Guide to the Anna Blake Mezquida Papers, 1788-1975 (bulk 1898-1965)

Processed by Albert Park

Jennifer Yoshida; machine-readable finding aid created by James Lake
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
© 2001
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Guide to the Anna Blake Mezquida Papers, 1788-1975 (bulk 1898-1965)

Collection number: BANC MSS 73/188 c

The Bancroft Library



University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

Processed by:
Albert Park

Jennifer Yoshida
Date Completed:
January 2003
Encoded by:
James Lake
© 2001 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Anna Blake Mezquida Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1788-1975
Date (bulk): (bulk 1898-1965)
Collection Number: BANC MSS 73/188 c
Creator: Mezquida, Anna Blake
Extent: Number of containers: 4 boxes, 6 cartons, 4 oversize folders, 1 oversize volume Linear feet: approx. 9.3
Repository: The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Abstract: Professional and personal correspondence concerning her activities and interest in writing, poetry and publication. Also contains family papers or genealogical information for the following families: Blake, Bean, Cary, Clark, Cross, Eastman, Gilman, Wells, and Wiltse. Includes Civil War diary and letters. Other letters pertain to the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906.
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library 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 reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Anna Blake Mezquida papers, BANC MSS 73/188 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Material Cataloged Separately

  • Pictorial materials have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
  • Sound recordings have been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Anna Blake Mezquida Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by the Wiltse family on June 8, 1973 with additions on April 15, 1974.

Biographical Sketch

Anna Blake Mezquida was the daughter of San Francisco attorney Maurice B. Blake. Her great-uncle, Maurice G. Blake, was a judge of the California Supreme Court, a mayor of San Francisco, and a member of the city's Committee of Vigilance. Ancestors of both her parents fought in the American Revolution. One maternal ancestor, Lieutenant Ebenezer Eastman, served as an aide to General George Washington. Her family lineage in the United States traces back to the arrival of the Mayflower.
Born in San Francisco on September 1, 1883, Mezquida won numerous local, state, and national poetry contests throughout her career, the first at age 16. In 1906, having just undergone a serious operation, she experienced the San Francisco earthquake and fire, and subsequently spent several months in the Presidio General Hospital. She married Mateo M. Mezquida, an importer and exporter from Madrid, Spain in 1911. Her poem, "The Wondrous Exposition," was set to music and became the theme song of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
She studied journalism at the University of California at Berkeley and became a popular poet, short story writer, scenarist, critic, and journalist. By the early 1920s, Mezquida had been published in such periodicals as Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, and Overland Monthly. In 1922 Mezquida published a book of her poems titled A-Gypsying.
Mezquida lost her husband to a heart attack in 1928 and remained unmarried the rest of her life. A serious automobile accident in 1933 left Mezquida with broken vertebrae, a fractured skull and injuries to her right arm, causing her to wear a back brace for several years. A lifelong staunch Republican, in 1938, Mezquida began a word of mouth effort to end a strike of San Francisco department store workers. The largely successful "Buy Now" telephone campaign, facilitated by women all over California, urged people to break the strike by shopping at stores as normal.
During World War II, in addition to working in the United States Office of Censorship and the Message Analysis Unit, she wrote radio broadcasts, both informational spots and dramatic programs, to be transmitted to the Armed Forces stationed in Thailand and the Philippines. After the war, Mezquida wrote for the radio station KFRC. She sold several scenarios to motion picture studios, among them "Dancing Feet," "The Charm Trader," and "What the World Expects." She was active in a number of literary organizations, including the Ina Coolbrith Circle, where she was on the Board of Directors, Theta Sigma Phi (a fraternity of women journalists), and the Authors' League of America, as well as serving as an executive of the San Francisco Branch of the League of American Pen Women. In the late 1940s, Mezquida, as part of the Citizens' Committee to Save the Cable Cars, was very active in an effort to save San Francisco's cable cars from being retired.
After a long and full career of writing, having been published in dozens of publications and awarded numerous prizes, Anna Blake Mezquida died in San Francisco on March 12, 1965 at the age of 81.

