Clyde Arbuckle (1903–1998) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

of, and lifelong resident of, San Jose,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He is the author of ''Clyde Arbuckle's History of San José''. This 500 page bookSingh, Gary
"History in the Making"
''MetroActive''. has been extensively referenced by historians.

Early life

Arbuckle was the son of W. J. Arbuckle, and the brother of

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...

, a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

star. As a young man, Arbuckle played the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

. Arbuckle was also a road bicycle racer with the Garden City Wheelmen, San Jose residents have named a public school in his memory, and a referee at the Burbank Velodrome. In 1922 he set a national cycling speed record.

Career

Arbuckle was the founder and curator of the San José Historical Museum (now called

History San Jose History Park at Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s (decade). Since its inauguration in 1971, 32 historic buildings and other landmark ...

). He was secretary of the San Jose Historic Landmarks Commission. Arbuckle was San Jose's official historian for more than fifty years. During this time he amassed a large collection of photographs of the area, which are now housed at the

San Jose Public Library The San José Public Library ( es, Biblioteca Pública de San José) is the public library system of San Jose, California, made up of 23 branch libraries spread across the city. Organization Its central library, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Librar ...

. The photographs have been used to illustrate many history books. A biography of Arbuckle's life, ''Clyde Arbuckle: A 90 Year Biography'', was written by Leonard McKay published by Memorobilia of San Jose in 1993. Arbuckle died in 1998.

Publications

*''Santa Clara County Ranchos'', 1968 *''Oil Boring in Santa Clara Valley'', 1959 *''Clyde Arbuckle's history of San Jose'', 1985. *''History of San José: Transportation'' - Volume 5, 2004 *''New Almaden Mercury Mines: A Long Perspective and History'', 1965, with A. C. Innes and R. Burton Rose.

References

* Arbuckle, Jim. "Clyde Arbuckle in ''Restless Valley''." http://www.mountaincharlie1850.org/restless_valley_video2.html Retrieved August 24, 2012 * Barnes, Cecily. "Renowned chronicler of the past becomes part of history: Clyde Arbuckle, an expert on San Jose history, dies at 94." Mercury News. "http://mytown.mercurynews.com/archives/wgresident/01.14.98/ClydeArbuckle.html Retrieved August 24, 2012 *

External links

* History San José, http://historysanjose.org/wp/about-us/history/
Guide to the Clyde Arbuckle California History Research Collection, 1840-1996
*http://digitalcollections.sjlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/arbuckle {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbuckle, Clyde 1903 births 1998 deaths People from San Jose, California Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from California