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Gordon Greb Papers
MSS-2014-09-27
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: Gordon Greb Papers
creator:
Greb, Gordon B.
Identifier/Call Number: MSS-2014-09-27
Physical Description:
11 boxes
(12.2 linear feet)
Date (inclusive): 1959-2010
Physical Description: Good
Abstract: The Gordon Greb papers contain documentation related to the world’s first radio broadcasting station, the 1969 strike by
faculty at San Jose State College, and the creation of San Jose State's Mass Communications program.
The Gordon Greb Papers contain records related to three central activities in Greb’s professional life: the identification,
documentation and establishment of the world’s first radio broadcasting station in San Jose, California in 1909; the documentation
of the 1969 strike by faculty at San Jose State College; and the creation of San Jose State's Mass Communications program.
The collection is divided into four series: Series I. 1969 American Federation of Teachers Strike at San Jose State College;
Series II. First Radio Broadcasting Station Claim; Series III. Publications authored by Greb; and Series IV. Broadcast Journalism
at San Jose State.
The first series contains documents issued by both the AFT and SJSC related to the faculty strike that took place in early
1969 on the campuses of San Francisco and San Jose State Colleges. Official statements, minutes from meetings, newsletters
and other types of documentation authored by AFT and circulated among its members are included in this series. Documents from
SJSC include letters from the then-President of SJSC, members of the public, and members of the Board of Trustees; and papers
and newsletters issued by student organizations. Also included in this series are news recordings of the strikes, some of
which were recorded by the Journalism department on the SJSC campus.
Materials related to Greb’s claim that Charles Herrold established the world’s first radio broadcasting station in San Jose,
California in 1909 consist primarily of the recordings of interviews with individuals who worked at the station, including
Herrold's wife Sybil True and Herrold’s student assistant, Ray Newby. Herrold’s station began regularly broadcasting content
such as music and news reports to San Jose residents in 1909 and continued through 1934. New owners moved the station to San
Francisco that year, where it eventually received new call letters in 1949, and is still on the air today as San Francisco’s
KCBS. Greb presented his claim in 1959 when he published the
Golden anniversary of broadcasting in the winter 1959 edition of the Journal of Broadcasting. A week-long celebration of that anniversary took place in April
1959 in San Jose, primarily at San Jose State College, much of which is documented in this collection. Other materials related
to Greb’s research and defense of his claim include newspaper clippings, journal articles, and talks presented by Greb.
The third series consists of copies of Greb’s publications: the book that resulted from his research into the first radio
broadcasting station,
Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting; and his memoir, entitled
Google Brain: Making your memoir a "time machine" on the Internet.
The fourth series consists of materials related to the creation and implementation of San Jose State's graduate program in
Mass Communications, including photos and audio recordings.
The Gordon Greb Papers is arranged in four series: Series I: 1969 American Federation of Teachers Strike at San Jose State
College; Series II: First Radio Broadcasting Station Claim; Series III: Publications Authored by Greb; and Series IV. Broadcast
Journalism at San Jose State.
Series I is organized by the type of document or material represented in the collection: papers issued by the parties involved
in the strike, newspaper clippings and recordings. Series II is also organized by type of material or document represented
in the collection: oral histories and interviews, the 50th anniversary celebration of radio broadcasting, media coverage and
talks, and awards and recognitions conveyed on Greb by various organizations. Series III is arranged chronologically by date
of publication. Series IV is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Gordon B. Greb was born August 7, 1921 a fourth generation Californian from Irvington (Alameda County) California, and grew
up in Oakland and San Leandro. Upon completing a BA at University California at Berkeley in the spring of 1939, Greb attained
a Masters from University of Minnesota and then conducted graduate work at Stanford University. Gordon Greb began his tenure
at San Jose State University in 1956 in the Journalism Department, and helped to create the first Broadcasting major on the
West Coast.
On February 15, 1959, Greb published an article in the Journal of Broadcasting, Winter Issue of 1959, arguing that San Jose,
California was the birthplace of radio broadcasting. Providing documentation and first-hand interviews, Greb helped to prove
that the first broadcaster was a Stanford University drop out named Charles David "Doc" Herrold. Beginning in 1909, Herrold
transmitted regularly scheduled programs from his school of College of Engineering and Wireless Technology in the Garden City
Bank building located in downtown San Jose. This experimentation predated the previous historical claim that radio broadcasting
began in New York City in 1922 by thirteen years. Soon after the article's publication, Greb coordinated a celebratory event
with local Sigma Delta Chi Broadcasting Society in San Jose from March 28 to April 3, 1959 to commemorate the golden anniversary
of radio broadcasting.
Between 1968 and 1970, Gordon Greb participated in a teacher’s strike at San Jose State. He handled press relations for local
union teacher leader Al Rutherford, and state leader John Sterling of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT local 1362)
during a 37 day strike lasting between 1968 and 1969 at San Jose State College. The strike was initially opposed by Governor
Ronald Reagan, but ultimately led to legislation that granted collective bargaining rights to teachers.
Greb was a professor of Journalism from 1956 to 1991, in all media platforms, and established broadcast journalism as a new
program at SJSU in 1957, which became California’s first BA offered in that discipline. Among the books he has authored are
Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Broadcasting with Mike Adams, 2003, and
Google Brain: Making Your Memoir a “Time Machine” on the Internet, 2009.
Dwight Bentel Papers, MSS 2004-04-02
San José State University ITV Studio Records, MSS-2018-06-29
Gordon Greb Papers, MSS-2014-09-27, San Jose State University Library, Special Collections & Archives.
Copyright has been assigned to the San Jose State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the San Jose State University Library Special Collections and Archives as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
This collection is open for research with the exception of recorded interviews in Series II.
Included in the collection were a number of books, which were separated from the papers, cataloged, and added to the King
Library's Special Collections book collection.
Lescarboura, Austin C.
Radio for Everybody. New York: Scientific American Publishing Company, 1922.
Shurick, E.P.J.
The First Quarter Century of American Broadcasting. Kansas City: Midland Publishing Company, 1946.
Barnouw, Erik.
A Tower in Babel: A History of Broadcasting in the United States Volume I - to 1933. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
Greb, Gordon.
Google Brain: Making Your Memoir a
Time Machine on the Internet.
New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2009.
Greb, Gordon, and Mike Adams.
Charles Herrold, Inventor of Radio Braodcasting. Jefferson, North Caroline: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2003.
Collection processed by Victor Rodriguez II, December 2015. Accruals processed by Kate Steffens in December 2018. Accruals
processed by Fiona DuBrock in June 2019.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San José State University -- Journalism Department -- History
Herrold, Charles
Radio broadcasting
American Federation of Teachers
Strikes and lockouts -- Universities and colleges -- San Jose (Calif.)
Newby, Ray
Greb, Gordon B.