Content Description
Biographical / Historical
Arrangement
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Processing Information
Related Materials
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: Dorothy Kaucher Publications Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MSS-2017-05-27
Physical Description:
1 Box
(1 linear foot)
Date (inclusive): 1931-1966
Abstract: The Dorothy Kaucher Publications Collection consists primarily of published materials written by Kaucher during the early
days of commercial aviation.
Content Description
The Dorothy Kaucher Publications Collection consists primarily of published materials written by Kaucher during the early
days of commercial aviation. It also includes a few mementos from air travel, and a plaque for the Aviation Writers Competition
in 1939.
Biographical / Historical
Dorothy Kaucher was born on October 27, 1892, in St. Joseph, Missouri. She obtained a bachelor's degree in English from the
University of Missouri in 1915 and began her teaching career in her home town, at Central High School. She went back to MU
as a graduate student in 1919, received a master's degree in English in 1920, and began her collegiate teaching career there
the same year. While she was teaching at MU, she earned a second bachelor's degree in journalism. Kaucher went on to pursue
her Ph.D. in English and speech from Cornell University. She graduated from Cornell in 1928, briefly taught at Wells College
in New York, and then moved to the West Coast in 1930 to teach speech and theatre arts at San José State Teacher's College.
During the 1934-1935 academic year she took a leave of absence when she was offered a visiting professor position at UC Berkeley.
She retired from San José State College in 1957.
During her time at San José State, Dr. Kaucher hosted and participated in many events outside the classroom. She was the director
of the SJSC verse choir, gave poetry readings and performed in theatrical events, and frequently gave talks on one of her
personal passions: air travel. Her love of commercial air travel, which was unusual in the 1930s, and her lively, humorous
tales from those adventures, inspired the affectionate nickname "The Flying Professor." By 1940 she had flown over 100,000
miles; many of her journeys were recounted in articles she wrote for travel magazines. Dr. Kaucher also authored several
books:
Wings Over Wake (1947),
On Your Left the Milky Way (1952),
Armchair in the Sky: Ocean Flights with Air Pioneers (1954),
What You Need Is Art, Yes? (1958),
We Go A-Travelling (1960),
James Duval Phelan: A Portrait (1965),
They Built A City (1970), and
The Suwannee (1972). She also wrote several plays, including
Bos'n, which was purchased by NBC in 1932 for radio broadcast. In 1951, Dr. Kaucher founded the Dorothy Kaucher Award for Excellence
in Oral Interpretation contest, which is still held annually on the SJSU campus.
After her retirement, Dr. Kaucher focused on painting. She and her sister, Mildred, a former research chemist, were both active
in the Santa Cruz Art League and participated in many exhibitions. The Kaucher sisters moved to Lake Wells, Florida, in the
mid-1960s, where Dr. Kaucher died in 1972.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has not been assigned to San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections & Archives. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions
also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational
purposes.
Preferred Citation
Dorothy Kaucher Publications Collection, MSS-2017-05-27, San José State University Library, Special Collections & Archives.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Fiona DuBrock, Spring 2020.
Related Materials
San José State University Faculty Papers and Publications Collection, MSS-2010-05-02, San José State University Library, Special
Collections & Archives.
Dorothy Kaucher scrapbook: articles appearing in magazine Airlanes, San José folio TL508 .K3, San José State University Library,
Special Collections & Archives.
Dorothy Kaucher scrapbook: articles on her adventures in early flying -- U.S., Canada, Brazil, Midway, Honolulu, Manila, San
José folio TL540.K32 A33x, San José State University Library, Special Collections & Archives.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Jose State College -- Faculty
San Jose State Teachers College -- Faculty
Aeronautics, Commercial -- Passenger traffic
Air travel -- History -- 20th century