Papers primarily represent Sterling's years as President of Stanford University and include correspondence, memoranda, proposals, speeches, minutes, reports, budgets, clippings, and legal papers.

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.

300 linear feet

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Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.