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Vera McKenna Clayton Scrapbooks
Accession #: 1996.27
Linear Feet: 12.06
Date Range: 1920s-1950s
Content Notes:
Includes 13 Scrapbooks
Vera (McKenna) Clayton (1896-1978) was born in Oakland, California, the daughter of James McKenna (1870-1909) and Nancy A. (Laughton) McKenna (1871-1940). Vera had one sibling, her sister Melba E. McKenna (1904-1989). After the death of Mr. McKenna, Nancy and her two young daughters moved to Reno, and by 1920 Vera had begun her career as a musician and music teacher. In 1921 Vera married Donald B. Clayton, and by 1923, Vera, Donald, and her mother and sister were living in Santa Cruz at 157 Broadway in a big Victorian home (razed in 1968), where there were two grand pianos in the parlor and a concert organ in the living room. In addition to giving music and piano lessons to two generations of Santa Cruz children, she also played the harp and organ for numerous community organizations and events. She wrote songs, including “Floating Down the San Lorenzo River,” published by the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce for the 1928 Santa Cruz Water Pageant, and the 160th birthday song for the City of Santa Cruz in 1929. The thirteen scrapbooks in this collection are all directly related to Vera’s career as a music teacher. Paintings of Vera and of the McKenna home are in the MAH art collection.
Finding Aid: No finding aid
A research file on the McKenna family is available in the archive
Repository:
The Museum of Art & History
705 Front Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(831) 429-1964 ext. 17