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Klapp (Orrin Edgar) Papers
MS-0341  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Scope and Contents
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Source of Acquisition
  • Preferred Citation
  • Biographical Note
  • Accruals

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections & University Archives
    Title: Orrin Edgar Klapp Papers
    Creator: Klapp, Orrin Edgar
    Identifier/Call Number: MS-0341
    Physical Description: 0.21 Linear Feet
    Date (inclusive): 1942-1997
    Language of Material: English .

    Scope and Contents

    The Orrin Edgar Klapp Papers documents the sociologist's career as a professor, naval officer, and professor at San Diego State College from 1949 to 1969. The collection is comprised of information pertaining to the history of the Hydrographic Office during WWII, correspondence to and from Klapp, newspaper clippings, and a handwritten manuscript of his work, A Materialist Metaphysics. Other highlights include manuscripts from Scuttle Butte, a weekly humor magazine edited by Klapp, and the John Simon Gugenheim Fellowship Application form.

    Conditions Governing Access

    This collection is open for research.

    Conditions Governing Use

    The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine.  Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.

    Source of Acquisition

    Evelyn Klapp

    Preferred Citation

    Identification of item, folder title, box number, Orrin Edgar Klapp Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, San Diego State University Library.

    Biographical Note

    Born in 1915, Orrin Edgar Klapp was one of San Diego State College's top sociological researchers and professors. A Chicago native, Klapp received his bachelors, masters, and Doctorate from the University of Chicago in Sociology. At the outbreak of World War II, he left his doctoral program and became a Lieutenant in the US Navy. As a Lieutenant, he worked in the hydrographic office making maps for airplanes and ships.
    During his time in the service Klapp started publishing written work. He was the editor of Scuttlebutt, a humor magazine intended to be distributed throughout Klapp's fleet. The publication was discontinued after the humorous albeit irreverent material started to offend other officers.
    After his time in the military, Klapp finished his doctoral degree and began teaching Sociology at San Diego State College in 1949. In his twenty years in San Diego, he published several works exploring sociological interaction in San Diego. His first book, Ritual and Cult, was published in 1956. In 1962, he authored his best known work, Heoes, Villains, and Fools, a scholarly investigation about the changing American culture in the 1960's.
    Klapp left SDSC in 1969 to pursue another teaching career at the University of Western Ontario. He taught there for an additional 14 years and continued his sociological research during that time. After a struggle with Alzheimer's, Klapp died in 1997.

    Accruals

    2002-039

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Personal Papers
    Photographs
    Sociologists--California--San Diego--Biography--Sources
    Klapp, Orrin Edgar, 1915--Archives
    San Diego State University--Faculty--Biography--Sources