Collection Guide
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Finding aid to the Poly Alumni Association Records,
1917-1991
SFH 377
SFH 377
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Table of contents
Title: Poly Alumni Association Records
Date (inclusive): 1917-1991
Collection Identifier: SFH 377
Creator:
Poly Alumni Association (San Francisco, Calif.).
Physical Description:
1 manuscript box, 1 audiocassette box
(0.8 linear feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Oral history interview transcripts and recordings of former students and teachers at Polytechnic High School in San Francisco,
together with a few videocassettes, research notes, and ephemera about the school, collected by Dolores M. Robinson, historian
for the Poly Alumni Assocation.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in
English.
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
[Identification of item], Poly Alumni Association Records (SFH 377), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Received as a gift in two accessions in 1996 and 1998. Accession numbers 1996-21 and 1998-68.
Polytechnic High School yearbooks, along with three issues of the student newspaper,
The Polytechnic for 1917-1918, have been transferred to the San Francisco History Stacks. A printed program for the annual football game
between Polytechnic and Lowell in 1927 has been transferred to the San Francisco Ephemera Collection.
Related Archival Collections at Sah Francisco History Center
Additional Polytechnic High School archival materials may be found in the Ray Monteroso Polytechnic High School Football Collection
(SFH 376) and the San Francisco Ephemera Collection.
Polytechnic High School was one of the first high schools in San Francisco when it was started in the 1890s as Commercial
High School. Its emphasis was on the mechanical arts, engineering, and science. The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed the
1905 plans for a new school building on land purchased by the City at Frederick and Arguello in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood.
A few years after the earthquake, a bond measure was passed to build the school; classes were held in earthquake shacks as
the new buildings were under construction.
The final graduating class of Polytechnic High School was in 1972, and the school was shut down in 1977 after failing earthquake
safety standards. Ten years later, on Nov. 7, 1987, the Poly Alumni Association hosted an all-class reunion party at Kezar
Pavilion, right before the school's demolition. Dolores M. Robinson (Class of 1947) served as the Association's historian.
Oral history interview transcripts and recordings of former students and teachers at Polytechnic High School, together with
a few videocassettes, research notes, and ephemera about the school, collected by Dolores M. Robinson, historian for the Poly
Alumni Assocation. The collection represents a range of personal experiences across graduating classes, in the historical
context of San Francisco. It also reflects the school's cohesive community, which remained even after its closure.
The collection is organized in three series: Series 1: Oral history interviews; Series 2: Research notes and ephemera; and
Series 3: Videotapes.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Polytechnic High School (San Francisco, Calif.).
Class reunions--California--San Francisco
High schools--California--San Francisco
Oral histories
San Francisco (Calif.)--History--20th century