Scope and Content

The Anna Blake Mezquida Papers, 1788-1975 (bulk 1898-1965), document her career as a San Francisco poet and author, her participation in many professional organizations, her experience and survival of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and her family's long genealogy in the United States. Mezquida's interests varied widely, though writing was her obvious calling. She supported herself her entire life by writing, whether for the government during World War II, for the movies or radio, by winning contests, or by selling pieces to magazines, from the 1900s to her death in 1965. Also noteworthy are family papers, including military documents, sermons, newspapers, and correspondence dating from as early as 1788, of many of Mezquida's ancestors, the families Blake, Bean, Cary, Clark, Cross, Eastman, Gilman, Wells, and Wiltse.
Mezquida's correspondence consists almost entirely of incoming letters, with a small portion of outgoing correspondence. The bulk of the incoming correspondence consists of letters from various publishers regarding submitted manuscripts, personal letters from family and friends, fan mail, business correspondence with lawyers, literary agents, and insurance agencies, contest notifications, letters from radio stations and movie studios, and correspondence with affiliated professional clubs and causes. Notable, however, are letters between Mezquida and her mother, Martha Hanna Blake, grandmother, Hannah Little Blake, and aunt, Susan Marcia Blake, from 1906, describing the San Francisco earthquake and fire and their personal experiences. Mezquida's husband Mateo, wrote numerous letters to her between 1898 and his death in 1928, all in Spanish. Also very interesting is the extensive correspondence from Elizabeth Craig, Vivian Horn, and Tana Mayland relating their long stays in Japan during and after WW II. Mezquida received several letters and photographs from Fish Wolf Robe, a Blackfoot Indian whom she met at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exhibition. Among Mezquida's incoming correspondence are also a 1927 thank you letter from Charles Lindbergh, a letter from William Randolph Hearst to Reverend Charles Aked complimenting her writing, and a letter of thanks written by President Herbert Hoover's secretary to Mezquida on the President's behalf.
Mezquida's writings contain short stories, articles and poems, her main modes of writing, as well as radio scripts and book drafts. Some stories, articles and poems are in typescript form, never published, while others come as clippings from the magazines and newspapers in which they were published. Some of Mezquida's short stories were sold to movie production houses as scenarios for movies, such as "Dancing Feet," "Man Crazy," "Service," "The Charm Trader," and "What the World Expects." The books, which appear here in typescript form, were never published. The radio scripts ("Stories Behind the Headlines," "Thai Newsletter," "Voice of America," "Our Cities," and "Philippine Newsletter") were all written for broadcasting to American military stationed in Southeast Asia.
The subject files contain research for Mezquida's writings and reflect her personal interests. Most prominent among them are the extensive files on various facets of San Francisco, one of Mezquida's most beloved topics. Other area of interest include Asian countries, Ghost Towns and the Old West, Espionage and the FBI, and the United Nations. Notes and Clippings include poems, scripts, and stories by other authors, which Mezquida may have admired and learned from, as well as notes on writing, radio broadcasting, and radio monitoring.
Organization papers include notices, certificates, minutes, and mailers from groups to which Mezquida belonged, including the Academy of American Poets, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association, as well as many others. Of interest is the Citizens' Committee to Save the Cable Car file, which includes essays written by school children on why the cable cars should stay in San Francisco. The YWCA materials contain lesson plans and course materials for several writing courses Mezquida taught at the San Francisco Young Women's Christian Association 1963-64.
Scrapbooks and Miscellany includes Mezquida's recollections of the 1906 earthquake and fire, written a year later, and scrapbooks of newspaper clippings from the department store strike in 1938, to which Mezquida was radically opposed, and worked to break. Other materials of note are her biographical materials (mostly relating to her writing career), clippings of her writings and articles about her, diaries of her visits to Fort Bragg, an autograph book of authors and important people of the time, and Mezquida's handwritten recipe book.
The bulk of the Family Papers contain obituaries, wedding announcements, yearbooks, genealogies, anecdotes, army papers and family correspondence. Of especial interest are several different accounts and correspondence about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The papers of Hannah Little Blake, Martha Eastman Blake, and the Wiltse family all contain accounts of the experience. Also in the Wiltse file is a line pass issued by the Chief of Police during the aftermath of the quake. The Bean family file contains an interesting account of the introduction of tea to Nantucket Island in 1735, as well as a letter from Curtis Bean to Martha Bean from Washington D.C., the day of the Battle of Bull Run in 1861 about the condition of the soldiers and morale of the Union. The Eastman family papers also include a Civil War diary, ca. 1862. In Hannah Little Blake's papers are letters from and about her brother Theodore Blake, who was working in the Dakota Territory from 1879 to 1881 when he was struck by lightning. In the Gilman family file is a booklet of a sermon by Tristam Gilman from 1788. Some of Mateo Mezquida's correspondence, which relates mostly to his import and export businesses, is written in Spanish, as is a letter from him in Hannah Blake's file.
The Anna Blake Mezquida Papers not only illustrate the life and work of a successful author during the early 20th century, but also show a cross section of how American families from Puritan to Modern times lived, through first hand accounts and documents. The papers present a vivid picture of life in San Francisco from the 1900s to 1960s, in particular the devastation of the 1906 earthquake and fire.

