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Guide to the Sheridan Downey Papers, 1929-1961
BANC MSS C-B 834
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Sheridan Downey Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1929-1961
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 834
Creator:
Downey, Sheridan, 1884-1961
Extent:
Number of containers: 5 boxes, 6 cartons, and 9 volumes
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: Letters, Mss. of his writings and speeches; subject files; scrapbooks; and clippings, relating primarily to his political
career as U.S. Senator from California, 1939-1950, with information on his investigation of the Central Valley Project.
Included also are a few papers relating to his father, Stephen Wheeler Downey, and other members of the Downey and Owen families.
Included also are a few papers relating to his father, Stephen Wheeler Downey, and other members of the Downey and Owen families.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
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], Sheridan Downey Papers, BANC MSS C-B 834, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Sheridan Downey was born in Laramie, Wyoming in 1884, the son of Evangeline Victoria (Owen) and Stephen Wheeler Downey. He
was educated in the public schools there and was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1907. In the same year he was
admitted to the bar and returned to Laramie to practice law. In 1913 he moved to Sacramento where he continued his law career.
He made several unsuccessful attempts to win election to public office including a campaign for lieutenant governor in 1934.
In 1938 he was elected to the United States Senate and served until his resignation, November 30, 1950. He then practiced
law in Washington, D.C. until his death in 1961.
Senator Downey's papers were given to The Bancroft Library by his son Sheridan Downey, Jr., in 1962, with additions from several
other children. They relate mainly to his career in the Senate. Photographs have been removed to the Library's Pictorial Collections.
A key to arrangement and partial list of correspondents follow.