Sacramento County
Biographies
ARUTHUR SERVISS DUDLEY
ARTHUR SERVISS DUDLEY.—Arthur Serviss Dudley was born at West Salem,
Wis, January 20,
1883, the son of Lewis R. and Nora (Serviss) Dudley,
the former a pedagogue who at length retired, leaving an excellent record as principal
in the public schools. He came from New
England stock, and was born at Guilford, Conn.;
for there the family, originally of old English stock, had settled in early
days. Mrs. Dudley, esteemed and beloved
by those who were privileged to know her as neighbor or friend, died some
twenty years ago.
Arthur
Serviss Dudley attended the grammar and also the high
school of West Salem,
and in 1900 was graduated from the high school and three years later he
received his diploma from the Illinois School of Photography. In December of the same year, he came out to California
and Palo Alto following his marriage, on the 29th
of the previous September, to Miss Ada Broome of
Effingham, Ill. At Palo Alto
he purchased a studio, and in 1904 he established the California College of
Photography, and conducted it until the earthquake, in 1906. He then returned East, to Scranton,
Pa., where he joined the American Photo
Text-Book Company, and devoted three years to editing a ten-volume work, “The
Complete Self-Instructing Work of Practical Photography,” the first effort of
the kind anywhere made, as far as is known.
In 1910, he made a six-month circuit of the United
States, to direct the sale of this book; and
he remained with that company as manager for one and one-half years. Then he was with the Chambers Press, of Philadelphia,
as advertising manager and editor of “The Bulletin of Photography” and “The
Camera,” and in September, 1913, he came to Riverside County,
California and bought ten acres in the Lake
View district, where he tried his
luck at farming. But he was washed out
there, and in June, 1914, he came to San Jacinto, and
opened the photograph gallery there, and helped organize the Chamber of
Commerce, for which he was secretary for six months. Then he was employed by the supervisors of Riverside
County to represent the County at San
Francisco during the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and also at San
Diego.
In
April, 1915, Mr. Dudley was elected secretary of the Riverside Chamber of
Commerce, and he held on to the dual job of representing the counties at the
Fair, until April 1, 1916, when he was appointed assistant secretary of the Los
Angeles Chamber of Commerce, under the celebrated Frank Wiggins; and on August
15, 1920, he came to the City of Sacramento as secretary of the Sacramento
Chamber of Commerce. In this position he
added to the Chamber’s laurels, as well as to his own. He was appointed on the advisory board of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United States,
and not only did good work outside, but also reanimated the local
organization. He is responsible, for
example, for the new Chamber of Commerce Building costing $100,000, and for the
“putting over” of “The Days of ’49,” requiring such an endless supervision. In 1908, he was for a year president of the
National Association of Commercial Organization Secretaries, and was reelected
for 1923. In politics Mr. Dudley is a
Republican.
Mr.
& Mrs. Dudley may well be proud of their children, Tirzah
May, Arthur Guilford, Carolyn Ruth, and Marian Jane. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley are very fond of Camping
and outdoor life, and also of hunting.
And when he has plenty of time, he is delighted with a brisk game of
tennis. He has a remarkable staff of
assistants, and through their cooperation is able to accomplish much in a
day. Sacramento has
come to appreciate Arthur Serviss Dudley, whose faith
in the future of Sacramento County
is being daily crystallized into forward steps in the progress of its
remarkable development.
Transcribed by Betty J. Vickroy.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 383-384. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Betty J. Vickroy.