Boxes 1-4

Series 1: Correspondence, 1898-1975

Scope and Content Note

Divided into two subseries: Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence.
Contains family and personal correspondence as well as that related to Mezquida's writing career and affiliated professional organizations. Consists of letters, telegrams, postcards, and cards. Among the outgoing letters are several written just subsequent to the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, describing Mezquida's hospital stay in the Presidio and the destruction and havoc in the city. Letters to or from Mezquida's relatives which are neither to or from Mezquida can be found in the Personalia series under Family Papers.
 

Subseries 1.1: Incoming, 1898-1975

Scope and Content Note

Incoming Correspondence is arranged alphabetically then chronologically.
box 1, folder 1

Academy of American Poets 1960-1963

box 1, folder 2

Aked, Charles Frederic 1916-1935

box 1, folder 3

Altrocchi, Julia Cooley 1953-1956

box 1, folder 4

American Magazine 1920-1931

box 1, folder 5

Atlantic Monthly 1919-1956

box 1, folder 6

A miscellany 1919-1975

box 1, folder 7

Bender, Albert Maurice 1935, n.d.

box 1, folder 8

Bigalow, William Frederick 1952-1953

box 1, folder 9

Blaisdell, Nathaniel October 28, 1947

box 1, folder 10

Blake, Francis Gilman [cousin] 1948-1952

box 1, folder 11

Blake, Hannah Little (Clark) [grandmother] 1906-1908

box 1, folder 12

Blake, Martha Hannah (Eastman) [mother] 1906-1935

box 1, folder 13

Blake, Susan Marcia [aunt] 1906-1930

box 1, folder 14

Bruce, John Campbell February 1963

box 1, folder 15

B miscellany 1906-1964, n.d.

box 1, folder 16

CBS Radio May 8, 1953

box 1, folder 17

Caen, Herbert Eugene n.d.

box 1, folder 18

California Monthly May 7, 1936

box 1, folder 19

California Writers' Club 1933-1964

box 1, folder 20

Chatelaine August 14, 1956

box 1, folder 21

Cosmopolitan October 30, 1952

box 1, folder 22

Craig, Elisabeth 1953-1954

box 1, folder 23

Creed, Wiggington Ellis 1922-1924

box 1, folder 24

C miscellany 1910-1965, n.d.

box 1, folder 25

Daughters of the American Revolution 1957-1961

box 1, folder 26

De Rosa, J.A. May 2, 1947

box 1, folder 27

Dodd, Mead & Company 1935

box 1, folder 28

Doubleday & Company 1956-1958

box 1, folder 29

D miscellany 1931-1963

box 1, folder 30

Educational Forum 1956

box 1, folder 31

Everybody's Magazine 1921-1922

box 1, folder 32

E miscellany July 3, 1941

box 1, folder 33

Fish Wolf Robe 1915-1918

box 1, folder 34

Friends of the San Francisco Public Library n.d.

box 1, folder 35

Frothingham, Robert January 20, 1935

box 1, folder 36

F miscellany 1916-1965

box 1, folder 37

Good Housekeeping 1918-1963

box 1, folder 38

Gregory, Blanche 1935-1947

box 1, folder 39

Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason February 12, 1921

box 1, folder 40

G miscellany 1915-1965

box 1, folder 41

Hagen, John Milton [a.k.a. Sterling Sherwin] 1947

box 1, folder 42

Harper's Bazaar 1930-1931

box 1, folder 43

Harrison, Maurice Edward December 31, 1925

box 1, folder 44

Hearst, William Randolph May 30, 1919

box 1, folder 45

Henry E. Huntington Library 1949-1953

box 1, folder 46

Holland's Magazine 1917-1940

box 1, folder 47

Holt (Henry) and Company 1950

box 1, folder 48

Horn, Vivian 1948-1954

box 1, folder 49

Houghton Mifflin Company November 26, 1923

box 1, folder 50

Howard, Eric October 24, 1922

box 1, folder 51

H miscellany 1907-1964, n.d.

