Description
Correspondence, scrapbooks of clippings, and personalia, relating primarily to his last years with the Service. A few papers
pertain to his early business career with the Pacific Coast Borax Company and the Thockildsen-Mather Borax Company. Also included
are letters of condolence to Mrs. Mather and correspondence concerning memorial ceremonies for Mather in several national
parks.
Background
Stephen Tyng Mather, first director of the U.S. National Park Service, was born in San Francisco on July 4, 1867. Here he
attended the Boys High School, and went on to the University of California at Berkeley, graduating in 1887. His interest in
journalism led to his first job as a cub reporter on the New York Sun in September of that year. He left this employment shortly after his marriage to Jane Thacker Floy in 1893 to become a member
of the New York office of the Pacific Coast Borax Company. An astute businessman, Mather had the idea of publicizing household
uses for borax, and in 1894 opened an office in Chicago. By 1898, he formed his own successful company, the Thockildsen-Mather
Borax Company.
Extent
Number of containers: 7 boxes, 1 carton, 10 volumes, 1 oversize folder
Restrictions
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.
Availability
Collection is open for research.