Dougherty Family Collection
Finding aid created by Monterey Public Library staff using RecordEXPRESS
Monterey Public Library
2023
625 Pacific Street
Monterey, California 93940
(831) 646-3741
https://monterey.org/library/services/research/history_room/index.php
Title: Dougherty Family Collection
Dates: 1888-1991
Collection Number: ARC 518
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 2 document cases, 4 flat boxes, 1 flip top carton: 4.1 ft.
Repository:
Monterey Public Library
Monterey, California 93940
Abstract: Collection documents an immigrant Irish family of the Central Coast and their subsequent family history in the Monterey area.
It contains family photographs, albums, clippings, transcripts, and correspondence.
Language of Material: English
Access by appointment only; contact Local History Librarian or designated staff.
Reproduction by Local History Librarian or other designated staff; may be restricted due to condition of the materials.
[Identification of item]. Dougherty Family Collection. Collection Number: ARC 518. Monterey Public Library
Gift from Margaret Mary Dougherty.
Biography/Administrative History
Philip Dougherty (1828-1903), born in Ireland, arrived in California in 1868 after crossing the Isthmus of Panama. He joined
his brother, W. P. Dougherty, in the lumber mill business at Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz County. Several years later, he settled
near San Juan Bautista, where he established a ranch, and he and his wife, Mary OʼConnor Dougherty, raised a family of seven
children. In 1910, their son Philip John (1880-1948) moved to Monterey where he became a successful local businessman and
civic activist. He served as a bank director, was mayor of Monterey (1919-1923) and postmaster (1933-1947), and established
the Casa Munras Hotel in 1941. (The Casa Munras was an original adobe house purchased from Antonia Field.) P.J. Dougherty
married Nora Agnes OʼDonnell in 1912. Their son, Francis John Jack, was employed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in the 1930s
and later managed the Casa Munras Hotel. Their daughter, Mary Agnes Dougherty, became a Sister in the Mary Knoll Order. Jack
Dougherty and his wife Tillie had five children: Margaret Mary Peggy (a photographer and the donor of this collection), Philip
John, Kathleen, Mary Patricia, and Thomas Michael of Monterey.
Scope and Content of Collection
Series I consists of notes, letters, transcripts of an oral history interview with Nora Dougherty, genealogical information,
school materials, and memorabilia. Series II contains family photographs of three generations of the Dougherty family. Series
III contains two photograph albums and two scrapbooks. The albums hold photographs of family and travel locations; the scrapbooks
document Jack Doughertyʼs travel while working for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and the careers of P.J. Dougherty and
Jack Dougherty. Series IV consists of three small journals kept by Jack Dougherty while working for the Coast and Geodetic
Survey (1935) and the Soil Conservation Service (1935-1937) in California and Arizona. Series V is a postal cachet album,
1933-1946, assembled by P.J. Dougherty during his tenure as Postmaster in Monterey, and includes the envelopes and franking
for the U.S. Flag Centennial at Monterey in 1946, air mail service and various other commemorative events.
Oral histories
Postal service
Field, Antonia
Dougherty, Margaret, Mary
Dougherty, Philip
Dougherty, P. J.
Dougherty, Nora Agnes
Dougherty, Mary Agnes
Dougherty, Jack
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
Santa Catalina School
Casa Munras Hotel
Monterey, California
Diaries
Correspondence
Clippings
Albums
Black-and-white photographs