box 1, folder 52

Ina Coolbrith Circle 1953-1962

box 1, folder 53

I miscellany February 5, 1948

box 1, folder 54

Jennings, Dean Southern September 4, 1950

box 1, folder 55

J miscellany 1913-1955

box 2, folder 1

Kelly, Junea W. August 13, 1926

box 2, folder 2

Keyes, Frances Parkinson March 14, 1962

box 2, folder 3

King Features Syndicate August 18, 1961

box 2, folder 4

Klussmann, Frida 1947

box 2, folder 5

K miscellany 1916-1960

box 2, folder 6

Ladies' Home Journal 1956-1963

box 2, folder 7

Latham, Harold Strong January 3, 1953

box 2, folder 8

Laughton, George August 22, 1930

box 2, folder 9

Leigh, James March 11, 1961

box 2, folder 10

Lenoir, Henri 1947

box 2, folder 11

Lindbergh, Charles Augustus December 6, 1927

box 2, folder 12

Longmans, Green & Company February 25, 1930

box 2, folder 13

L miscellany 1930-1964

box 2, folder 14

McCall's 1951-1963

box 2, folder 15

McCord, Lida 1927-1931

box 2, folder 16

MacFadden Publications 1924-1941

box 2, folder 17

MacMillan Company 1940-1960

box 2, folder 18

Markham, Edwin 1915-1936

box 2, folder 19

Marston, Otis R. 1953

box 2, folder 20

Mayland, Tana 1953-1955

box 2, folder 21-25

Mezquida, Mateo M. [husband] 1898-1928

box 3, folder 1

Mitchell, Ruth Comfort 1928, n.d.

box 3, folder 2

Morley, Grace (McCann) 1956-1957

box 3, folder 3

Morrow, William Chambers 1906

box 3, folder 4

Morse, Fremont December 28, 1917

box 3, folder 5

Morse, Isita 1917-1918

box 3, folder 6

Morse, Mary Elizabeth November 13, 1918

box 3, folder 7

Morse, Peter October 14, 1917

box 3, folder 8

Munsey (Frank A.) Company 1921-1928

box 3, folder 9

M miscellany 1906-1962, n.d.

box 3, folder 10

National Contest Headquarters April 21, 1932

box 3, folder 11

New York Times May 24, 1963

box 3, folder 12

Norris, Charles Gilman July 25, 1923

box 3, folder 13

Norris, Kathleen (Thompson) 1920-1952

box 3, folder 14

N miscellany 1916-1962

box 3, folder 15

Oakland Tribune 1955-1960

box 3, folder 16

Overland Monthly 1927-1929

box 3, folder 17

O miscellany 1928-1958

box 3, folder 18

Palmer Literary Agency 1921-1925

box 3, folder 19

The People's Home Journal 1916-1929

box 3, folder 20

The Pony Express 1943-1957

box 3, folder 21

P miscellany 1906-1965, n.d.

box 3, folder 22

Q miscellany May 19, 1922

box 3, folder 23

Reader's Digest June 18, 1957

box 3, folder 24

Reynolds (Paul R.) & Son 1938-1948

box 3, folder 25

Richey, Lawrence November 25, 1932

box 3, folder 26

Robinson, Elmer E. (Mayor of San Francisco) 1949-1951

box 3, folder 27

Romance 1920

box 3, folder 28

Russell, Frank Marion November 13, 1952

box 3, folder 29

R miscellany 1921-1961, n.d.

box 3, folder 30

Salvation Army 1955

box 3, folder 31

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission 1950

box 3, folder 32

The San Francisco Call 1915-1917

box 3, folder 33

San Francisco Chronicle 1926-1932

box 3, folder 34

San Francisco Examiner 1936-1960

box 3, folder 35

San Francisco News 1956-1957

box 3, folder 36

Saturday Evening Post 1934-1962

box 3, folder 37

Saturday Review n.d.

box 3, folder 38

Save-the-Redwoods League September 17, 1954

box 3, folder 39

Simpson, Louis April 12, 1961

box 3, folder 40

Small, Maynard, & Company May 22, 1916

box 3, folder 41

Smith, Frederic Stuart January 4, 1939

box 4, folder 1

Stanford University Press 1949

box 4, folder 2

Sunday School Publications October 13, 1916

box 4, folder 3

Sunset Magazine 1915-1922

box 4, folder 4

S miscellany 1915-1963, n.d.

box 4, folder 5

10 Story Book March 20, 1917

box 4, folder 6

Theta Sigma Phi 1938-1965

box 4, folder 7

Thompson, Dorothy September 15, 1955

box 4, folder 8

T miscellany 1932-1964

box 4, folder 9

U.S. News & World Report August 8, 1961

box 4, folder 10

Universal Pictures Corporation 1924-1931

box 4, folder 11

University of California, Berkeley Library October 9, 1922

box 4, folder 12

University of California Chronicle 1924-1932

box 4, folder 13

U miscellany 1941-1962, n.d.

box 4, folder 14

V miscellany 1920-1961

box 4, folder 15

Ward, Louis H. n.d.

box 4, folder 16

Warenskjold, Dorothy n.d.

box 4, folder 17

Whitney, Margaret Mason March 18, 1927

box 4, folder 18

Wilkins, Helen M. [April 1906]

box 4, folder 19

Wiltse, Mary Eastman (Blake) [sister] 1906-1928

box 4, folder 20

W miscellany 1920-1965, n.d.

box 4, folder 21

Young Women's Christian Association 1957-1964

box 4, folder 22

Y miscellany 1926-1964

box 4, folder 23

Fan Mail 1915-1961

box 4, folder 24

Letters and Writings from ABM's writing classes 1959-1964

box 4, folder 25

Unidentified 1910-1964, n.d.

