Description
The Derby Collection consists principally of notes and transcriptions of materials on
early Pacific Coast Methodism (1845-1875) compiled by Derby for historian Leon Loofbourow
from nineteenth century Methodist publications. Other materials include clippings files
on California government, politics and geography (1936-1956), Inter-American Relations
and papers relating to Derby's National Guard unit (1916-18).
Background
Howard W. Derby (1894-1966) was the son of California Methodist minister, George Derby
(1863-1922). A member of the California National Guard, he served in Mexico and in France
from 1916 through 1918. In 1933, he married Vera Mae Reaume and settled in San Francisco,
where he was employed as an insect and rodent exterminator. Derby occasionally penned
local history articles---notably on the Arcata area where he spent a part of his
childhood. An active Methodist layman and member of the Parkside Church, Derby worked as
research assistant to Northern California-Nevada Conference Historian, Leon L.
Loofbourow, author of In Search of God's Gold (1950), a history of the Methodist Church
in California, and Cross in the Sunset (1956), a history of the Northern
California-Nevada Conference.