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Title: Gene Nelson collection
Dates: 1919-2003
Bulk Dates: 1950-1980
Collection number: MS0090
Creator:
Nelson, Gene (1921-2008)
Collection Size:
2 linear feet (2 boxes)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The collection documents the personal and professional life of Gene Nelson, a Sacramento television broadcast pioneer. Material
spans most of his life, dating from 1919 to 2003, with the bulk from 1950 to 1980. Both his personal and professional life
is documented through photographs and negatives; documents; correspondence; film, video, and audiotape; and artifacts. Personal
items include photographs, documents, and artifacts related to his schooling, time in the military, and family. Items documenting
his professional career include contracts, programs from his shows, ephemera, magazines and clippings, and a large number
of audio, film, and video recordings of his shows.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research use.
All requests to publish or quote from private manuscripts 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], Gene Nelson collection, MS0090, Center for Sacramento
History.
Donated by Chris Peterson in 2009 (accession number 2009/012).
Processing and finding aid by Travis Menne, 2009. Finding aid edited by Kim Hayden, 2020.
Biography / Administrative History
Sacramento broadcasting pioneer Gene Nelson was born in 1921 in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He began his show business career
at the local college radio station, then joined the marines in 1942, fighting in World War II until 1945.
Nelson’s career took off after the war with several stints as a radio host for stations in Oregon and California. His first
large-scale weekly show,
Queen for a Night, was with an Oregon station. He hosted the show--where contestants competed for a night of pampering in Hollywood--for three
years. The show’s success drew the attention of Ewing Kelly, the founder of Sacramento’s KCRA 3 radio station, who offered
Nelson a five night per week radio show. Nelson declined the offer and instead accepted a disk jockey position at Sacramento’s
fifth most popular radio station at the time, KGMS. Gene began hosting the KGMS shows
Alarm Clock Club and
The Gene Nelson Show in 1952.
While at KGMS, Nelson also worked for two San Francisco television stations: He hosted a Friday-night TV show on KPIX-TV and
did commercials on KRON-TV for the Monday Night Fights. Following these shows and his success as a radio host, Nelson began
working for Sacramento’s KCCC-TV.
Beginning in January 1954, Nelson hosted three television programs, which ran for four years:
Sacramento Varieties,
Breakfast With Gene, and
Club 40. In 1958, he took his shows to Channel 10, and later to Channel 13 for roughly one year. After this, Nelson retired from
show business, appearing only in a few small-budget documentaries produced by friends. He and his wife, Barbara Harris (married
November, 28 1954), lived in Tiburon and Calistoga before returning to Sacramento. He was a member of the Valley Broadcast
Legends. Nelson died in 2008.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection documents the personal and professional life of Gene Nelson, a Sacramento television broadcast pioneer. Material
spans most of his life, dating from 1919 to 2003, with the bulk from 1950 to 1980. Both his personal and professional life
is documented through photographs and negatives; documents; correspondence; film, video, and audiotape; and artifacts. Personal
items include photographs, documents, and artifacts related to his schooling, time in the military, and family. Items documenting
his professional career include contracts, programs from his shows, ephemera, magazines and clippings, and a large number
of audio, film, and video recordings of his shows. Photographic material in this collection has not yet been rehoused.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Television broadcasting--Sacramento (Calif.)
Radio broadcasting
Social life and customs--Sacramento (Calif.)