 

Subseries 1.2: Outgoing, 1906-1965

Scope and Content Note

Outgoing Correspondence is arranged chronologically.
box 4, folder 26

Letters 1906-1965

Cartons 1-2, oversize folders 1-2

Series 2: Writings, 1912-1964, n.d.

Scope and Content Note

Divided into four subseries: Short Stories and Articles, Poems, Scripts, and Books. Poems, because many of them lack dates, and Books are arranged alphabetically. Short Stories and Articles and Scripts are arranged chronologically, with undated items filed alphabetically at the end of each subseries.
Contains both published and unpublished writings. Consists of clippings of works published in newspapers and magazines as well as typed drafts of unpublished works.
 

Subseries 2.1: Short Stories and Articles, 1912-1964, n.d.

carton 1, folder 1

The Door of Yesterday 1915

carton 1, folder 2

Specialized Ad Writing 1915

carton 1, folder 3

The Tiptoe House 1915

carton 1, folder 4

Smiling Charley 1917

carton 1, folder 5

Wildcat 1917

carton 1, folder 6

Don't Be Too Sure--Mr. Hurd! 1919

carton 1, folder 7

For Services Rendered 1920

carton 1, folder 8

Untitled (an autobiographical letter) 1920

carton 1, folder 9

The Dancing Feet 1921

carton 1, folder 10

Every Stroke Counts 1921

carton 1, folder 11

The Least of These 1921

carton 1, folder 12

Writing a Prize-Winning Photoplay 1921

carton 1, folder 13

Judge Not! 1922

carton 1, folder 14

Gossamer 1923

carton 1, folder 15

Service 1923

carton 1, folder 16

Unto the Fourth Generation 1923

carton 1, folder 17

That Streak of Granite 1924

carton 1, folder 18

The Third Woman 1924

carton 1, folder 19

What Lies Ahead 1924

carton 1, folder 20

If One Could Look Ahead 1925

carton 1, folder 21

The Unwritten Book 1925

carton 1, folder 22

Brains in the Movies 1927

carton 1, folder 23

Man Crazy 1928

carton 1, folder 24

Gallant Wife 1929

carton 1, folder 25

I Can Never Stop Loving Him 1935

carton 1, folder 26

The Man I Married Twice 1938

carton 1, folder 27

When A Girl Plays Around 1941

carton 1, folder 28

Donna Danced 1949

carton 1, folder 29

Enchanted Hills ca. 1951

carton 1, folder 30

The Man on Page Seven (with Dorothy Egbert) ca. 1953

carton 1, folder 31

Covering the U.N. 1956

carton 1, folder 32

A Cousin of the Cablecars 1957

carton 1, folder 33

The House That Screamed ca. 1960's

carton 1, folder 34

Words in Prose and Poetry 1964

carton 1, folder 35

Bait for a Con Man n.d.

carton 1, folder 36

Christmas Safari n.d.

carton 1, folder 37

A Criminal in the Making (as told to ABM by Frank H. McConnell) n.d.

carton 1, folder 38

The Elephant Train n.d.

carton 1, folder 39

Forbidden Music n.d.

carton 1, folder 40

Franco of Spain n.d.

carton 1, folder 41

The Gilded Lady n.d.

carton 1, folder 42

The Hafiz Rug (The Peking Rug) n.d.

carton 1, folder 43

The Higher Law n.d.

carton 1, folder 44

The Hook Never Hangs n.d.

carton 1, folder 45

I Sit on the Jury n.d.

carton 1, folder 46

Ina Coolbrith Circle n.d.

carton 1, folder 47

Pensamientoes n.d.

carton 1, folder 48

Pull Down the Stars n.d.

carton 1, folder 49

A Rag Doll That Went to Town n.d.

carton 1, folder 50

The Revenge n.d.

carton 1, folder 51

The Stinson Beach Murders n.d.

carton 1, folder 52

Temple Dancer n.d.

carton 1, folder 53

We Give You San Francisco n.d.

carton 1, folder 54

Wear the Scarlet Dress n.d.

carton 1, folder 55

What Women Are Thinking n.d.

carton 1, folder 56

Articles written for newspapers 1912-1923, n.d.

carton 1, folder 57

Articles written for Western Florist and Nurseryman 1949-1951

carton 1, folder 58

Story notes n.d.

carton 1, folder 59

Story notes: characters n.d.

