Letters; manuscripts of his writings; notes; reprints and copies
of articles; diaries; newspaper clippings, and photographs,
relating to the Sierra Club; John Muir; conservation (including
material on the recession of Yosemite and the Hetch Hetchy
controversy); mining law; his Chinese art collection; and
genealogy. Included also: letters (typed transcripts) written by
John Muir, mainly to his daughter Helen. William Edward Colby
was born in Benicia, California, in 1875. His mother, Caroline
Amelia (Smith) Colby, had been a teacher in the Young Ladies
Seminary, and his father, Gilbert Winslow Colby, was a `49er,
merchant, state assemblyman and state senator. After attending
public schools in Benicia and Berkeley, Colby was graduated from
the Hastings College of Law in 1898. He began his practice in
San Francisco and soon specialized in mining law. From 1911 to
1937 he taught mining and water law at the University of
California. He wrote numerous articles on the subject, compiling
a valuable library as well. Nu