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Guide to the Shenk Family Papers, 1898-1940
451-455  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Access Points
  • Contents
  • Biography
  • Correspondents

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Shenk Family Papers,
    Date (inclusive): 1898-1940
    Box Number: 451-455
    Collector: Shenk family
    Extent: 5 boxes
    Repository: California State Library
    Sacramento, California
    Language: English.

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Unrestricted.

    Conditions of Use

    Please credit California State Library.

    Publication Rights

    Copyright has not been assigned to California State Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing. Permission for publication is given on behalf of California State 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], Shenk Family Papers, California State Library.

    Access Points

    Imperial Valley (Calif.) -- History
    Real estate development
    Mines and mining -- California -- Columbia
    Methodists--California
    Imperial Land Company (Calif.)
    Portland Cement and Railroad (Puget Sound, Wash.)

    Contents

    Business and personal papers of John Wesley Shenk, Sr., John Wesley, Jr., Susanne, Mary, William W., and Edmund Shenk and Henry Wilson including correspondence, deeds, receipts, bills, and photographs.

    Biography

    John W. Shenk, Sr., a Methodist minister, and his sons were instrumental in the development of Imperial Valley. In 1900 John W. Shenk, Sr. purchased an interest in the Imperial Land Company, and in 1901 his family, except for son William, moved to Imperial Valley from Omaha, Nebraska. In 1913, the family moved to Los Angeles, maintaining an involvement in the land business in Imperial County.
    John Wesley Shenk, Jr., to whom some letters in the collection are addressed, became Los Angeles City Attorney, Superior Court Judge, and was appointed to the California Supreme Court in 1924.
    William W. Whenk eventually settled in Seattle, where he was a Methodist minister. His business interests there included cement and railroads. This collection includes the extensive correspondence with his father and brother John regarding their joint business dealings in California and Washington.

    Correspondents

    Major Correspondents

    • Fergusson, S. W.
    • Shenk, W. W.

    Other Correspondents

    • Blattner, F. S.
    • Browne, G. , 1877-
    • Crail, Charles S.(for A Non-Partisan Organization)
    • Crane-Gartz, Kate
    • Creighton, J. H.
    • Dodson, George W.
    • Freeman, Edwin Wandesforde, 1860-
    • Gordon, Hugh
    • Graham, 'Leonard' & Stub
    • Holt, S. M.
    • Hunt, G.
    • Kuck, Arthur G.
    • McMillan, Raymond
    • Remington, W. H.
    • Richards, A. M.
    • Rockmel, Edward J.
    • Shenk, J. W. (Jr.)
    • Shenk, Marie
    • Shenk, Susanna C.
    • Senior, George
    • Sowers, Daniel H.
    • Sty[?], Thomas J.
    • Wells, Rex W.
    • Wilson, Henry