Sinsheimer Collection, MS 036

Image © Sinsheimer Collection, Cal Poly.

Abstract:

The Sinsheimer Collection contains nineteenth- and early twentieth-century business, personal, and political papers of the Sinsheimers, a prominent and pioneering mercantile family of San Luis Obispo, California. Of German-Jewish extraction, Sinsheimer brothers Bernhard and Henry and half-brother A. Z. migrated to California following the Civil War, starting a general merchandise store in San Luis Obispo in 1876. One of A.Z.'s sons, Louis F. Sinsheimer, served as mayor of San Luis Obispo from 1919-1939, a period of great advances in the city’s infrastructure. Spanning four generations, this is an unusually rich collection, documenting the family's business, political, and personal interests. The collection is comprised of roughly 105 linear feet of family correspondence and memorabilia; business correspondence and ledgers; financial records and invoices; business, personal and political ephemera; personal diaries, daybooks, notebooks and calendars; photographic prints and negatives; newspapers, blueprints, maps, and artifacts. The collection was donated by the Sinsheimer heirs in 1987.

Finding Aid

Descriptive Summary

Title:
Sinsheimer Collection, 1868-1997 (1876-1959 bulk)
Collection Number:
MS 036
Creators:
Sinsheimer, Aron Zacharias (A.Z.), 1837-1919
Sinsheimer, Bernhard, 1848-1928
Sinsheimer, Gertrude, 1871-1960
Sinsheimer, Henry, 1854-1932)
Sinsheimer, Jeanette "Nettie" Weil, 1847-1926
Sinsheimer, Louis F., 1869-1951
Sinsheimer, May, 1873-1948
Sinsheimer, Paul A., 1879-1956
Sinsheimer, Warren A., 1885-1952
Sinsheimer, Warren A., Jr., 1923-1968
Extent:
124 boxes
Languages:
English, Spanish, German, Portuguese
Repository:
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0605