Cummings, William M., 1917-1995.

Name Entries

Information

person

Name Entries *

Cummings, William M., 1917-1995.

Computed Name Heading

Name Components

Name :

Cummings, William M., 1917-1995.

Genders

Exist Dates

Exist Dates - Date Range

1917

1917

Birth

1995

1995

Death

Show Fuzzy Range Fields

Biographical History

William M. Cummings was born November 18, 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri, but his family moved to Redwood Falls, Minnesota in 1919 and to St. Paul in 1923. Cummings held a number of different jobs after dropping out of high school. He worked for the Work Projects Administration as a page at the St. Paul Public Library and as a field research worker on the Annals of Minnesota for the Minnesota Writers Project (1938-1941); at the Cudahy Meat Packing Plant (1941-1942); at the Gopher Ordnance Plant in St. Paul and Twin Cities Ordnance in New Brighton (1942-1943); and as a route salesman for Bireleys (1944-1947) and Whistle Bottling Company (1947-1957).

In 1957 Cummings moved with his family to Berkeley, California where he held jobs as an animal caretaker at the University of California-Berkeley (1961-1967) and as a custodian for the Berkeley Unified School District (1967-1980) until he retired.

Despite his lack of formal education Cummings maintained a lifelong interest in book collecting, specializing in works by or about Henry David Thoreau, bird watching, natural history, and travel.

Cummings married Betty Rogers (October 26, 1937) and they had five children: James Walter (August 22, 1938), Ellen Elaine (June 8, 1941), Claudia Lynn (February 26, 1951), Thomas William (July 23, 1956), and Laura Blanche (December 28, 1960). Cummings was divorced (September 23, 1977) and married Paula Iverson (November 6, 1977). The second marriage ended in divorce (1980) and Cummings married Janet Kautenberg in February, 1981. Janet died in February 21, 1993, and Cummings married Jackie Israel on September 9, 1993. Cummings died in San Diego, California on April 19, 1995.

Biographical data was taken from the collection.

From the guide to the William M. Cummings diaries and related papers., 1924-1995., (Minnesota Historical Society)

eng

Latn

External Related CPF

Other Entity IDs (Same As)

Sources

Loading ...

Resource Relations

Loading ...

Internal CPF Relations

Loading ...

Languages Used

Subjects

Bird watching

Bird watching

Book collecting

Fossils

Fossils

Nature study

Nature study

Nature study

Nature study

Public schools

Public schools

Retirement

Shells

Shells

Voyages and travels

Working class whites

Working class whites

Working class whites

Working class whites

World War, 1939-1945

Nationalities

Activities

Occupations

School custodians

Truck drivers

Legal Statuses

Places

San Diego (Calif.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Saint Paul (Minn.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Englewood (Fla.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Sanibel (Fla.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Santa Barbara (Calif.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Berkeley (Calif.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

San Diego (Calif.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Ireland

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Saint Paul (Minn.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Stillwater (Minn.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Tallahassee (Fla.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Ireland

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Tallahassee (Fla.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Stillwater (Minn.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

California

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Great Britain

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Santa Barbara (Calif.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

California--Berkeley

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Minnesota--Saint Paul

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Florida

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Englewood (Fla.)

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Great Britain

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Minnesota

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Berkeley (Calif.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Europe

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Europe

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Sanibel (Fla.).

as recorded (not vetted)

AssociatedPlace

Convention Declarations

General Contexts

Structure or Genealogies

Mandates

Identity Constellation Identifier(s)

w6xm1dmt

62897471