Description
Papers primarily
represent Sterling's years as President of Stanford University and include correspondence,
memoranda, proposals, speeches, minutes, reports, budgets, clippings, and legal
papers.
Background
J.E. Wallace Sterling, president of Stanford University from 1949-1968, earned his A.B. in
history at the University of Toronto in 1927; he taught at the University of Alberta while
pursuing graduate work there from 1928-1930. He came to Stanford in 1930 to pursue his
doctorate, which he received in 1938. While at Stanford, he was also a research assistant in
the Hoover Library and taught in the History Department. From 1938 to 1948 Sterling taught
at the California Institute of Technology, where he was elected chairman of the faculty in
1944. He had been Director of the Huntington Library and Art Gallery for five months when he
accepted the presidency of Stanford University. During Sterling's 19 years as president,
Stanford's endowment nearly doubled, the faculty increased by 170 percent, graduate programs
were improved, major building plans were completed, the Medical School was moved to campus
from San Francisco, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center was built. After his
retirement in 1968, Sterling was named University Chancellor. He died on July 1, 1985.
Extent
300.25 Linear Feet
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Availability
Materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original
format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.