 

Subseries 2.2: Poems, 1915-1964, n.d.

carton 1, folder 60-82

Poems, A-Z, miscellany 1915-1964, n.d.

Oversize folder 1 A

Lyrics set to music by Emmet Pendleton and Tersa Dent n.d.

Oversize folder 2 A

Lyrics set to music by Winifred E. McGee 1932, n.d.

 

Subseries 2.3: Scripts (for TV, Radio, and Stage), 1936-1956, n.d.

carton 1, folder 83

KYA broadcasts 1936

carton 1, folder 84

Answer America 1941

carton 1, folder 85

Stories Behind the Headlines 1945

carton 1, folder 86

Thai Newsletter 1945

carton 1, folder 87

Voice of America 1945

carton 1, folder 88

Mel Venter's Pictorial 1946

carton 1, folder 89

Our Cities 1946

carton 2, folder 1

Philippine Newsletter 1946

carton 2, folder 2

Breakfast on Nob Hill 1947

carton 2, folder 3

Clothes Are Important! 1949

carton 2, folder 4

When God Came to Portsmouth Square 1949

carton 2, folder 5

Woman's Magazine of the Air 1951

carton 2, folder 6

Point of Law 1954

carton 2, folder 7

Cargoes West 1956

carton 2, folder 8

An Afternoon With Ina Coolbrith n.d.

carton 2, folder 9

Angels of Mercy n.d.

carton 2, folder 10

Digger John n.d.

carton 2, folder 11

The Old Allen Place n.d.

carton 2, folder 12

Selections for the Yuletide Season n.d.

 

Subseries 2.4: Books, [1964], n.d.

 

Black Waters

carton 2, folder 13

Working draft n.d.

carton 2, folder 14

Notes n.d.

 

Slab

carton 2, folder 15

Synopsis n.d.

carton 2, folder 16

Finished chapters and notes n.d.

carton 2, folder 17

Working copy of manuscript with notes and clippings [1964], n.d.

 

A Woman of Fury Town

carton 2, folder 18

Outline and notes n.d.

carton 2, folder 19

Synopses n.d.

carton 2, folder 20-26

Original Manuscript--incomplete n.d.

carton 2, folder 27-28

Original Manuscript n.d.

carton 2, folder 29-35

Final draft (two copies) n.d.

carton 2, folder 36-38

Carbon copy with editing n.d.

carton 2, folder 39-41

Magazine serialization n.d.

Cartons 3-4

Series 3: Research and Background Materials, 1904-1965, n.d.

Scope and Content Note

Divided into two subseries: Subject Files and Notes and Clippings.
 

Subseries 3.1: Subject Files, 1904-1965

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.
San Francisco subject files are divided further into more specific subjects.
carton 3, folder 1

Age 1935-1955, n.d.

carton 3, folder 2

American Indians 1960-1963, n.d.

carton 3, folder 3

Art and Artists 1948-1959, n.d.

carton 3, folder 4

Astrology 1934-1947, n.d.

carton 3, folder 5

Aviation 1940, n.d.

carton 3, folder 6

Blindness 1947-1957, n.d.

carton 3, folder 7

Censorship 1946-1952, n.d.

carton 3, folder 8

Christmas 1943-1961

carton 3, folder 9

Clothes - Fashions 1929, n.d.

carton 3, folder 10

Conversation 1960, n.d.

carton 3, folder 11

Crabtree, Lotta 1949, n.d.

carton 3, folder 12

Crime 1949-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 13

Espionage 1945-1962, n.d.

carton 3, folder 14

Federal Bureau of Investigation 1945-1952, n.d.

carton 3, folder 15

Flowers and Florists 1926-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 16

Forestry/Lumber 1926-1956, n.d.

carton 3, folder 17

Freeways 1954-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 18

Furniture -- Early American 1949, n.d.

carton 3, folder 19

Ghost Towns 1934-1960, n.d.

carton 3, folder 20

Gold Mining 1924-1936, n.d.

carton 3, folder 21

Hearst, Phoebe (Apperson) 1959-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 22

History, American 1904-1948, n.d.

carton 3, folder 23

Houses 1934-1949, n.d.

carton 3, folder 24

Japan 1953-1959, n.d.

carton 3, folder 25

Kennedy, John Fitzgerald 1960, n.d.

carton 3, folder 26

Law and Legal Matters 1925-1962, n.d.

carton 3, folder 27

Medical 1960

carton 3, folder 28

Music and Musicians 1939-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 29

Northern Redwood Lumber Co. 1952-1956

carton 3, folder 30

Old West 1927-1960, n.d.

carton 3, folder 31

Palmistry 1925-1953, n.d.

carton 3, folder 32

Philippines 1945-1957

carton 3, folder 33

Railroads 1936-1949, n.d.

carton 3, folder 34

Ranches 1940, n.d.

carton 3, folder 35

Redwoods 1937-1962, n.d.

