Voorhis Family Collection, circa 1891-2006

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Summary

Creators:
Voorhis, Jerry, 1901-1984 and Voorhis, Jerry Livingston
Abstract:
The collection contains materials related to the Voorhis family, including writings and drafts by H. Jerry Voorhis and his son, Jerry Livingston Voorhis; correspondence to and from various members of the Voorhis family; materials about the Voorhis School for Boys and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; materials related to H. Jerry Voorhis' time in Congress; photographs; and news clippings.
Extent:
3.92 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], Voorhis Family Collection, Collection no. 0090, University Archives, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains writings and drafts by H. Jerry Voorhis and unpublished manuscripts by his son, Jerry Livingston Voorhis; correspondence to and from members of the Voorhis family; biographical information about the Voorhis family; materials about the Voorhis School for Boys and Cal Poly Pomona, including meeting minutes and a newsletter from the Voorhis School for Boys' alumni group, the Voorhis Viking Alumni Association; materials related to H. Jerry Voorhis' time in Congress; photographic prints, including cyanotypes, of H. Jerry Voorhis and other members of the Voorhis family; nature and scenic photographic slides taken by H. Jerry Voorhis; news clippings of articles written by Jerry Livingston Voorhis; and news clippings about family members, Cal Poly Pomona events related to the family, and the Voorhis Unit chapel. Some of the clippings are photocopies.

Biographical / historical:

The Voorhis family was known for its philanthropic activities in Southern California and having donated the land that became the first campus of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Charles Voorhis was born in Olathe, Kansas on March 13, 1870. In 1895, he married Ella Ward Smith and they had two children, Horace Jeremiah Voorhis in 1901 and Virginia Jean Voorhis in 1908. Charles started a hardware company and worked for the the Kingman Plow Company in Peoria, Kansas before entering the automobile business. While working in that industry, he served in executive positions for the Oakland Motor Corporation in Pontiac, Michigan and Nash Motor Company in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In the mid-1920s, Charles retired from the the Nash Motor Company and moved to Pasadena, California.

In 1928, Charles Voorhis founded the Voorhis School for Boys, a school for boys from troubled or poor households that was located in San Dimas, California and endowed the school with $1 million. Voorhis' son, Horace Jeremiah (H. Jerry), served as headmaster of the school.

In 1936, H. Jerry was elected to Congress and served five terms until he was defeated by a young Richard Nixon in 1948. The Voorhis School for Boys remained open even after the younger Voorhis' election but the family eventually decided to close the school in 1938. That same year, Charles Voorhis donated the land to California State Polytechnic School in San Luis Obispo under the condition that it was to be used for educational purposes.

The former Voorhis School for Boys campus became the southern "unit" of Cal Poly and was known as the Voorhis Unit. Charles Voorhis and his wife, Ella (or "Nell"), continued their involvement with the Voorhis Unit and were known affectionately as "Uncle Charlie" and "Aunt Nell." Dorms on the campus were named after the couple. A second southern campus, the Kellogg Campus in Pomona, opened in 1956. For a time, the two campuses were known as the "Kellogg-Voorhis Campus." All instruction moved to the Kellogg campus in 1956, while students continued to live on the Voorhis campus. In 1966, the southern campus formally separated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to form Cal Poly Pomona. Cal Poly Pomona eventually sold the Voorhis land to Pacific Coast Bible College in 1977 and the land is now the site of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.

Charles Voorhis also was the founder of the All Nations Club, the first boys' club of Southern California, and served in various positions for the Pasadena Boys' Club. In 1949, Charles was awarded an honorory Bachelor of Science degree from Cal Poly. He died in 1961 at the age of 91.

Following his re-election defeat, H. Jerry Voorhis became involved with the Cooperative League of America, serving as its executive director and president. He retired from those positions in 1967. H. Jerry Voorhis also wrote multiple books during his time in Congress and afterward, including Beyond Victory, a book about achieving peace after World War II; American Cooperatives: Where They Come From, What They Do, Where They are Going; The Strange Case of Richard Milhous Nixon; and The Life and Times of Aurelius Lyman Voorhis, a book that incorporates diary entries from H. Jerry Voorhis' grandfather, who served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

H. Jerry Voorhis and his wife, Louise, had three children, Jerry Livingston Voorhis, Charles B. Voorhis II, and Alice Nell Voorhis. Jerry Livingston Voorhis taught history at Cal Poly Pomona and Wisconsin State University. He also wrote several unpublished manuscripts, including An Idealist in Congress: The Early Life and Times of H. Jerry Voorhis: 1901 - 1946 and Congressman Jerry Voorhis, Mr. Integrity. Jerry Livingston Voorhis died in 2018.

The Voorhis family continues to be recognized for its role in Cal Poly Pomona's founding. On April 18, 1979, Cal Poly Pomona held "Jerry Voorhis Day" in honor of the former headmaster of the Voorhis School for Boys and in 1983, a 76-acre area in the northwest part of campus was dedicated as the "Voorhis Ecological Reserve", also in honor of H. Jerry Voorhis. In 1995, Charles Voorhis was posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate and, three years later, Cal Poly Pomona held a dedication ceremony for Voorhis Park, a triangular piece of greenscape on campus with a boulder originally located at the Voorhis Unit. On the boulder is a 1950 plaque commemorating the donation of the Voorhis land to Cal Poly in 1938.

Acquisition information:
The materials in the collection were donated to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona by Jerry Livingston Voorhis in several increments between 1997 and 2006 and gathered from University Archives files.
Processing information:

The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

The collection was processed by Rob Strauss in February 2019. In 2024, materials in the collection were shifted by student assistant Stacy Marines under the supervision of Rob Strauss and the finding aid was updated with new box numbers.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title in the finding aid but does not reflect physical arrangement.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], Voorhis Family Collection, Collection no. 0090, University Archives, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Location of this collection:
3801 West Temple Ave.
Pomona, CA 91768, US
Contact:
(909) 869-3775
speccollections@cpp.edu
Website