Collection Guide
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Guide to the J. E. Wallace Sterling, President of Stanford University, Records
SC0216
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Table of contents
Call Number: SC0216
Creator:
Sterling, J. E. Wallace (John Ewart Wallace), 1906-1985
Title: J. E. Wallace Sterling, president of Stanford University, records
Dates: 1913-1969 (bulk 1949-1969)
Bulk Dates: 1949-1969
Physical Description:
300 linear feet
Summary: Papers primarily represent Sterling's years as President of Stanford University and include correspondence, memoranda, proposals,
speeches, minutes, reports, budgets, clippings, and legal papers.
Language(s): In English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: speccollref@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html
Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
[Identification of item], J. E. Wallace Sterling, president of Stanford University, records (SC0216). Department of Special
Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
J.E. Wallace Sterling, president of Stanford University from 1949-1968, earned his A.B. in history at the University of Toronto
in 1927; he taught at the University of Alberta while pursuing graduate work there from 1928-1930. He came to Stanford in
1930 to pursue his doctorate, which he received in 1938. While at Stanford, he was also a research assistant in the Hoover
Library and taught in the History Department. From 1938 to 1948 Sterling taught at the California Institute of Technology,
where he was elected chairman of the faculty in 1944. He had been Director of the Huntington Library and Art Gallery for five
months when he accepted the presidency of Stanford University. During Sterling's 19 years as president, Stanford's endowment
nearly doubled, the faculty increased by 170 percent, graduate programs were improved, major building plans were completed,
the Medical School was moved to campus from San Francisco, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center was built. After his
retirement in 1968, Sterling was named University Chancellor. He died on July 1, 1985.
Scope and Content of Collection
These records primarily represent Sterling's years as President of Stanford University and include correspondence, memoranda,
proposals, speeches, minutes, reports, budgets, clippings, and legal papers. Some files predate his term as president. There
is a separate series pertaining to the Hoover Institution, 1948-68. Collection also includes Sterling's class notes, lectures,
manuscripts, and professional correspondence, 1925-1949.
Materials are arranged as received.
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Stanford University--Administration.
Stanford University--Presidents.
Universities and colleges--Administration