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George Pepperdine College Records
0087
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Pepperdine University. Special Collections and University Archives.
Title: George Pepperdine College Records
Identifier/Call Number: 0087
Physical Description:
11.76 Linear Feet
(12 Hollinger boxes, 1 double VHS box holding a scrapbook (9"), 3 large scrapbook boxes (15" each), and 2 oversize photographs)
Date (inclusive): 1937-1970s
Abstract: The collection contains materials produced by and related to George Pepperdine College. Items in the collection include school
records; recruitment material; memorabilia; publicity and newspaper clippings; programs; college history; photographs of educational
departments, university events, and student life; scrapbooks; and other printed materials. Materials in the collection range
from 1937 to the early 1970s.
Advance notice required for access.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
[Box/folder# or item name], George Pepperdine College Records, Collection no. 0087, Special Collections and University Archives,
University Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were gathered from University Archives files.
George Pepperdine College was founded by George Pepperdine, a businessman from Kansas who founded the Western Auto Supply
Company. He made his fortune in the auto supply business and moved to Los Angeles in 1916. Mr. Pepperdine was approached
in 1937 by a friend, Hugh Tiner (a fellow member of the Churches of Christ and supervisor of Los Angeles County high schools),
asking for help starting a Christian college on the west coast. George Pepperdine and Hugh Tiner met with Dr. Batsell Baxter
(former president of Abilene Christian University and David Lipscomb College) in February 1937, and decided to create a four-year
liberal arts college with teachings based in the Christian faith.
They decided on a property in Los Angeles on 79th Street and Vermont Avenue, and George Pepperdine College opened on September
21, 1937 (the date is commemorated annually as Founder’s Day) after only seven months of construction. Approximately 2,000
people came to the school’s opening, with the California governor and Los Angeles Mayor speaking, in addition to Mr. Pepperdine
and Dr. Baxter (the college’s first president).
The campus was formerly a 34-acre estate, with the main home being turned into the President’s House. Two dormitories, an
administration, and a dining hall were the first four buildings built. The school adopted the colors blue and orange and
the nickname "Waves" was suggested by Dr. Baxter. The school newspaper,
The Graphic, also began in 1937 (its name incorporating the initials GPC for George Pepperdine College).
The first commencement graduated four students. Dr. Baxter only stayed as Pepperdine’s president for two years, until June,
1939, when Hugh Tiner took over as President. By 1944, the first graduate degree was being offered (a MA in Religion). After
World War II, many returning soldiers enrolled at Pepperdine. The number of students increased to 1,830 students in 1949.
President Tiner resigned in 1957 and was replaced in July by M. Norvel Young, a former Pepperdine professor and well-known
Churches of Christ pastor, previously at Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas.
Enrollment increased from approximately 1,000 students in 1957 to approximately 1,500 students in 1966. Extension programs
for distance education opened around the country and on military bases around the world, starting in 1958. By 1963, the Year-in-Europe
program was established to give students the opportunity to study abroad in Heidelberg, Germany. (Other locations in other
countries were added later.)
By 1968, the administration began looking to expand Pepperdine beyond its Los Angeles campus and selected a site in Malibu
donated by the Adamson family. William S. Banowsky became the next president in 1971. January 1, 1971, was when Pepperdine
officially became a university. In the fall of 1972, the Malibu campus was opened to students. Other programs off campus
were added, such as the School of Law, School of Continuing Education, the Graduate School, and others.
Enrollment declined and programs were dropped on the Los Angeles campus after the Malibu campus opened. Eventually, the Los
Angeles college of letters, arts, and sciences (reorganized as the School of Professional Studies) was closed down after the
1980-1981 school year. The Los Angeles Campus was sold in part for housing development, but most of the property is used by
the Crenshaw Christian Center church.
Historical information taken from information gathered from the University Archives as well as from the Pepperdine History
page (http://www.pepperdine.edu/about/pepperdine/history/).
The collection contains materials produced by and related to George Pepperdine College, before Pepperdine became a university.
Items in the collection include school records (such as grade books for a range of classes from the late 1930s; a physical
plant survey of campus buildings with construction information and photographs; registrar schedules for a range of classes;
a manual of standard procedures; policy and organization manuals;
The Graphic statement of ownership; work study application forms; and a ten year building plan from 1960-1970); recruitment material
(such as a copy of
Speech Activities magazine advertising courses at Pepperdine; and materials for a range of academic programs, such as brochures, flyers and
applicant instructions); publicity and newspaper clippings (about campus events, individuals, and issues including the Larry
Kimmons shooting case); chapel bulletins from 1959 to 1961; college historical information (including the chain of title of
the Pepperdine land, a history of buildings on campus, and other papers); committee meeting minutes (for the GPC Departmental
Council, Curriculum Committee, and Scholarship and Academic Life Committee); and other printed materials.
Other items include memorabilia (including decals and stickers); photographs (of subjects such as coaching clinics, gifts,
educational departments, debates, conferences, the Delores statue, Normandy Village, registrar, religious life, musical groups,
campus life, building constructions, campus buildings, and the intersection of 79th and Vermont at 5-year intervals between
1920 and 1940); VHS and DVD copies of the film
21 Years (an advertising film describing Pepperdine's history after 21 years of being open); and six scrapbooks (on general college
topics as well as specific departments including the music department, and one commemorative scrapbook showing Mercury cars
around Pepperdine). Materials in the collection range from approximately 1937 to the early 1970s.
The collection is organized in the following series: Series 1. Printed Materials; Series 2. Photographs; Series 3. Film --
21 Years; and Series 4. Scrapbooks.
The collection was arranged and described by Jamie Henricks and Lindsey Gant in March, 2013. It was updated by Kelsey Knox
in June, 2015.
Earl Vivon Pullias Papers, Collection no. 0009, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine
University.
George Pepperdine Family Papers, Collection no. 0026, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine
University.
Howard A. White Papers, Collection no. 0010, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine
University.
Hugh Marvin Tiner Papers, Collection no. 0101, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine
University.
James L. Lovell Papers, Collection no. 0011, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine
University.
M. Norvel and Helen Young Papers, Collection no. 0014, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries,
Pepperdine University.
Pepperdine University Annual Reports, Collection no. 0071, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries,
Pepperdine University.
Pepperdine University Archives Publications, Collection no. 0064, Special Collections and University Archives, University
Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Pepperdine University School of Professional Studies Records, Collection no. 0092, Special Collections and University Archives,
University Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Pepperdine University Student Life Collection, Collection no. 0079, Special Collections and University Archives, University
Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Memorabilia
Memorandums
Fliers (Printed matter)
Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History
Universities and colleges -- California -- History
Photographs
Programs
Brochures
Clippings
Advertisements
Articles
Scrapbooks
Pepperdine College