Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Collection Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Bibliography
Related Material
Descriptive Summary
Title: Hulda Hoover McLean Papers
Date (bulk): 1956-1963
Collection number: MS 129
Creator:
McLean, Hulda Hoover
Extent:
5.5 linear ft.
5 cartons, 1 document box
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library.
Special Collections
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Abstract: Includes correspondence, speeches, minutes, memoranda, reports, studies, newspaper clippings, reference material, and scripts
for a radio broadcast program called "Your County Government Report" documenting Hulda Hoover McLean's civil service activities
during her terms on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors covering 1956-1963.
Physical location: Stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators
of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the
Head of Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
Hulda Hoover McLean papers. MS 129. Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Hulda Hoover McLean in September 1985
Provenance
Hulda Hoover McLean
Biography
Hulda Hoover McLean was born in 1906 in Palo Alto, California, the daughter of Theodore Jesse Hoover and Mildred Crew Brooke.
She spent her childhood in London, and then in 1914 moved with her family to Waddell Valley, just north of Davenport in northern
Santa Cruz County, California.
In 1898 her father had fallen in love with the Waddell Valley while on a surveying trip as a student at Stanford University.
After graduating from Stanford, he went to London to work as a mining engineer with his brother, (the future President) Herbert
H. Hoover. The mining business prospered and in 1913 he bought property in the Waddell Valley, naming it Rancho del Oso.
It was there that Hulda McLean grew up and where generations of her family have grown and prospered. In 1974, Mrs. McLean
and her sister sold a major portion of their inheritence to the State Parks system to be added to Big Basin Redwoods State
Park. With the acquisition of the Hoover ranch, park visitors can now hike literally from the "Skyline to the Sea," following
a trail all the way from the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains down to the Pacific Ocean. In 1984, a combination gift/purchase
of the Charles and Hulda McLean house and surrounding acreage provided the facility for the Rancho del Oso Nature and History
Center.
Hulda married Charles Alexander McLean, Jr. in 1925 at Stanford. After a year of study at McGill University in Canada, the
couple returned to California and in 1927 both graduated from Stanford in Political Science. Charles went to work as an assistant
secretary to the State Senate and Hulda started to work in community organizations interested in good government. The early
years of their married life were spent in Pasadena, where their three sons, Charles Jr., Allan, and Robertson were born.
In 1943, a couple of years after the death of her mother, the McLean family moved back to Rancho del Oso to help her father
run the farm.
Hulda McLean served on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors for two terms. "Every time I tried to get anything done,"
Mrs. McLean says, "I ran into the Board of Supervisors. So I decided to run for the Board myself." She was defeated in 1950,
but was elected in 1956 to fill out an unexpired term and then re-elected in 1958.
During her time on the Board of Supervisors, several important things were accomplished. The county wage scale was brought
up to standard and they were able to get rid of the "fire-trap" that passed for the old people's home. They codified the
county ordinances, which had never been gathered together but left in the minutes and reports. While reviewing them, the
Board rescinded many outdated ones. They also were able to persuade the County treasurer to invest county funds instead of
keeping them all in savings, and abolish the industrial zoning which then existed for a hundred feet in depth back from all
county roads. A major goal of Mrs. McLean, the building of an adequate Juvenile Hall, was slow in coming. The three major
projects of the Board during her time in office were the establishment of the new University of California campus in Santa
Cruz, drawing up a desparately needed County Master Plan, and building a new County Courthouse to consolidate county judicial
and administrative business.
Over the years, Mrs. McLean was a member of Governor Earl Warren's State Tax Committee and worked with the California Tax
Conference. In addition to serving two terms as Santa Cruz County Supervisor for Seaside district, she was at various times
President of the California Council on Children and Youth, state president of the California League of Women Voters and manager
of the California Farm Bureau. Locally, she helped organize the Health Council and the Youth Committee and served on the
boards of the Tuberculosis and Health Association, the Farm Bureau, the American Association of University Women, the Business
and Professional Women Organization, and the Art League. She also worked as a member of Red Cross, the Community Chest, the
Chamber of Commerce, the Native Daughters of California, the P.T.A., the Y.W.C.A., the Civic Music Association, the Garfield
Park Improvement Club, the Senior Citizens, the Garden Club, the Davenport Improvement Club, and the Monterey Bay Underwriter's
Association, among others!
Today, at the age of 96, Hulda McLean is vice president of the Waddell Creek Association, and coordinates the volunteers at
the ranger station. She is also an accomplished artist and writer, currently working on her authobiography. She was recently
named Farmer of the Year by the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau.
Collection Scope and Content
Collection consists of correspondence, speeches, memoranda, minutes, reports, studies and various administrative documents
relating to Santa Cruz County Supervisor Hulda McLean's activities during her terms in office, from 1956 to 1963. The bulk
of the material reflects her commitment to improve children, youth, and health services for the Santa Cruz region, as well
as her involvement with establishing a Planning Commission within Santa Cruz County. Noteworthy components of the archive
are Mrs. McLean's radio scripts for "Your County Government," a weekly Sunday broadcast over radio station KSCO that summarized
the city and county governments' actions, as well as her monthly column "The Seaside District Newsletter" that provided background
information on county issues.
The content of the material has been kept in donor order. The files are organized into two series: Subject Files and Bound
Material. Both series are arranged alphabetically by title. The correspondence within subject files are in chronological
order. The "see also" notes were part of the filing system devised by the donor.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
McLean, Hulda Hoover. (Hulda Hoover McLean)--Archives.
County government--California--Santa Cruz County.
Santa Cruz County (Calif.)--Politics and government.
City planning--California--Santa Cruz.
Foster home care--California.
Bibliography
A brief history of Santa Cruz County, California / by Hulda Hoover McLean.
Santa Cruz, Calif. : Native Daughters of the Golden West, Parlor 26, 1993.
Hulda's world : a chronicle of Hulda Minthorn Hoover, 1848-1884 / compiled by Hulda Hoover McLean. West Branch, Iowa : Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, c1989.
VIP's handbook of useful information / Santa Cruz County Probation Department ; compiled by Hulda McLean. Felton, Calif. : The Dept., 1977.
Genealogy of the Herbert Hoover family, errata and addenda, 1976 / Hulda Hoover McLean. Stanford, Calif. : Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, c1976.
Series title: Hoover Institution bibliographical series ; 30.
Report of the Santa Cruz County Probation Department, 1970-1975. [Santa Cruz, Calif. : s.n., 1976?].
Tide-drift shells of th [sic] Waddell beaches, Santa Cruz County, California / Hulda Hoover McLean. Davenport, Calif. : H.H. McLean, 1975.
Uncle Bert : a biographical portrait of Herbert Hoover / Hulda Hoover McLean. [s.l. : McLean?], c1974.
A family in history : stories of the Hoover family / by Hulda Hoover McLean. Davenport, Calif. : McLean, c1971.
Genealogy of the Herbert Hoover family. [Stanford, Calif.] Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University, 1967.
Series title: Hoover Institution bibliographical series ; 30.
Your county government; some notes on Santa Cruz County government: the functions and problems of its departments and recommendations
for action
, by Hulda McLean. Santa Cruz, Calif., 1963.
Genealogy of one branch of the Hoover family / Hulda Hoover McLean. Davenport, Calif. : H.H. McLean, c1959-61.
Related Material
A conservative's crusades for good government / Hulda Hoover McLean ; an interview conducted by Gabrielle Morris ; with an introduction by Margaret Koch. Berkeley, Calif.
: Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, c1977.
Series title: California women political leaders series.