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Three New Studies Published by the Davis Historical Society
The Davis Historical Society (DHS) announces publication of three new empirical studies in its Papers on Davis History Series. In announcing this event, DHS Publications Committee Chair Lyn H. Lofland expressed her pleasure in being able to bring to the people of Davis new information on key aspects of the history of the Davis community.
Bob Black Announces Greater Davis Group
The first paper, number 4 in the series and titled “Davis Politics 1971-72,”
is a participant’s account of the Greater Davis Research and Planning Group (GDRPG) in the run-up to the April 1972, city council election, the so-called “Revolution of ‘72” change in Davis politics. The GDRPG was led by historic student leader Bob Black, who was elected to the council that year. The author of this study, Carol Mary Dixon, was a graduate student in sociology at UCD when she participated in the GDRPG and she provides acute analysis in this very close-in account.
The second paper, “A 1920-50s Student District in Davis, California,”
describes the rise, decline and disappearance of the fraternity, boarding, and rooming house district on Second Street between A and B streets. Researched by John Lofland, this study features a report on how Davis property owners voted in 1938 seriously to restrict fraternity sites in Davis. From about a dozen downtown fraternities prior to World War II, there are now almost none.Paper number 6, titled “The Henry Stelling Family of Davisville: A Dresbach-Hunt-Boyer Mansion Family,”
documents that the three family names now associated with the historic mansion at Second and E streets make up a seriously incomplete list and therefore misrepresent the history of that building and of Davis. Davis history researcher Valerie Vann finds that the Stallings family not merely lived in the mansion from 1887 to 1899, but was a colorful and even scandalous feature of Davis in that period, which might explain why previous historians have dropped the family from Davis histories.
All three papers can be read and downloaded free of charge at www.davishistoricalsociety.org,
a website in part supported by the Davis Community Network.
In the left-hand column of the DHS home page, open Folder 1.3.
For more information, contact DHS Publications Chair Lyn H. Lofland at lhlofland@ucdafvis.edu. Chair Lofland is especially interested in hearing from people who would like to contribute to the DHS Papers in Davis History Series.