Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/201



Marginalia

Three deaths have occurred in recent months, of persons who were not members of our Society yet whose passing leaves a gap in the field of western historians: Thompson Coit Elliott, of Walla Walla, Washington, a director of both the Oregon and Washing- ton Historical Societies and author of many articles and brochures on the history of the Northwest, died on May 5. Miss Mary Eudora Garoutte, head of the California History section of the California State Library from its organization in 1903 until her retirement thirty years later, died on January 8. Due to Miss Garoutte's sagacity the Californiana collection at the State Library was started and increased, and it was she who started the card index of newspaper files which is invaluable to writers who visit the library. She was always ready and eager to help embryo authors who were delving into the history of California, in which she was a recognized authority. Terry E. Stephenson, past presi- dent of the Orange County Historical Society and of the Bowers Museum at Santa Ana, and author of books and articles on Orange County history, died on May 7. He was a graduate of Stanford, a former newspaper editor, and had been treasurer of Orange County since 1935.

Two of our members take over their new duties as university presidents in September: Dr. Lynn T. White will be president of Mills College, and Dr. Donald B. Tresidder, president of Stanford University. William P. Fuller, Jr., another of our members, suc- ceeds Dr. Tresidder as president of the board of trustees of the University, and Judge M. C. Sloss and Charles R. Blyth are also officers.

Sponsor of the Liberty ship Fremont Older, launched at Richmond Shipyard No. 2 on June 17, was Fremont Older's widow, Cora, a member of our Society. Another member, John Francis Neylan, noted San Francisco attorney, was one of the speakers.

Dolores Waldorf (Mrs. H. C. Bryant), author of the article, "Gentleman from Ver- mont," will be remembered for her "Charles P. Kimball, San Francisco's 'Noisy Carrier' " in our Quarterly for December 1939. She was formerly assistant editor of the Quarterly of the Society of California Pioneers.

Mrs, Alice B. Maloney, a frequent contributor to our Quarterly, is working for the Berkeley Defense Council. Her biographical article on John Work, in this issue, will be followed by Work's diary of his trip to California in 1832-33 with a Hudson's Bay Company brigade.

Lieutenant Commander Harold F. Taggart, a member of our editorial staff and editor of "The Journal of David Jackson Staples" printed in this issue, until recently has been professor of history and dean of men at San Mateo Junior College. He is now com- manding officer of Navy V-12 Unit, at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He was bom in Indiana, graduated from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, in 1916; received the degree of M.A. from the University of California in 191 7, and Ph.D. from Stanford in 1936. Readers of the Quarterly will remember him for his article on "The Senatorial Election of 1893 in California" in the March 1940 issue.

Ensign Warren R. Howell, U.S.N.R., former secretary of the Society and member of our editorial staff, writes that his address is now c/o U.S.S. Essex, c/o Fleet P. O., San Francisco.

The Society continues to elect new members. Some of them we mention below:

Miss Hope Bliss is the daughter of Duane L. Bliss, California pioneer of 1851, who was well known throughout Nevada and California, particularly in the Lake Tahoe region. Under his good management the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Com- pany furnished millions of feet of timber a month to the Comstock mines and thousands of cords of fuel for their Cornish pumps, yet he was careful to leave sufficient trees to preserve the beauty of the scenery for generations to come. It was Mr. Bliss who put in the first railroad from Truckee to Lake Tahoe, and at its terminal he built the Tahoe