 Understandably, Dunphy's death created a huge hole in CSE's leadership.Nonetheless, annual membership shows continued except for the year of his death, with Elizabeth Ginno (1911–1991) becoming secretary after Dunphy's death.Ginno, Ginno's husband John W. Winkler, aka Winks (1890–1979), and Mark Luca (1918–2005), were active CSE members between 1955 and 1968, the year that CSE merged with Bay Printmakers Society to form California Society of Printmakers (CSP)

In 1955 two graduate students from Oakland's California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts) were eager for exhibition opportunities.