Cummings, William M., 1917-1995.

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)