Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Claire Courtney Collection
Dates: 1960s-1990s
Collection Number: 2010.02
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 2.5 cubic feet
Repository:
Humboldt State University Library
Arcata, California 95521-8299
Abstract: The collection contains notes and documents from the formative years of the Humboldt County chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union, the Humboldt County Human Rights Commission, League of Women Voters, reproductive rights organizations, and
the Humboldt Bay League (precursor of the Humboldt Bay Recreation and Conservation District).
Language of Material: English
Access
Unprocessed – available by appointment
Publication Rights
Copyright to Claire Courtney's writings has been deeded to the Humboldt State University Library. To obtain permission to
publish or reproduce, please contact the Special Collections Librarian.
Preferred Citation
Claire Courtney Collection. Humboldt State University Library
Acquisition Information
Shortly after Claire Courtne's death in 2008 her daughter, Pamela Masterson, deeded the collection to the Archives of Northwestern
California Activism of the Center for Environmental Economic Development (CEED) and on April 15, 2010, CEED deeded the collection
to the Humboldt State University Library's Special Collections.
Biography/Administrative History
Claire Courtney was active in progressive and environmental organizations and Democratic Party politics in Humboldt County
from the time she arrived in the mid 1950s until shortly before her death in 2008. A native of New York City, she and her
new husband Harold Courtney, moved to the west coast where Mr. Courtney was soon employed as a forester, for the USFS in Hoopa.
A few years later they moved to the Eureka area. They had four children and then divorced in the 1970s. Claire was committed
to the betterment of her community.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains notes and documents from the formative years of the Humboldt County chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union, the Humboldt County Human Rights Commission, League of Women Voters, reproductive rights organizations, and
the Humboldt Bay League (precursor of the Humboldt Bay Recreation and Conservation District). Files contain information about
the committees' activities and related commissions, both local and statewide.
Six cassette tapes record a variety of events: KHSU broadcast on Headwaters, 1993 Eureka Health Forum, [Frank] Riggs-McKinleyville
in 1995, and the Northcoast Board of Directors meeting in January 1997.
Files from Claire's years of service on the Board of Directors of the Northcoast Environmental Center have been donated to
that organization.
