Title: Andrew Genzoli Collection

Dates: 1850-1984

Collection Number: 1999.08

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 57 cubic feet (approximately)

Repository: Humboldt State University Library

Abstract: The Genzoli Collection consists of historical materials relating to Northwestern California, especially Humboldt County, and reflects all aspects of Genzoli's career and volunteer work as journalist and teacher. These include manuscripts, scrapbooks, clippings, notes, newspaper indexes (for late 19th Century), photographs, and ephemera. The collection's strengths include Ferndale and southwest Humboldt County, Bigfoot, and Seth Kinman materials. The extensive photograph collection covers the entire region from the 1870s to the 1970s. The collection provides insight into Genzoli's published works as the collection contains background information he used for his several publications.

Language of Material: English

Processed materials are available by appointment.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Humboldt State University Library. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce in any format please contact the Special Collections Librarian.

Andrew Genzoli Collection. Humboldt State University Library

This collection was purchased from Betty Genzoli, widow of Andrew Genzoli, by Humboldt State University Library in 1985 with the generous financial assistance from the Bertha Russ Lytel Foundation of Ferndale, California.

Andrew Genzoli, 1914-1984, started his career as a journalist in the early 1930s while still a student at Ferndale High School when he served as correspondent for the Humboldt Times and then later as a staff reporter. By 1940 he had purchased the Saratoga Sentinel which he operated until he joined the U.S. Army in 1941. He served as a staff correspondent and press liaison for General McArthur in the South Pacific. After WWII he returned to Ferndale and became a reporter for the Humboldt Standard. He retired from the Times Standard in 1979. Mr. Genzoli used feature articles and his regular columns (RFD, Redwood Country, and Lines From The Times) to present local history facts and lore to the paper’s readers. He was an active member of regional and local historical organizations including serving as editor of the Humboldt Historian for many years and being appointed to the California State Historical Landmarks Advisory Board. He published several books, among them: Redwood Country (1973), Eel River Country (1973); the series of books that he co-authored with Wallace E. Martin between 1961 and 1972; the Humboldtiana series (1962-1971); and Frontier Moments from the Humboldt Historian (1982).

The collection consists of historical materials from all aspects of Genzoli’s career and volunteer activities. These include professional writings, manuscripts, scrapbooks, clippings, students’ papers, notes and newspaper indexes, ledger books and photographs pertaining to all aspects of Northwestern California history, especially Humboldt County. The unpublished materials shed considerable light in the early history of the area. The photographs in the collection are extensive and cover the northern California area from 1870s to the 1970s.