Series 1
Oral history interviews,
1970-1991
(bulk 1987-1990)
Physical Description:
1 box (16 audiocassettes), 2 folders
Scope and Contents
Oral history interviews of former students and teachers who attended or taught at Polytechnic High school from the 1910s through
1950, most of which were conducted and transcribed by Dolores M. Robinson, historian for the Poly Alumni Association. Interviews
were recorded on audiocassette tapes, transcribed, and filed with copyright and legal release forms. A typical interview lasts
15-30 minutes.
Topics of discussion include: classes and coursework, classroom locations and buildings; social, extracurricular, and sports
activities; local, national and world events; and memories and impressions of fellow students and faculty. Prohibition, the
Depression, boyhood heroes, the groundbreaking for Kezar Stadium, the Panama-Pacific International and Golden Gate International
Expositions, the World Wars, and the Korean War are all touched upon.
Two interviews that were submitted by mail (Alice Marble and Howard Brodie), and two interviews that were conducted and submitted
by interviewee Sally Bush (Leland Stanford Prior and Arthur Jordan), do not include audio. The transcription of Sally Bush's
oral history is partial. Three interviews (Stanford Lee Prior, Arthur Jordan and Sgt. Joseph Giblin) do not have accompanying
legal release forms.
Box 2, Cassette 1, Box 1, Folder 1
John Conlon (student 1913),
May 9, 1988
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 2
John Bernhard (Class of 1918),
Dec. 5, 1988
Box 2, Cassette 3, Box 1, Folder 1
Ralph N. Pollack (Class of 1918),
March 16, 1988
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 4
Albert Clark (Class of 1923),
Nov. 30, 1987
Box 2, Cassette 5, Box 1, Folder 1
Estelle Tourtouret (Class of 1925),
July 4, 1988
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 6
David F. Woerner (Class of 1927),
Mar. 9, 1988
Box 2, Cassette 7, Box 1, Folder 1
Eleanor Jack Cotton (Class of 1928),
Dec. 9, 1989
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 8
Paul O'Rourke (Class of 1928),
June 20, 1988
Box 1, Folder 1
Leland Stanford Prior (Class of 1929),
Apr. 12, 1972
Box 1, Folder 1
Alice Marble (Class of 1931),
[1989]
Box 1, Folder 1
Howard Brodie (Class of 1932),
Aug. 1, 1991
Box 2, Cassette 9, Box 1, Folder 1
Jimmy Price (Class of 1948),
Dec. 9, 1987
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 10
Jim Cornwell (Class of 1953),
Mar. 5, 1990
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 11
Frank Buscaino (Class of 1953),
Jan. 20, 1988
Box 2, Cassette 12, Box 1, Folder 1
Paul S. Hungerford (Coach, 1927-),
Nov. 11, 1987
Box 1, Folder 1
Arthur Jordan (Head of the science department),
Nov. 6, 1970
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 13
Delbert E. Schneider (Music and English teacher, 1935-[1971]),
Feb. 9, 1988
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 14-15
Sgt. Joseph Giblin (ROTC teacher, 1924-1949), J. R. Addicott (Class of 1931, son of Principal Addicott), and Bill Refausse
(Class of 1926),
Apr. 22, 1989
General note
Group interview.
Box 2, Cassette 16
Polly Hatch Moseby (History teacher, 1927-1947),
Nov. 18, 1987
Box 1, Folder 1, Box 2, Cassette 2
Sally Bush,
Nov. 17, 1988
Box 1, Folder 2
Legal release forms,
1988-1991
Box 1, Folder 3
Series 2
Research notes and ephemera
1987-1989
Physical Description:
1 folder
Scope and Contents
Photocopies of newspaper clippings, articles, ephemera, a chronology, and other materials about the history of Polytechnic
High School, its first Principal Walter N. Bush, and the Final Farewell party held at Kezar Pavilion on Nov. 7, 1987. Some
of the material may have been compiled by Robinson in preparation for her book called "Polytechnic High School: The Glory
and the Shell," whose typescript title page is included in the file. Also includes some items contributed by Sarah L. Bush
that were submitted with Sally Bush's oral history.
Series 3
Videotapes,
1987-1990
Physical Description:
3 VHS cassettes
Scope and Contents
Three non-commercial videocassette recordings of Polytechnic High School reunions. Two cover the Farewell party held at Kezar
Pavilion, when the school building was about to be demolished; the other documents the Class of 1953-1954 35th reunion in
1989.
One of the Farewell Party tapes was donated by former student and San Francisco 49er Pete Brown. That tape also includes additional
footage of a farewell party to the old Kezar Stadium, before it was demolished and rebuilt; as well as footage of "Touring
Taverns on 49er Sunday." The other tape contains footage that matches a flier in the collection that advertises a Poly Hi
video by Alumni member and oral history interviewee Frank Buscaino; it also includes footage of a dance party and a Channel
7 news story
Box 1, Folder 4, VHS_tape 1
Poly High "Farewell" Party, Kezar Pavilion
Nov. 7, 1987
Material Specific Details note: Running time approximately 2 hours.
Box 1, Folder 4, VHS_tape 2
Pete Brown tape of "Poly High Farewell Party, Kezar Farewell, Touring Taverns on 49er Sunday,"
Nov. 7, 1987
Box 1, Folder 5, VHS_tape 3
Poly Hi 35th Reunion (Class of 1953-1954),
Sept. 1989
