Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Access Points
Biography
Scope and Content
Descriptive Summary
Title: Routt Tokay High School Local History Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1989-1995
Collection number: Mss287
Creator:
Steve Routt
Extent: 33.5 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Routt Tokay High School Local History Collection, Mss287,
Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Access Points
personal name
Routt,, Steve
coporate name
Tokay High School (Lodi, Calif.)
subject
San Joaquin County (Calif.) -History -Sources
Lodi (Calif.) -History -Sources
Stockton (Calif.) -History -Sources
Women -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Asian Americans -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Businessmen -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Historians -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Police -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Physicians -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Farmers -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Clergy -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Educators -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Fire fighters -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Mexican Americans -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
African Americans -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Muslims -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Amador County (Calif.) -History -Sources
Vintners -California -San Joaquin County -Interviews
Biography
Steve Routt (b. 1943) has taught English at Tokay High School (Lodi, California) since
1982. Routt, a fourth generation Californian with a considerable interest in the history
of his native state, holds a Master of Arts in Education from California State
University, Chico. In about 1987 someone gave Mr. Routt a copy of Eliot Wigginton's
Sometimes a Shining Moment: The Foxfire Experience (1972). This book, which chronicles
Georgia English teacher Wigginton's efforts to involve his students in writing by
interviewing locals and chronicling the life and history of their region, inspired Steve
Routt to create an Oral History Project at Tokay High School.
The Tokay High School English curriculum requires that sophomores be exposed to some sort
of research project. Steve Routt found that students liked exposure to "real people" and
enjoyed doing work that wasn't classroom oriented. Routt's plan was to assist the
students to realize the role of history in their lives through the wealth of information
they could garner by means of personal interviews with those who had "been there."
Initially the Oral History Project focused on government and on general topics like the
Vietnam War. Subsequently, these were displaced by San Joaquin County topics with a past
history of at least fifty years. Since spring 1993, each semester's best papers have been
published in The Grape Press, the Oral History Project's own local history magazine.
Students have a semester to interview at least one person, transcribe the interview and
write a ten page paper based on the transcript. Each completed project contains
photographs, the written report, the interview tape and transcript. All students find the
project challenging, and, although they are neither accomplished writers nor
sophisticated research scholars, they make a substantial contribution to future San
Joaquin County history research through their record of the comments and observations of
individuals who have spent considerable time in the County. It is Routt's hope that
future generations will have a better understanding of the twentieth century through the
work of his student researchers and that the students themselves will come to realize
that the work they have done will be valued long after they are gone.
Scope and Content
The Routt Collection contains local histories by Tokay High School (Lodi, Calif.)
students together with audio tapes of interviews with source persons which formed part of
the basis for the student papers (1989-1995). Subject matter ranges from general topics
like "juvenile delinquency" to very specific ones such as "The Lodi Muslim Mosque." The
bulk of the essays and interview tapes focus on San Joaquin County where Tokay High
School is located.