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Guide to the William Denman Papers, [ca. 1900-1959]
BANC MSS C-B 817
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Table of contents
Collection Title: William Denman Papers,
Date (inclusive): [ca. 1900-1959]
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 817
Creator: Denman, William, 1872-1959
Extent:
Number of containers: 42 boxes, 32 cartons, 21 v., 1 oversize folder
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; reports; speeches and publications; legal and financial papers; briefs, arguments and other legal documents;
copies of judicial opinions; scrapbooks; clippings.
Mainly concerning his legal and judicial career, his interest in politics and judicial and electoral reforms, his chairmanship of the U.S. Shipping Board and his association with the Coos Bay Lumber Co.
A few papers of his wife, Leslie Van Ness Denman, concerning the world's fair at San Francisco, 1939-40, included.
Mainly concerning his legal and judicial career, his interest in politics and judicial and electoral reforms, his chairmanship of the U.S. Shipping Board and his association with the Coos Bay Lumber Co.
A few papers of his wife, Leslie Van Ness Denman, concerning the world's fair at San Francisco, 1939-40, included.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research except cartons 15, 17, 27, 28, 29, 30, which are unarranged and unavailable for use. Inquiries
concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of the Head of Public Services of The Bancroft Library.
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.
[Identification of item], William Denman papers, BANC MSS C-B 817, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
The Denman papers came to the Bancroft Library in October 1959 as a gift of the estate of William Denman and his wife, presented
on behalf of the family by John F. Forbes, executor of their estates. The collection, covering the period from 1900 to 1959,
consists mainly of correspondence: reports; speeches and publications; legal and financial papers; briefs, arguments and other
printed legal documents; copies of judicial opinions; scrapbooks; and clippings. Most of the papers date from 1906 (much was
destroyed in the fire) and relate mainly to his legal and judicial career, his interests in politics and in judicial and electoral
reforms, his chairmanship of the United States Shipping Board and his association with the Coos Bay Lumber Company.
Some material was removed from the collection. Printed items which have been retained in Bancroft Library and catalogued separately
have cards in the manuscripts shelf list. Two photographs have been placed in the portrait collection with the call numbers
4818-4819. A list of the material given to the University of California Law School Library is available. Issues of magazines
such as the
New Republic,
The Liberator,
The Masses,
Harper's Current Opinion,
The Consensus,
National Geographic, etc., have been distributed elsewhere.
William Denman was born in San Francisco on November 7, 1872, the son of James and Helen Virginia (Jordan) Denmen. He attended
the public schools in the city, the University of California, from which he was graduated in 1894, and then the Harvard Law
School, receiving his Bachelor of Laws degree there in 1897. In 1898 he was admitted to the California state bar and shortly
after to the Supreme Court of the United States and the federal courts in California. From 1902 to 1903 he was assistant professor
of law and lecturer at the Hastings College of Law and the University of California.
Denman always had a strong interest in public affairs in California. In 1908 the mayor of San Francisco appointed him chairman
of the committee to report on the causes of municipal corruption in the city and he drafted a report on the subject. In 1908,
also, he organized a state wide movement for the non-partisan election of Judges, which was enacted into law in 1911. He drafted
the non-partisan majority election law as a part of the city charter of San Francisco and actively participated in the campaign
for its passage. He also advocated and participated in legislation for workmen's compensation and limitation of women's hours
of work. At the request of Governor Hiram Johnson, he successfully defended, in the state courts and the U. S. Supreme Court,
the state's eight hour law for women.
A considerable part of Denmen's practice was in maritime law. In 1915 and 1916, he conducted, in Washington, D.C., various
cases involving the question of freedom of the seas, during which time he contributed to the legislation for the creation
of the United States Shipping Board. He was appointed chairman of the Board by President Woodrow Wilson in December 1916,
but resigned in July 1917 after a dispute with General George W. Goethals over the construction of wooden ships for the war
emergency.
Denman then returned to his law practice in San Francisco. In 1919 he was appointed federal receiver for the Coos Bay Lumber
Company. Successful in securing the refinancing of the company he served as chairman of its board of directors from 1922 to
1925.
On February 1, 1935 he was appointed U. S. circuit judge, 9th circuit, and on August 12, 1948 become chief Judge. He retired
from the bench in 1957 and died March 9, 1959.
Judge Denman's wife, Leslie Van Ness Denman, member of a pioneer San Francisco family, whom he married in April 1905, preceded
him in death by one month.