Archives and Collections
Subject strengths: local history, wine, cookbooks, poetry, botany, mycology, philosophy, art and architecture. Collections: University Archives, Cal Poly Rose Float Collection, Wine Industry Collection, The Thomas Pinney Collection of wine books and wine related research files, the United Farm Workers Collection, Virginia Hamilton Adair Collection, First Edition Collection, John Gill Modern Poetry Collection, Abraham Kaplan Collection, League of Women Voters (East San Gabriel Valley) Collection, Academic Senate Archive, Low magazine archive (student underground newspaper), Cal Poly Women's Club, Student Wives Club, Voorhis School for Boys, Voorhis Family, Robert Lawrence Balzer Collection, World Menu Collection, Kennedy Collection, Humphrey Mycology Collection. Campus History: Cal Poly Pomona was originally founded in San Dimas in 1938, as an all male agricultural/horticultural southern branch campus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In 1949 the college acquired the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch in Pomona where it moved the campus in 1956. In 1961 it went coed and in 1966 separated from San Luis Obispo. In 1972, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona was awarded full university status. The University Archives, which document this history includes: photographs, books, records, memorabilia, architectural drawings, sound and video recordings, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks. The University Archives also include materials from the Voorhis School for Boys--the San Dimas institution for orphaned and underprivileged boys that originally inhabited the site of what later became the San Dimas/Voorhis campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Charles Voorhis built the school and his son H. Jerry Voorhis was headmaster. The school operated from 1928 to 1938, when Jerry Voorhis was elected to Congress. In 1938 Charles Voorhis donated the school facility to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to be its Southern California branch. This permitted students to gain experience with cultivation of important "sub-tropical" crops such as oranges. Materials include photographs, film, video, DVDs, books, files, memorabilia, and architectural drawings. The Wine Industry Collection documents all aspects of the wine industry in Southern California, beginning with the Missions. This collection includes books, journals, newspapers, photographs, oral histories, posters, files, winery memorabilia, video recordings, news clippings, wine labels, wine bottles, medals, and wine club newsletters.