Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Cranston, Alan, 1914-2000
- Abstract:
- Includes papers relating to Alan Cranston's pre-Senatorial career, Senate career, and other political activities; also includes personal papers.
- Extent:
- Number of containers: 625 cartons, 1 box, 48 volumes, 3 oversize folders Linear feet: 800.95 linear feet
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The papers are divided into four series: Pre-Senatorial Career, Senate Career, Political Activities, and Personal. The Pre-Senatorial Career series contains the following subseries: Journalism/Writing, Common Council for American Unity, Office of War Information, United World Federalists, California Democratic Council, and California State Controller. The Senate Career series is subdivided into the following subseries: Schedules, Whip/Leadership, Administrative Assistant Files, Administrative, Alan Cranston Files, and Ethics Committee Hearings, Mail, California Files, Legislative Record, Legislation, Committees and Press series. The Political Activity series is divided into two subseries: Campaign and Political Activity. The Personal series consists of two subseries: Personal papers and Photographs.
A couple subseries are further divided into subsubseries, most notably Legislation and Campaigns. Legislation is broken down by subject into the following subsubseries: Agriculture/Environment/Native Americans, Arts/Education/Labor, Energy and Transportation, Foreign Policy and Defense, Health, Judiciary Issues, Social Services, Tax and Trade. The Campaign subseries consists of the following campaigns: 1958 Controller campaign, 1962 Controller campaign, 1964 Senate campaign, 1966 Controller campaign, 1968 Senate campaign, 1974 Senate campaign, 1980 Senate campaign, 1984 Presidential campaign, and 1986 Senate campaign.
No casework files remain with the collection. Approximately 1,482 cartons of casework from 1969-1993 were destroyed when the office closed in order to ensure constituent confidentiality. Because the cases were filed by constituent last name rather than agency, it was decided that even a sample would not yield sufficiently important historical information to justify retaining these files.
No incoming constituent mass mailings were retained. Although it is possible to determine the volume of office mail from the Mail Reports, and a copy of each outgoing response was saved, over 3,000 cartons of mass mailings were destroyed because of their low historical value. In addition, the central mail files were retained on microfilm, while all hard copies were destroyed. In all, over 4,000 cartons of incoming mail were weeded from the collection.
Duplicates, declined invitations, background reports and publications, background clippings, research or reference materials, and printed congressional documents that do not document Senator Cranston's role have all been discarded.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Cranston, Alan, a Senator from California; born in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, Calif., June 19, 1914; attended the public schools in Los Altos, Calif., Pomona College, and the University of Mexico; graduated, Stanford University 1936; International News Service, covering England, Germany, Italy, and Ethiopia 1937-1938; chief, foreign language division, Office of War Information 1940-1944; enlisted in the United States Army in 1944 and served until the conclusion of the Second World War; national president, United World Federalists 1949-1952; elected State comptroller of California in 1958, and reelected in 1962; business career in land investment and home construction; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1968 for the term commencing January 3, 1969; reelected in 1974, 1980, and again in 1986 and served from January 3, 1969 to January 3, 1993; was not a candidate for reelection in 1992; reprimanded by the Select Committee on Ethics for "improper conduct" on November 20, 1991; Democratic whip 1977-1991; chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs (Ninety-fifth, Ninety-sixth, One Hundredth through One Hundred Second Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1984; was a resident of Los Altos, Calif., until his death on December 31, 2000; remains were cremated.
--Taken from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress:http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000877
- Acquisition information:
- The Alan Cranston Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Alan Cranston on March 16, 1988.
- Physical location:
- Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481