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Finding Aid to the Alan Cranston Papers, 1914-1993, bulk 1940-1993
BANC MSS 88/214 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Alan Cranston papers
Date (inclusive): 1914-1993,
Date (bulk): bulk 1940-1993
Collection Number: BANC MSS 88/214 c
Creators :
Cranston, Alan, 1914-2000
Extent:
Number of containers: 625 cartons, 1 box, 48 volumes, 3 oversize folders
Linear feet: 800.95 linear feet
Repository: 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/
Abstract: Includes papers relating to Alan Cranston's pre-Senatorial career, Senate career, and other political activities; also includes
personal papers.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Partially restricted collection. Files regarding Derwinski (ctn. 107) and Senate Ethics Committee Hearings (Series 2.6) restricted
until September 20, 2025.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for
any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], Alan Cranston Papers, BANC MSS 88/214 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Eleanor Fowle Cameron Papers, BANC MSS 90/177 c
Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library (BANC PIC 2008.064).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Cranston, Alan, 1914-2000--Archives
United States. Congress. Senate
California. Office of State Controller
United States--Politics and government--20th century
The Alan Cranston Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Alan Cranston on March 16, 1988.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the carton level.
Processed by Susan Goldstein, with assistance from Dennis Scott and Steven Mandeville-Gamble.
Cranston, Alan, a Senator from California; born in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, Calif., June 19, 1914; attended the public
schools in Los Altos, Calif., Pomona College, and the University of Mexico; graduated, Stanford University 1936; International
News Service, covering England, Germany, Italy, and Ethiopia 1937-1938; chief, foreign language division, Office of War Information
1940-1944; enlisted in the United States Army in 1944 and served until the conclusion of the Second World War; national president,
United World Federalists 1949-1952; elected State comptroller of California in 1958, and reelected in 1962; business career
in land investment and home construction; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1968 for the term commencing
January 3, 1969; reelected in 1974, 1980, and again in 1986 and served from January 3, 1969 to January 3, 1993; was not a
candidate for reelection in 1992; reprimanded by the Select Committee on Ethics for "improper conduct" on November 20, 1991;
Democratic whip 1977-1991; chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs (Ninety-fifth, Ninety-sixth, One Hundredth through One
Hundred Second Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1984;
was a resident of Los Altos, Calif., until his death on December 31, 2000; remains were cremated.
--Taken from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000877
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers are divided into four series: Pre-Senatorial Career, Senate Career, Political Activities, and Personal. The Pre-Senatorial
Career series contains the following subseries: Journalism/Writing, Common Council for American Unity, Office of War Information,
United World Federalists, California Democratic Council, and California State Controller. The Senate Career series is subdivided
into the following subseries: Schedules, Whip/Leadership, Administrative Assistant Files, Administrative, Alan Cranston Files,
and Ethics Committee Hearings, Mail, California Files, Legislative Record, Legislation, Committees and Press series. The Political
Activity series is divided into two subseries: Campaign and Political Activity. The Personal series consists of two subseries:
Personal papers and Photographs.
A couple subseries are further divided into subsubseries, most notably Legislation and Campaigns. Legislation is broken down
by subject into the following subsubseries: Agriculture/Environment/Native Americans, Arts/Education/Labor, Energy and Transportation,
Foreign Policy and Defense, Health, Judiciary Issues, Social Services, Tax and Trade. The Campaign subseries consists of the
following campaigns: 1958 Controller campaign, 1962 Controller campaign, 1964 Senate campaign, 1966 Controller campaign, 1968
Senate campaign, 1974 Senate campaign, 1980 Senate campaign, 1984 Presidential campaign, and 1986 Senate campaign.
No casework files remain with the collection. Approximately 1,482 cartons of casework from 1969-1993 were destroyed when the
office closed in order to ensure constituent confidentiality. Because the cases were filed by constituent last name rather
than agency, it was decided that even a sample would not yield sufficiently important historical information to justify retaining
these files.
No incoming constituent mass mailings were retained. Although it is possible to determine the volume of office mail from the
Mail Reports, and a copy of each outgoing response was saved, over 3,000 cartons of mass mailings were destroyed because of
their low historical value. In addition, the central mail files were retained on microfilm, while all hard copies were destroyed.
In all, over 4,000 cartons of incoming mail were weeded from the collection.
Duplicates, declined invitations, background reports and publications, background clippings, research or reference materials,
and printed congressional documents that do not document Senator Cranston's role have all been discarded.