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Contemporary Jewish Museum

The CJM's Circle of Friends Presents: Levi Strauss and the Making of San Francisco

No one knows more about the life of Levi Strauss than Lynn Downey. In 1989, Downey was tapped by Bob Haas, a collateral descendant of Levi Strauss, to develop an archive exploring Strauss's life and the history of the company. In this talk, Downey traces Levi Strauss’s journey to the American West, shares stories about his role in founding a new Jewish community, and explores how his philanthropic generosity changed lives in San Francisco and beyond.

The CJM’s original exhibition Levi Strauss: A History of American Style took its starting point from the research and scholarship of Downey’s book Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World—in addition to the work of Levi Strauss & Co. Historian Tracey Panek, who has continued to trace the history of the company and oversee the archive since 2014. Watch as Downey shares rarely-seen archival materials and reveals the man behind the legend.

About the Speaker

Lynn Downey is a widely-published historian of the West, with degrees in history and library science from San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. Downey was the corporate historian for Levi Strauss & Co. for twenty-five years, where she wrote many books and articles about the company’s history. Her book Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2016 and won the Foreword Reviews silver INDIE award for biography.

Downey's latest book is Arequipa Sanatorium: Life in California’s Lung Resort for Women, and her first novel, Dudes Rush In, came out in October.

Downey retired from Levi Strauss & Co. in 2014, and today works as a historical/archival consultant and writer.

About the Exhibition

In 1873, at the end of the California Gold Rush, Levi Strauss & Co., named for a Bavarian Jewish dry goods merchant in San Francisco, obtained a U.S. patent with tailor Jacob Davis on the process of putting metal rivets in men’s denim work pants to increase their durability. It was the birth of the blue jean. The CJM original exhibition Levi Strauss: A History of American Style showcases the life of Levi Strauss, the invention of the blue jean, and their iconic place in the history of American style.

“Showing their Levi’s” postcard from the California Rodeo Salinas (July 13–16, 1939), 1939. Levi Strauss & Co. Archives

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Support for Levi Strauss: A History of American Style is generously provided by Maribelle and Stephen Leavitt; Gaia Fund; John Pritzker Family Fund; Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund; Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund; Mimi and Peter Haas Fund; The David Berg Foundation; John & Marcia Goldman Foundation; Suzanne and Elliott Felson; Colleen and Robert D. Haas; Dana Corvin and Harris Weinberg, in honor of Paulette Meyer and David Friedman, and Catherine and James Koshland; Kendra and Tom Kasten, in honor of Robert D. Haas; Michael Righi; Dorothy R. Saxe; David Saxe; Marilyn and Murry Waldman; and Rosanne and Al Levitt.

Lead Corporate Sponsorship is provided by Levi’s^®.

Media Sponsorship is provided by the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED. In-kind support is provided by Corduroy Media.