It’s mid-September, that energetic time when thousands of students return to San Luis Obispo after the summer break. Here’s a look back at campus living since the first move-in in 1903. Cal Poly’s first on-campus living Dormitory Row Three more dorms were added…
Charlie Williams (HIST ’19) is a student assistant in Special Collections and Archives. Here she looks a variety of sources from the University Archives that were all created to capture a single event in Cal Poly’s history. “What is it like…
A shining portion of feminist (recent) history is kept where you’d least expect it — in the back corner of the fourth floor of Kennedy Library, under lock and key, and separated into well kept, archival folders. Special Collections and…
Cali Vance (HIST ’19) is an intern in Special Collections and Archives. During Winter Quarter she is researching Cal Poly history for the upcoming exhibit Building the Cal Poly Campus. This is the second in a series of blog posts in which she shares…
As a student assistant in Special Collections and Archives, I spend many hours a week scanning correspondence between architect Julia Morgan and client William Randolph Hearst, who wrote approximately 3,700 letters, telegrams, and drawings to each other between 1919 and 1945. I am…
Indigenous Californians were the state’s earliest image-makers. Their sacred, ancient rock art includes elaborate depictions of animals and human figures combined with symbols, patterns, and geometric shapes. These stunning markings in paint and chiseled rock are believed to be visual…
This Thanksgiving, as you head down the busy grocery store aisles, keep an eye out for Mrs. Cubbison’s boxed dressings and stuffings. “Mrs. Cubbison” was indeed a real person–and a Cal Poly alumna. Long before women became regulars in the…
Special Collections and Archives recently completed preparing several University Archives collections that are now available for research. Notably, the Office of the President, Warren J. Baker Collection, which includes approximately 32 linear feet of records and is one of the first…
Special Collections and Archives is delighted to announce the opening of the exhibition Fast Forward: The Architecture of William F. Cody, on display at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. This celebration of Cody’s legacy is long overdue, and…