 

San Francisco

carton 3, folder 36

Atmosphere 1954-1962, n.d.

carton 3, folder 37

Bridges 1957-1959, n.d.

carton 3, folder 38

Cable Cars 1947-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 39

Characters 1936-1962, n.d.

carton 3, folder 40

China Town 1936-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 41

Early West 1940-1947, n.d.

carton 3, folder 42

Earthquake and Fire 1906, n.d.

carton 3, folder 43

Embarcadero -- Marine Exchange 1938-1960, n.d.

carton 3, folder 44

Ferries 1938-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 45

Fire Department 1937-1962, n.d.

carton 3, folder 46

Fisherman's Wharf 1958-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 47

Golden Gate Park 1957-1963, n.d.

carton 3, folder 48

Herb Caen 1958-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 49

Hills 1958-1961, n.d.

carton 3, folder 50

Historic Past 1943-1961, n.d.

carton 3, folder 51

History 1915-1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 52

Houses 1946-1958, n.d.

carton 3, folder 53

Modern 1946-1960, n.d.

carton 3, folder 54

Palace of Fine Arts 1964, n.d.

carton 3, folder 55

Port 1947, 1952, n.d.

carton 3, folder 56

Portsmouth Square 1949-1962, n.d.

carton 3, folder 57

Presidio 1931-1963, n.d.

carton 3, folder 58

Restaurants 1936, n.d.

carton 4, folder 1

Streets 1955-1963

carton 4, folder 2

Theaters 1958-1964, n.d.

carton 4, folder 3

Miscellaneous 1946-1965, n.d.

carton 4, folder 4

Sea Gulls 1950, n.d.

carton 4, folder 5

Seals 1955-1963, n.d.

carton 4, folder 6

Ships 1945-1958, n.d.

carton 4, folder 7

Thailand 1960-1964

carton 4, folder 8

United Nations 1945-1955

carton 4, folder 9

War 1945-1960

carton 4, folder 10

Miscellaneous 1914-1965, n.d.

 

Subseries 3.2: Notes and Clippings, 1915-1965, n.d.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically.
Includes clippings and typed notes used by Mezquida as research for her writings, as well as notes on the practice of writing in various genres.
carton 4, folder 11-12

Research notes for Cargoes West 1938-1956, n.d.

carton 4, folder 13

Notices of contests 1935-1965

carton 4, folder 14

Nutrition notes 1948

carton 4, folder 15-17

Poems not by ABM 1915-1962, n.d.

carton 4, folder 18

Poetry notes and clippings 1958-1964, n.d.

carton 4, folder 19

Radio broadcasting notes n.d.

carton 4, folder 20

Radio monitoring 1958

carton 4, folder 21

Stories and scripts not by ABM 1961, n.d.

carton 4, folder 22

TV scripts not by ABM n.d.

carton 4, folder 23

Notes on writing n.d.

carton 4, folder 24

Miscellany 1920-1961, n.d.

Carton 4-6, oversize folders 3-4, oversize volume 1

Series 4: Personalia, 1788-1965

Scope and Content Note

Divided into three subseries: Memberships and Affiliations, Scrapbooks and Miscellany, and Family Papers.
 

Subseries 4.1: Memberships and Affiliations, 1913-1965

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Memberships and Affiliations are arranged alphabetically.
Memberships and Affiliations includes publications, certificates, membership cards, and notes about the groups to which Mezquida belonged.
carton 4, folder 25

Academy of American Poets 1959-1965

carton 4, folder 26

Authors League of America, Inc. 1926-1964

carton 4, folder 27

California Federation of Chaparral Poets 1959-1965

carton 4, folder 28

California Federation of Women's Clubs 1960-1964

carton 4, folder 29

California Writers' Club (and 1962 conference) 1952-1964

carton 4, folder 30

Citizens' Committee to Save the Cable Cars 1947-1952

carton 4, folder 31

The Congress of American Poets 1936

carton 4, folder 32

Hospitalized Veterans Writing Project 1963-1965

carton 4, folder 33

Ina Coolbrith Circle 1951-1964

carton 4, folder 34

Mechanics Institute, San Francisco 1962

carton 4, folder 35

Mystery Writers of America 1963-1964

carton 4, folder 36

The National League of American Pen Women, Inc. 1964

carton 4, folder 37

National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, La Puerta de Oro Chapter 1949-1964

