Palos Verdes College Collection, 1947-1955

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Summary

Abstract:
Collection of scrapbooks, photographs and administrative records of the Palos Verdes College.
Extent:
3.3 Cubic Feet 3 letter document boxes, 3 oversize flat storage boxes, 1 oversize folder.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Name of item], Palos Verdes College Collection (Collection 006). Local History Center, Peninsula Center Library, Palos Verdes Library District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

Includes photographs, scrapbooks, student handbooks and yearbooks, college bulletins, announcements and promotional material, programming files, correspondence and meeting notes. Two drawings by Gene Shrewsbury for Welton Beckett and Associates for the proposed permanent campus are also included.

Biographical / historical:

Palos Verdes College was a private, two-year, co-ed, liberal arts college, located off of Crest Road in the Rolling Hills area of Rancho Palos Verdes. It opened in September 1947 under the direction of founding president, Dr. Richard P. Saunders, who came to Palos Verdes from New York University. The site of the school was a former Army Air Force base, composed of barrack-like buildings. The site was temporary pending the construction of a large permanent campus on a nearby parcel of land.

The campus consisted of two women’s dormitories, a men’s dormitory, a classroom and recreation building, a kitchen and dining room building, a library, an office building, and cottages for the president and a faculty family. The buildings were grouped, moved, and altered under the supervision of Los Angeles architect Harwell Hamilton Harris. Landscaping was planned by Hammond Sadler, noted landscape designer and member of the Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects firm, which was part of the original Palos Verdes Project team.

The Korean War (1950-1953) had a major effect on the College. Enrollment dropped from 111 to 55. Both staff and students were called to serve, causing a major financial drain on usable funds.

Faced with the possibility of closure in June 1951, administration and trustees developed measures to reduce expenses and keep the College relevant and sound. The measures included limiting enrollment and revamping the curriculum to provide a single 2-year liberal arts program which all students would take, as well as a travel-study program for the whole student body each semester using leaders of government, industry and cultural institutions from sites visited as adjunct faculty. President John Howard agreed to work for a salary of $1.00 a year and some teachers volunteered to work without pay until the College regained solvency.

In October 1953, Frank Vanderlip, Jr. deeded fifty-five acres of land, a gift from the Palos Verdes Corporation, to be developed as the College’s permanent home. Welton Beckett and Associates were commissioned to proceed with architectural drawings for a campus to serve an enrollment of 400 students.

In the spring of 1954, an announcement was made that a full 4-year program would begin in the fall, and seven new instructors were hired. The College was becoming a community center for the Peninsula as well, hosting a cooperative nursery school, a Cub Scout troop, and the Rolling Hills Community Chest.

However, by the summer of 1955, all fund raising efforts to raise the $150,000 needed to pay debts and finance another school year had failed. On August 15, President John Howard announced the closing of the College.

In September 1955, the site was leased by the school district. The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District eventually purchased the property for one of its school sites.

Processing information:

Initial rehousing of materials by Local History Center volunteers Jeremy Berry-Cahn and Donna Chian. Historical research by volunteer Marjeanne Blinn. Final arrangement and description by Monique Sugimoto, November 2016.

Arrangement:

Arranged into three series: 1. Photographs, 1945-1955, arranged by topic thereunder numerically; 2. Scrapbooks, 1946-1955, arranged chronologically; and 3. Administrative Records, 1947-1955, arranged alphabetically by topic.

Physical location:
Local History Center
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the Local History Center for access information.

Terms of access:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred citation:

[Name of item], Palos Verdes College Collection (Collection 006). Local History Center, Peninsula Center Library, Palos Verdes Library District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA.

Location of this collection:
701 Silver Spur Road
Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274, US
Contact:
(310) 377-9584
Website