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Wheeler (Dorothy Deming) scrapbooks
MS.246
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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Dorothy Deming Wheeler scrapbooks
Creator:
Wheeler, Dorothy Deming, 1896-1975
Identifier/Call Number: MS.246
Physical Description:
9 Linear Feet
9 flat boxes
Date (inclusive): circa 1919-1964
Abstract: This collection includes scrapbooks,
horse lineage charts, and ephemera relating to Dorothy Deming Wheeler's activities as
women's polo champion, horse breeder, and promoter for the sport of polo in Santa Cruz. Much
of the material covers Pogonip Polo Club, Santa Cruz, Wheeler's "Windy Hill Farm" and Santa
Cruz County polo activities. Also included are two albums of photographs of the Wheeler's
early married life in Alaska as a sled dog breeder and racer in one of the precursors to the
Iditarod race.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. E. Forbes Wilson [Dorothy Deming Wheeler]
Dorothy S. Deming was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1896 to Henry Seth and Josephine N.
Deming. She married her cousin, Deming Wheeler, at her family's Cliff Street home in Santa
Cruz on August 28, 1916.
Deming Wheeler was born in Brattleboro, Vermont on August 22, 1876 and died on March 31,
1946 in Santa Cruz, CA. He was well known in the field of sports and considered an authority
on blooded horses, especially polo ponies. He wrote a number of articles on the subject of
breeding and raising fine horse stock and was invited to become a member of the Jockey Club
of New York because of his knowledge. He was also a big game hunter and explorer.
For the first three winters of their married life, Dorothy and Deming lived in a one room
cabin in Alaska hunting, breeding and training Alaskan huskies (sled dogs). There Dorothy
learned to race dog teams cross country and win. She drove a dog sled from Fairbanks to Nome
and back, a 1000 mile journey in an Alaskan winter of 50 degrees below zero.
Dorothy and Deming came back to Santa Cruz where they purchased land and built Windy Hill
Farm located at the top of Spring Street in Santa Cruz. They stocked the farm with various
kinds of livestock and bred and trained fine polo ponies. They also promoted the sport of
polo and participated in the establishment of the Santa Cruz Pogonip Polo Club.
They kept Pogonip's prices low and extended the sport to women and children. Dorothy
promoted her coed polo matches, which were controversial elsewhere. When the men's National
Polo Association rejected a women's association, Dorothy established the first co-ed United
States Polo Association, serving as its president for many years. She led the women's polo
team to the Pacific Coast Circuit Championships several years in a row. The club closed
during World War II, and Pogonip was used to train a women's mounted corps for the Red
Cross. Wheeler gave riding therapy to patients in the naval hospital that took over the Casa
del Rey.
After Deming Wheeler died in 1946, Dorothy married attorney, E. Forbes Wilson. The Pogonip
Club reopened in 1948, but its equestrian days were over. Bicycle polo took its place, while
the club expanded its social activities to include tennis, skeet, bridge, dances, weddings,
and fashion shows.
Dorothy Deming Wheeler Wilson died in Santa Cruz on March 22, 1975.
Dorothy Deming Wheeler scrapbooks. MS 246. Special Collections and Archives, University
Library, University of California, Santa Cruz
This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project in 2021-2022.
Previous versions of this finding aid are available upon request.
Pogonip Polo Club, GV1011.6.C3P64 1951 Pogonip: jewel of Santa Cruz, by Joan Gilbert Martin
& Collen McInerney-Meagher, Otter B. Books, c.2007
This collection includes photo albums of the Wheeler's early married life in Alaska,
breeding and racing sled dogs as well as scrapbooks, horse lineage charts, and ephemera
relating to Wheeler's activities as women's polo champion, horse breeder, and promoter for
the sport of polo. The scrapbooks cover the Pogonip Polo Club in Santa Cruz, "Windy Hill
Farm" and Santa Cruz County polo activities.
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Polo players -- United States
Women polo players
Polo ponies -- Pedigrees
Pogonip (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Santa Cruz County (Calif.) -- History
Horse breeders -- California -- Archives
Alaska -- Photographs
Photographs
Wheeler, Dorothy Deming, 1896-1975