Jeffers (William M.) Papers, ca. 1935-1950

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Title:
William Martin Jeffers Papers,
Dates:
ca. 1935-1950
Creators:
Jeffers, William Martin, b. 1876
Abstract:
William Martin Jeffers (b.1876) left school at age 14 to work for the Union Pacific Railroad. He worked his way up the organizational ladder from call boy to vice-chairman of the board of directors (1946-1953). In 1942, Jeffers agreed to serve for one year in the War Production Board as Rubber Director, where he organized the manufacture of rayon to boost the synthetic rubber industry. He also ordered gasoline rationing before resigning in 1943. The collection consists of correspondence, clippings, copies of speeches, manuscript materials, reports, magazines, books, newspapers, and memorabilia relating to William Jeffers' service as U.S. Rubber Director, 1942-43 and his work as a former president of the Union Pacific Railroad.
Extent:
54 boxes (27 linear ft.) 6 oversize boxes
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], William Martin Jeffers Papers (Collection 1091). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of correspondence, clippings, copies of speeches, manuscript materials, reports, magazines, books, newspapers, and memorabilia relating to William Jeffers' service as U.S. Rubber Director, 1942-43 and his work as a former president of the Union Pacific Railroad. Also includes original drawings for political cartoons on Jeffers' activities as Rubber Director by Herbert Block, John M. Baer, Hugh M. Hutton and others.

Expanded Scope and Content Note

William Martin Jeffers served as Executive Vice-President and President of the Union Pacific Railroad during the 1930's and very early 1940's. He was appointed Rubber Director in the Franklin Roosevelt administration during the early years of World War II. It is with this period of his life that this collection of papers is primarily concerned.

The collection contains voluminous correspondence, copies of speeches, manuscript materials, clippings, and scattered memorabilia relating to the Union Pacific as well as to the Office of Rubber Director. In addition, there are over 40 original drawings for political cartoons on Jeffers' activities as Rubber Director.

The collection was presented to the Library by Judge Thomas C. Yager of Los Angeles.

Biographical / historical:

Jeffers was born on January 2, 1876 in North Platte, Nebraska; he left school at age 14 to work for the Union Pacific Railroad; worked his way up the organizational ladder as call boy, clerk, telegrapher, train dispatcher, chief dispatcher, trainmaster of the Green River, Wyoming division, assistant superintendent, then superintendent of the division in 1909; became superintendent of the Nebraska district (1915), general superintendent (1915), and vice-president and general manager (1917); in 1928 he became vice-president in charge of operations, served as president of the railroad from 1937-46, and then vice-chairman of the board of directors until 1953; in 1942 Jeffers agreed to serve for one year in the War Production Board as Rubber Director, where he organized the manufacture of rayon to boost the synthetic rubber industry; he also ordered gasoline rationing before resigning in 1943; he died on March 6, 1953 in Pasadena, California.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Judge Thomas C. Yager, 1970.
Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  • Correspondence (Boxes 1-24).
  • Speeches (Boxes 15-24).
  • Clippings (Boxes 15-45).
  • Reports (Box 46).
  • Publications (Boxes 47-51,55).
  • Certificates, petitions, resolutions, etc. (Boxes 52,59).
  • Memorabilia (Boxes 53,58).
  • Books and bound newspapers (Boxes 54,60).
  • Scrapbooks (Boxes 56-59).
  • Political cartoons (Box 59).

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by CMC
Date Prepared:
© 2004
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by ByteManagers using OAC finding aid conversion service specifications. Machine-readable finding aid derived from in-house paper finding aid. Date of source: October 1970

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], William Martin Jeffers Papers (Collection 1091). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website