Dorothy Kaucher Publications Collection MSS-201-05-27
Fiona DuBrock
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
February 2020
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
special.collections@sjsu.edu
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
Box 1, Folder 1
Speed Magazine
1931 November
Box 1, Folder 2
The Sportsman Pilot
1932 May
Box 1, Folder 4
The Missouri Alumnus
1932 September
Box 1, Folder 5
Speed Magazine
1932 November, December
Box 1, Folder 6
Speed Magazine
1933 January
Box 1, Folder 7
Speed Magazine
1933 February, May
Box 1, Folder 8
Speed Magazine
1933 June, September/October
Box 1, Folder 9
Airlanes Magazine
1936 September
Box 1, Folder 10
Pan American Air Ways, Volume 8, No. 5
1937 May
Box 1, Folder 11
Philippines Tribune and Philippines Herald (newspapers)
1937, August 17 and 18
Box 1, Folder 12
Brochure re: First Pan Am Clipper Flight from San Francisco to New Zealand
1937
Box 1, Folder 13
The Instructor
1938 January
Box 1, Folder 14
Brazilian American
1938 October 22
Box 1, Folder 16
Aviation Magazine
1939 March
Box 1, Folder 18
Pan Am Passenger List, New York to Marseilles
1939 July 19
Box 1, Folder 19
Airlanes Magazine
1939 July
Box 1, Folder 20
The Irish Press (newspaper)
1939 August 7
Box 1, Folder 21
Airlanes Magazine
1939 December
Box 1, Folder 22
Airlanes Magazine
1940 February, April
Box 1, Folder 23
Airlanes Magazine
1940 June, July
Box 1, Folder 24
TWA Aviation Writers Honorable Mention (plaque)
1939
Box 1, Folder 25
Airlanes Magazine
1940 August, December
Box 1, Folder 26
Wings Over Wake (book; two signed copies)
1947
Box 1, Folder 27
Wings Over Wake (book)
1947
Box 1, Folder 28
Airlanes Magazine
1941 April, June
Box 1, Folder 29
The Matrix
1942 February, March
Box 1, Folder 30
Brochure for the 10th Anniversary of Pan Am's First Transocean Air Service
1945
Box 1, Folder 31
Airlanes Magazine
1946 March
Box 1, Folder 32
Airlanes Magazine
1946 June, October
Box 1, Folder 33
Airlanes Magazine
1949 January
Box 1, Folder 34
Airlanes Magazine
1949 April, June, October
Box 1, Folder 35
Airlanes Magazine
1957 October
Box 1, Folder 36
Airlanes Magazine
1964 July/August
Box 1, Folder 37
Dorothy Kaucher letter to SJSC librarian
1966 May 30
Box 1, Folder 38
Pan Am Transpacific Brochure
undated
