Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Scope and Content
Biography
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Thomas More Storke Papers,
Date (inclusive): [ca. 1906-1971]
Collection Number: BANC MSS 73/72 c
Creator: Storke, Thomas M. (Thomas More), 1876-1971
Extent:
Number of containers: 39 boxes, 15 cartons, 2 packages, 2 oversize folders
Linear feet: 35
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Correspondence; biographical material including his memoirs; copies of his speeches; financial records; subject files; clippings;
scrapbooks; photographs; genealogical material. Relate to his activities as editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press and his
opposition to the John Birch Society; his civic interests; the operation of his ranches; and his service as regent of the
University of California, 1955-1960.
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], Thomas More Storke papers, BANC MSS 73/72 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Material Cataloged Separately
Scope and Content
The Thomas More Storke Collection came to The Bancroft Library in 1972 with additions in July 1974, as a gift of the Thomas
More Storke Estate. The collection which consists of 39 boxes, 15 cartons, 2 packages and 2 oversize folders, documents Storke's
activities, especially during the 1950's and 1960's. Correspondence prior to 1950 primarily relates to Storke's tenure as
postmaster, and to the Las Alturas Land Company and includes congratulatory letters upon his U. S. Senatorial appointment.
The collection includes letters addressed to Storke together with copies of his replies; a general subject file; biographical
materials; galleys of his memoirs; reports and minutes of Regent meetings; correspondence and accounts regarding the operation
of the Storke ranches; copies of his speeches, with related notes; photographs; clippings, miscellaneous accounts, genealogical
material; and presentation volumes.
The personal papers of Storke's father and the papers of the More family have been removed and cataloged separately as the
Charles Albert Storke Collection. Most of the photographs of early Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara News-Press have been
removed to the picture collection, indexed as pictures 17178(1-213), and the majority of the portraits of Storke have likewise
been removed to the portrait collection for separate cataloging. Six tape recordings were also removed and cataloged as phonotapes
187 1-5 and 188.
The papers as a whole are described in greater detail in the Key to Arrangement which follows.
Biography
Thomas More Storke, a seventh generation Californian, was born in Santa Barbara, California. On November 23, 1876, the only
son of Charles Albert and Martha (More) Storke. C. A. Storke was a prominent California land attorney, a State Legislator,
the first mayor of Santa Barbara and founder of the Los Angeles Herald.
T. M. Storke received his formal education in Santa Barbara schools and was graduated from Stanford University in the class
of 1898. He began his lifelong newspaper career on January 1, 1900, as owner and editor of the Santa Barbara
Daily Independent. In March 1913 Storke purchased the Santa Barbara
Daily News which he combined to form the Santa Barbara
Daily News & Independent. Following his purchase of the
Morning Press in September 1932, Storke merged the two newspapers in 1938 to form the present Santa Barbara
News-Press.
In 1914, he was appointed Postmaster of Santa Barbara by President Woodrow Wilson and, following the resignation of his close
friend Senator William G. McAdoo late in 1938. Storke was chosen by Governor Frank F. Merriam to be U. S. Senator from California
along with Hiram Johnson.
A long-time democrat, Storke was named in 1951 to Governor Earl Warren's Special Crime Study Commission and was later appointed
a Regent of the University of California by Governor Goodwin J. Knight to complete the remaining five year term of John F.
Neylan. As a University Regent, Storke was instrumental in the establishment of a University of California campus at Santa
Barbara. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University in 1960 and a similar honor by Colby College,
Maine, in 1963.
As a crusader for civil liberties, Storke was among the first publishers during the early 1960's to speak out forcefully and
at length against the ultra-conservative John Birch Society in a series of condemnatory articles against the Society and the
tactics of its founder Robert Welch. As a result, Storke was awarded the Lauterbach Award by the Nieman Foundation of Harvard
University in November 1961, the coveted Pulitzer Prize from Columbia University in May 1962 and the Elijah Lovejoy Fellowship
for courageous journalism from Colby College in 1962.
In 1958, Storke published his memoirs under the title
California Editor, and a shorter version appeared in 1963 as
I Write for Freedom.
Storke sold his consolidated
News-Press and KTMS radio station in 1964 while continuing as consulting editor and publisher emeritus of the newspaper until his death
on October 12, 1971, at the age of 94.