Gender Studies at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Clark Library holds a notable collection of William Andrews Clark, Jr.’s family and business records. Particularly of note are the textiles, autograph books, photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence related to the women of the Clark family, like Mabel Duffield Foster Clark (1880–1903), Alice G. McManus Clark (1884–1918), Huguette Clark (1906–2011), and Cora Sanders (1872–1947).

Mabel Duffield Foster Clark (1880–1903) moved with her family to Butte, Montana from Pennsylvania as a small child. In 1901, she married Clark, Jr., and gave birth to their son, William Andrews Clark III (1902–1932) the next year. She died of sepsis on New Years’ Day 1903 from birth complications. Clark, Jr. donated a building at the University of Virginia School of Law in Foster Clark’s memory. 

Collection materials include:

• Formal photograph by Histed, 1903 (Clarkive, Pre-1934 Box 12, Folder 7)
• One gold-toned photograph and two portrait miniatures, ca. 1900–1903 (Clarkive, Pre-1934 Box 45)

Alice Genevieve McManus Clark (1884–1918) was born in Virginia City, Nevada. By 1902, she was living in Butte, Montana and working as a telephone operator. During this time, she eloped with Marco J. Medin, a successful Butte merchant. The two divorced in 1906 and McManus Clark married Clark, Jr. in May 1907. The newly married couple moved to Los Angeles in 1908 and purchased the then-McCan estate at 2205 West Adams Boulevard (on the current Clark Library grounds) in 1910. McManus Clark became very involved in Los Angeles social life and charity work at the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) and the Red Cross. She died of colon cancer in 1918. Clark, Jr. never remarried after her death; however, he developed a strong relationship with Harrison Post (ca. 1896–1946), his library assistant and lover. 

Collection materials include:

• McManus Family Trunk Collection

1. The first series of the collection contains textiles likely owned by McManus Clark and her family members, including day dresses, evening gowns, stockings, furs, outerwear, undergarments, and petticoats from 1900–1950. The dresses from pre-1918 were likely worn by McManus Clark. Many of the post-1918 textiles were likely owned by other members of the McManus family including her sister, Margaret McManus, and her niece, Ethyl McManus. 

Highlights: 

• A pair of goldenrod silk stockings with floral ribbon embroidery and a metallic gold stamp label on the toe reading, “Peck & Peck Hosiers 5th Ave New York,” 1900–1910 (Box 1).
• A crocheted shirtwaist with buttons at the sleeve enclosures, a metal hook, and eye enclosures, 1900–1910 (Box 6). 
• A white day dress. It includes heavy embroidery, voluminous elbow-length sleeves, and three tiers of embroidery at the hem (Box 12).

2. The second series of the collection includes McManus Clark’s papers and photographs. 

Highlights:

• Two McManus Clark autograph albums, one covered in embroidered red velvet and the other in blue velvet, 1891–1898 (Box 39).
• Photograph of McManus Clark crowned as “Venus,” by Cann (a photographer) in Virginia City, Nevada, 1896 (Box 37, Folder 16). 

3. The third series of the collection includes papers and photographs belonging to Ethyl C. McManus (1903–1977), McManus Clark’s niece. Ethyl’s younger sister was Alice Catherine McManus (1906–2005). Ethyl McManus attended the University of Nevada, Reno, graduating in 1925, and spent most of her adult life in San Francisco. 

Highlights:

• Reno High School Yearbook, 1919 (Box 38). 
• Invitation to “Stage Frolic” hosted by William Andrews Clark III, 1920–1930 (Box 37, Folder 11).
• Travel map of Europe with annotations and notes, ca. 1928 (Box 37, Folder 23). 

4. The fourth (and final) series of the collection includes materials belonging to other McManus, Brennan, and Hall family members. Most of the material is related to or was collected by Margaret “Peggy” McManus Brennan, Alice McManus Clark’s great-niece. Other contents belonged to Margaret Hall McManus, Peggy Brennan’s mother, and other relatives. 

Highlights:

• Margaret Hall McManus’ travel diary, ca. 1930–1934 (Box 37, Folder 22).
• Boston travel guide and Ottawa/Quebec auto map, ca. 1935–1945 (Box 43, Folder 1).

• Letters written to McManus Clark (Clarkive, Pre-1934 Box 5, Folder 20): Many of the letters concern charitable work. 
• A letter written by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1890–1936) to McManus Clark in 1916 (Clarkive, Pre-1934 Box 7, Folder 13): Mukerji was an American immigrant from India (born near Calcutta) who wrote poetry, drama, fiction, social commentaries, translations, and children’s stories. His works include Sandhya, or Songs of Twilight (1917), Kari The Elephant (1922), The Face of Silence (1926), A Son of Mother India Answers (1928), and Hindu Fables for Little Children (1929).

Huguette Clark (1906–2011) was Clark, Jr.’s half-sister, born to William Andrews Clark, Sr. and his second wife, Anna. Huguette was born in Paris and moved to New York with her parents in 1910. Upon her death, her estate was worth $300,000,000 and she owned mansions in New York, Connecticut, and California. Despite her wealth and health, Huguette decided to live the last 20 years of her life in Beth Israel, a New York hospital, while cared for by her nurse, Hadassah Peri. The Clark Library recently acquired a significant archive of Huguette’s correspondence and photographs. The material will hopefully be available to researchers in 2025. 

You can read more about Huguette Clark in Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr. and The Phantom of Fifth Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark by Meryl Gordon.

Cora Sanders (1872–1947) was born in Helena, Montana to a politically prominent Montana family. She studied in Germany from 1891–1893 and worked as a schoolteacher in small Montana towns before moving to Butte in 1898. In Butte, she ran in the same social circles as Clark, Jr., and she moved to Los Angeles with the Clark family in 1910 as William Andrews Clark, III’s governess and Alice McManus Clark’s secretary. In the 1920s she became an assistant librarian for Clark, Jr.’s collection and remained at the Clark Library until 1943. She died in Long Beach, California in 1964. The Clark Library holds photographs, ledgers, acquisition records, and bibliographic records belonging to Sanders. 

Collection materials include:

• Photograph of Cora Sanders and her brother Charles Sanders with the rest of the students of the Helena Graded High School, 1885 (Montana Mss. Box 1, Folder 2)
• Photographs of Alice McManus Clark, Cora Sanders, and Clark, Jr. in Ireland, 1913 (Clarkive, Pre-1934 Box 12, Folder 6).
• Bibliographic commonplace book belonging to Cora Sanders (Clarkive, Pre-1934 Box 23, Folder 25).
• Exercise book with list of gifts to the library, 1935–1936 (Clarkive, Post-1934 Box 339).

For detailed inventories of archival collections related to the women of the Clark family please consult the Clark Library's page on the Online Archive of California (OAC). Many of the materials can be found in the “Clark (William Andrews, Jr.) and William Andrews Clark Memorial Library Records.”