Sponsor
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Biographical / Historical
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Related Materials
Separated Materials
Processing Information
Title: Chester O. McCorkle Papers
Creator: McCorkle, Chester O.
Identifier/Call Number: 0096
Contributing Institution: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Special
Collections and Archives
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 10.63 Linear
Feet(14 boxes, 1 flat file
drawer)
Date (inclusive): 1940-1967
Abstract: Chester O.
McCorkle served in various educational and administrative roles at Cal Poly from
1932 to 1966, eventually becoming dean of the college for the Kellogg campus in
Pomona. The collection contains administrative records, correspondence, reports and
studies pertaining to curricula and other matters, reports from the Cal Poly Kellogg
Campus to the Kellogg Foundation, records documenting the development of the Cal
Poly Voorhis and Kellogg campuses, and programs for campus events.
Sponsor
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.
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright.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], Chester O. McCorkle Papers, Collection no. 0096,
University Archives, Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was transferred to the University Library from the President's Office
in 2001.
Biographical / Historical
Chester O. McCorkle was born in 1903 in Watsonville, California and earned a
bachelor's degree and master's degree in agricultural economics from the University
of California, Berkeley. He began his educational career in 1927 at Red Bluff Union
High School in Northern California, where he served as director of agriculture and
as a critic teacher.
In 1932, McCorkle began his long tenure at Cal Poly. At the time, the college only
had the lone San Luis Obispo campus. In 1938, the college added a campus in Southern
California: the Voorhis Unit, which was located on the site of the former Voorhis
School for Boys in San Dimas. That operated as the main Southern California campus
until the Kellogg Campus opened in Pomona in 1956. McCorkle served as head of the
agricultural division and later became assistant to the president of Cal Poly.
McCorkle then took on the role of dean of instruction, eventually becoming
administrative dean of instruction for both the San Luis Obispo and the Kellogg
campuses. Finally, McCorkle became dean of the college for the Kellogg Campus in
1959 and served in that role until 1966.
During his long career, McCorkle remained very involved with agricultural education.
He served as executive secretary for the Future Farmers of America, an assistant
teacher trainer for the Bureau of Agricultural Education for California, and as
president of the California Agricultural Teachers Association.
McCorkle's other roles included serving on the California State Colleges Committee on
Criteria for Occupational Curricula in State Colleges. In 1954, he was part of a
three-man team that traveled to South Korea to examine vocational education needs in
that country. Several years later, he traveled to Alaska to survey agricultural
education in the territory.
After his retirement, McCorkle moved to northern California with his wife, Ava. He
died in 1979. McCorkle and his wife had one son, Chester O. McCorkle, Jr. who taught
agricultural economics and served as dean of the College of Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis. The younger McCorkle
also was vice president of the university at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains subject files with administrative records; correspondence
from various administrators and on various topics, including the 1961 deaths of Cal
Poly football team members in a plane crash and a charity football game called the
Mercy Bowl Football Classic that was held in their honor; reports and studies
pertaining to curricula and other matters; reports from the Cal Poly Kellogg campus
to the Kellogg Foundation; records documenting the development of the Cal Poly
Voorhis and Kellogg campuses, including an amendment to the 1949 deed from the
Kellogg Foundation and a master plan drawing of the Kellogg campus; and programs for
commencement and other campus events.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Related Materials
California Department of Education, Committee on Standards for Occupational or
Vocational Curricula.
Report of Committee on Standards for Occupational or
Vocational Curricula to the Department of Education, State of California
.
np: Committee on Standards for Occupational or Vocational Curricula, 1950.
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Athletic Department Records,
Collection no. 0001, University Archives, Special Collections and Archives,
University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Donald H. Pflueger Cal Poly Pomona History Papers, Collection no. 0007, University
Archives, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State
Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Kenneth Haun Kitch Papers, Collection no. 0085, University Archives, Special
Collections and Archives, University Library, California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona.
McCorkle, Chester O.
Report of the Kellogg-Voorhis Committee for the
Coordination of Higher Education in California
. Pomona, CA: California
State Polytechnic College, 1959.
Student Wives' Club Poly-Annas' Records, Collection no. 0078, University Archives,
Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona.
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center Records, Collection no. 0062, W.K. Kellogg Arabian
Horse Library, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California
State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Separated Materials
The following items have been removed from the collection and added to the Special
Collections and Archives Rare Books Collection.
California State Department of Education.
A Study of the Need for Additional
Centers of Public Higher Education in California
. Sacramento: California
Department of Education, 1957.
California State Polytechnic College.
Annual Report. San Luis Obispo,
CA: California State Polytechnic College, 1958-1959.
California State Polytechnic College.
Annual Report. San Luis Obispo,
CA: California State Polytechnic College, 1959-1960.
California State Polytechnic College.
Annual Report. San Luis Obispo,
CA: California State Polytechnic College, 1963-1964.
California State Polytechnic College Alumni Association.
Green and Gold:
California State Polytechnic College Alumni Review
. San Luis Obispo, CA:
California State Polytechnic College Alumni Association, November 1955.
California State Polytechnic College Alumni Association.
Green and Gold:
California State Polytechnic College Alumni Review
. San Luis Obispo, CA:
California State Polytechnic College Alumni Association, July 1956.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Annual Report for the Fiscal Year Ended
September 30th, 1960
. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York,
1960.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Fiftieth Anniversary Report and Annual Report
for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30th, 1961
. New York: Carnegie
Corporation of New York, 1961.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Quarterly
. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, July 1959.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Quarterly
. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, July 1960.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Quarterly
. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, January 1961.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Quarterly
. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, July 1961.
Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Quarterly
. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York, April 1962.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Rob Strauss in December 2018. The collection number
was changed from UA2001.15.1 to 0096 and the collection title changed from Records
from the Dean of the College to the Chester O. McCorkle Papers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona --
History