The archive consists of loose family photographs, photograph albums, scrapbooks, letters, proclamations, social event programs, announcements and other printed and manuscript ephemera. All preserved in six 3 ring binders, five large scrapbooks, two photograph albums, two calligraphed tributes and many individual photographs.
The Fay family emigrated from Ireland to New York in 1829 and between 1860 and 1870 Phillip Fay and his brothers came to San Francisco from whence this material begins. Some of the Fay descendants in the San Francisco area include the Paul B.Fay family, whose patriarch was a good friend of and the Undersecretary of the Navy to JFK, Charles Fay; the opera singer, Maude Fay Symington; Phillip Fay II, from which much of this material comes, and the Tobin, Dill, Barry and Woods families. The five large scrapbooks include letters, newspaper reports, cards, invitations from ca. 1885 to the forties beginning with the first Phillip Fay, then his son Phillip J. Fay who was involved in San Francisco politics and was the President of the SF Chamber of Commerce, an important job in it’s day; on the board of the Southern Pacific Golden Gate Co. and other charitable organizations, as well as partner in the Insurance brokerage company of Nichols & Fay.. There are news clippings, letters and programs concerning Maude Fay who became an opera singer and spent much of her life in Europe performing. Included are letters from senators, politicians and any number of business and civic leaders in San Francisco, discussing the business and economic climate of the city as well as social and sporting clubs. The material held in the six binders is well organized and contained in Mylar pages. One binder contains Bohemian Club ephemera from Phillip Fay’s membership including seventeen 8x10 photographs of camp scenes at the Grove, a tribute to the poet George Sterling and a program for the opening of the new Club building. Another binder contains printed ephemera, menus and photographs of Phillip Fay’s celebratory trip with National Chamber of Commerce members on the maiden voyage of the Matson Line ship S.S. Malola to Hawaii in 1927. Another binder contains photographs, letters and ephemera concerning the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. A collection of Fay’s Knights of Columbus memorabilia ca. 1905 is included in another binder. One binder includes Chamber of Commerce, early Elks Club and ca. 1886 Phillip Fay Sr. material. The final binder is full of miscellaneous Fay material including an 1894 reception at the Lurline Baths at Larkin and Bush; entry blanks for the SF Cycle Racing Assn, 1896; the Garden City Cyclers in San Jose, 1895; a banquet program honoring Senator James D. Phelan; a Maude Fay concert program; engraved invitations to the reception for the Japanese Navy here in the Bay, and to a garden party at Phelan’s Villa Montalvo in Saratoga; investigations into constructing the Golden Gate Bridge; an early broadside for the SF Yacht Club;l Fay’s passes for the 1915 Panama Pacific Expo plus much more. Also included are 3 original calligraphed tributes given to Phillip Fay for various services performed. A very interesting photograph album of the Fay family going on two cruises from SF bay up into the Delta aboard the 2 masted yacht “Martha” and motor boat “Scout” in 1915 and 1916, with two typewritten humorous logs narrating the voyages, giving a wonderful account of fun and companionship during another era. Finally a collection of approximately 50 large photographs of various members of the Fay family, including portraits of all the brothers, weddings, celebrations, some school pictures etc. many from the turn of the century, and the earliest are 4 individual carte de visite photographs of what appears to be the four Fay brothers shortly after arriving in San Francisco. Phillip Fay, signed; John Fay, SF May of 1865 and Thomas Fay, August 1872, and Jeremiah, along with another unidentified gentleman. A real trove of family and historical material relating to one of San Francisco’s old and distinguished families.