Lynn Downey

I’m an award-winning native California historian, novelist, and short story writer, and I’ve dabbled in poetry and screenwriting.

I was the company archivist and historian for Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco for twenty-five years and had many wonderful adventures: from tracking down historic cemeteries to an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. I also wrote an award-winning biography of the man himself, titled Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World. I am now an independent historical consultant. I work with museums, businesses, and non-profits to create archives, curate exhibits, write books, and plan anniversaries.

I’ve been publishing articles and books about the history of the West since 1985, and my work has appeared in California History, True West, Costume, Sportswear International, and The Journal of Arizona History.

My nonfiction books have received awards from Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, the Will Rogers Medallion Award, and Foreword Reviews. I received the Arizona Historical Society’s Sonnichsen Award for the best journal article in 2023, and my debut novel won the Will Rogers Medallion Award and the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award.

I’m a member of Western Writers of America, and the past president of Women Writing the West. I’m also on the board of the Frank Lloyd Wright Marin County Civic Center Conservancy, the Dude Ranch Foundation, the Tomales Regional History Center, The Friends of California Archives, and I’m co-chair of Advocates for the Sonoma County Archives.