigns in Fresno County.

Scrapbooks, photographs, and ephemera belonging to the Edwards Family of Fresno, California.