Nancy E. Smith papers

Collection

Identifier: SC-006

Staff Only

Collection Scope and Content Summary

This collection includes correspondence, documents, newspaper clippings, and other materials pertaining to the professional life of Nancy E. Smith, the first female Chair of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, member of the Public Land Law Review Commission, and a major figure in San Bernardino County politics during the 1960s-1970s.

Dates

Creation: 1934-1979, undated
Creation: Majority of material found in 1955-1975

Creator

Smith, Nancy E. (Person)

Access

This collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright Unknown: Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction, and/or commercial use, of some materials may be restricted by gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing agreement(s), and/or trademark rights. Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

Nancy E. Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 1st, 1912, and was raised by her grandparents Will and Della DeSalyard Deshon. Following her marriage to C. Lowell Smith in 1944, Nancy Smith moved to San Bernardino, California in 1948 where her husband found success in real estate and she began her political career. In 1956 Nancy Smith was elected to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to represent the 5th district and in 1962 was elected as the county's first woman chair of the board. She served until 1964 and then again from 1973-1975. Smith also served on the California State University, San Bernardino Advisory Board from 1968-1978. Among her most notable accomplishments, Smith was selected by former United States President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve on the Public Land Law Review Commission from 1965-1970. Nancy E. Smith retired from politics in 1976 and lived with her family in Oregon until her death on November 10th, 2000.

Extent

10.0 Linear Feet (6 legal document boxes, 2 flat storage boxes, and 1 shelf)

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Additional Description

Abstract

Collection Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following six series:

Series 1: Documents, 1934-1975, undated
Series 2: Memorabilia, 1935-1978, undated
Series 3: Newspaper clippings, 1955-1979, undated
Series 4: Office Files, 1944-1966, undated
Series 5: Photographs, 1965-1967, undated
Series 6: Publications, 1958-1970

Acquisition Information

The Nancy E. Smith papers were transferred from the CSUSB Department of Political Science to Special Collections & University Archives in 2022. The collection was originally donated to the CSUSB Department of Political Science by Nancy E. Smith’s son, Gary Wenkle Smith.