Oversize folder 3 A

National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Membership Certificate

carton 4, folder 38

Office of War Information (OWI) 1944-1946

carton 4, folder 39

Pacific Coast Women's Press Association 1961-1964

carton 5, folder 1

Poets of the Pacific 1947-1948

carton 5, folder 2

Salvation Army 1955

carton 5, folder 3

San Francisco First Congregational Church 1913-1964

carton 5, folder 4

San Francisco Browning Society 1962-1965

carton 5, folder 5

Theta Sigma Phi and The Matrix Magazine 1952-1962

carton 5, folder 6

Valley Writers Conference 1959, 1961

carton 5, folder 7-10

YWCA (writing course taught by ABM) 1963-1964

 

Subseries 4.2: Scrapbooks and Miscellany, 1903-1964

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Scrapbooks and Miscellany are arranged chronologically.
Scrapbooks are bound volumes of clippings in which Mezquida was mentioned, or her writing published.
carton 5, folder 11

Ephemera 1903-1964, n.d.

carton 5, folder 12

Scrapbook of articles, poems, clippings on ABM 1906-1926

carton 5, folder 13

ABM's recollections of 1906 SF earthquake and fire 1907, 1947

carton 5, folder 14

Clippings on Anna Blake Mezquida 1911-1962

carton 5, folder 15

Anna Blake Mezquida poem scrapbook 1917-1964, n.d.

carton 5, folder 16

Scrapbook of published poems 1915-1964

carton 5, folder 17

Autograph book 1920-1945, n.d.

carton 5, folder 18-19

Program announcements mentioning ABM 1922-1959

Oversize volume 1

Scrapbook and newspaper clippings 1923-1949

carton 5, folder 20

Diaries of visits to Fort Bragg 1926, n.d.

carton 5, folder 21

Notes, diary entries, and research from Fort Bragg n.d.

carton 5, folder 22

Contracts and copyrights 1929-1957

carton 5, folder 23

Anna Blake Mezquida biographical papers 1930-1964

carton 5, folder 24

John Gamble's scrapbooks of ABM 1932-1953, n.d.

carton 5, folder 25

Scrapbook of SF department store strike 1938

carton 5, folder 26

Clippings on SF department store strike 1938

carton 5, folder 27

Federal employment papers 1942-1950

carton 5, folder 28

Recipes n.d.

 

Subseries 4.3: Family Papers, 1788-1947

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Family Papers are arranged alphabetically by family name with miscellaneous items and clippings placed at the end.
Family Papers contains letters, ephemera, scrapbooks, histories, genealogies, and notes of several generations of Mezquida's relatives, as far back as the 18th century. Includes newspaper clippings from the Civil War.
carton 6, folder 1

Bean family 1836-1861

carton 6, folder 2

Blake, Hannah Little (Clark) [grandmother] 1865-1910

carton 6, folder 3

Blake, Harriet [aunt] 1865-1940

carton 6, folder 4

Blake, Joseph [grandfather] 1834-1893

carton 6, folder 5

Blake, Martha Hannah (Eastman) [mother] 1876-1935

carton 6, folder 6

Blake, Maurice B. [father] 1856-1884

carton 6, folder 7

Blake, Susan Marcia [aunt] 1881-1944

carton 6, folder 8

Blake family genealogy 1935, n.d.

carton 6, folder 9

Blake family miscellaneous papers 1892-1933, n.d.

Oversize folder 4 A

Blake, Silas 1810

carton 6, folder 10

Cary family 1860, n.d.

carton 6, folder 11

Clark family 1881, n.d.

carton 6, folder 12

Cross family 1913-1915

carton 6, folder 13

Eastman family 1821-1876

carton 6, folder 14

Gilman family 1788-1932

carton 6, folder 15

Letters to Mateo M. Mezquida [husband] 1915-1928, n.d.

carton 6, folder 16

Mezquida, Mateo M. miscellany 1917-1928, n.d.

carton 6, folder 17

Wells family 1793-1874

carton 6, folder 18

Wiltse family 1906-1935

carton 6, folder 19

Miscellaneous family items 1856-1910

carton 6, folder 20

Clippings from Civil War 1863-1864

carton 6, folder 21

Scrapbook of clippings ca. 1874