Bernice C. Downing

{{Short description|American newspaper publisher and editor (1878–1940)}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Bernice C. Downing.png

| alt =

| caption = Downing in 1932

| birth_date = {{Birth year|1878}}

| birth_place = Newark, Missouri, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|9|26|1878}}

| death_place = Santa Clara, California, US

| burial_place = Oak Hill Memorial Park

| other_names =

| occupation = Newspaper publisher, editor, postmaster, speaker

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Bernice C. Downing (1878 – September 26, 1940) was an American newspaper publisher, editor, postmaster and speaker. She and her twin sister, Bertha C. Downing, were the first women in California to own, edit and publish their own newspaper, the Santa Clara Journal.

Early life

Bernice C. Downing was born in 1878, in Newark, Missouri, the daughter of Nathan Hall and Ida R. Downing. The Downings were pioneer residents of Santa Clara, California, where they moved in 1886.{{cite journal|title=01 Mar 1921, Tue • Page 8|journal=Santa Cruz Evening News|date=1921|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824946/santa_cruz_evening_news/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

Career

=Newspaper editor and publisher=

Bernice C. Downing was an editor and newspaper publisher. Downing and her twin sister, Bertha C. Downing (1878–1925) inherited the Santa Clara Journal from their father upon his death in 1905 when they were 17 years old.{{cite journal|title=Bernice Downing Dies In San Jose – 27 Sep 1940, Fri • Page 6|journal=Santa Cruz Evening News|date=1940|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13825052/santa_cruz_evening_news/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}} They transformed the Santa Clara Journal from a free press to a paying proposition.{{cite journal|title=Miss Bernice Downing Dies in San Jose – 27 Sep 1940, Fri • Page 6|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1940|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13825244/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

=Postmaster=

She was appointed postmaster of Santa Clara in 1922 by President Warren G. Harding, and was reappointed to office in 1927 by President Calvin Coolidge. She held this position for 12 years. She founded and edited the California Postmaster, the official organ of the postmasters' association.{{cite journal|title=Postmasters' "Squadron" Off for Tour of South – 07 Apr 1932, Thu • Page 2|journal=Oakland Tribune|date=1932|page=2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824791/oakland_tribune/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}} She then became hostess of the Mission Trails building at Treasure Island until 1940, a few months before her death.

=Speaker=

In 1937, she spoke in front of the Soroptimists Club about her travels through Europe, the talk "Cargo Cruising".{{cite journal|title=Women's Clubs To Hear Bernice Downing In Travel Talks This Week – 26 Oct 1937, Tue • Page 5|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1937|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13823899/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}{{cite journal|title=Soroptimists To Hear Travel Talk Tuesday – 24 Oct 1937, Sun • Page 5|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1937|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13823638/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}} She also spoke in front of the Women's Luncheon Club on the subjects "On a Freighter to Europe" and "Rural England".{{cite journal|title=Miss Bernice Downing Guest Speaker at Women's Luncheon Club – 24 Oct 1937, Sun • Page 5|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1937|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13823735/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}} Downing spent eight months with one suitcase and a typewriter first aboard a freighter and then in Europe and England. She told how she was refused entrance to Italy having applied for a visa as a "journalist".{{cite journal|title=Miss Bernice Downing and Mrs. Ada Walworth Entertain Women's Luncheon Club – 28 Oct 1937, Thu • Page 5|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1937|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824258/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

In 1938, she spoke in front of the Santa Cruz Business and Professional Women's Club. Also in 1938, she was appointed official hostess and director of personnel for the Mission Trails Building at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.{{cite journal|title=Local Club Representatives Attend B.P.W. Dinner Meet; Bernice Downing Is Speaker – 12 Oct 1938, Wed • Page 4|journal=Santa Cruz Evening News|date=1938|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824134/santa_cruz_evening_news/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

In 1940, a few months before her death, she remembered her twin sister, who had died in 1925, in a speech to the Soroptimists Club.{{cite journal|title=Soroptimist Club Observes Press Day; Bernice Downing Tells Newspaper Experience – 17 Jan 1940, Wed • Page 3|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1940|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824398/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

Affiliations and memberships

She held several offices in, and was president of, the state association and national vice-president of the League of American Pen Women. She was also California vice-president of the National Editorial Association. In 1930, she became national secretary of the League of American Pen Women.{{cite journal|title=California League Favors Norris for National Leader – 05 Mar 1930, Wed • Page 8|journal=Santa Cruz Evening News|date=1930|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824066/santa_cruz_evening_news/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

In 1927, she won a specially created prize from the Omaha Chamber of Commerce for the best paper written on a tour of Nebraska and the Black Hills of South Dakota. This contest was open to all members of the National Editorial Association. In 1928, she won third prize in The National Editorial Association contest with the piece "Tennessee's Hydroelectric Power Possibilities and the Advantages of Its Development by Private Capital".{{cite journal|title=Pen Woman Receives Coveted Editorial Award - 14 Nov 1928, Wed • Page 8|journal=The Press Democrat|date=1928|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13825094/the_press_democrat/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

She was a member of the California Press Association and secretary of the Santa Clara County Consolidated Chamber of Commerce.

In 1936, she was the leader of a Troop sponsored by the Thousand Oaks Parent-Teacher Association.{{cite journal|title=Berkeley – 01 Nov 1936, Sun • Page 35|journal=Oakland Tribune|date=1936|page=35|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13824023/oakland_tribune/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

For several years she was a member of the Santa Clara County Republican Committee.

Personal life

Downing lived at 1516 Franklin St., Santa Clara, California.{{cite book|last1=Binheim|first1=Max|last2=Elvin|first2=Charles A|title=Women of the West; a series of biographical sketches of living eminent women in the eleven western states of the United States of America|date=1928|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenofwestserie00binh/page/38 38]|url=https://archive.org/details/womenofwestserie00binh|accessdate=August 8, 2017}}{{PD-notice}} She died on September 26, 1940, aged 61 or 62, and is buried at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose.{{cite journal|title=28 Sep 1940, Sat • Page 7|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1940|page=7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13823562/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}{{cite journal|title=Attend Funeral of Miss Bernice Downing – 29 Sep 1940, Sun • Page 3|journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel|date=1940|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13823843/santa_cruz_sentinel/|accessdate=September 17, 2017}}

References

Category:1878 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:Editors of California newspapers

Category:People from Knox County, Missouri

Category:Burials at Oak Hill Memorial Park

Category:American twins

Category:People from Santa Clara, California

Category:California postmasters