The collection of the Californian historian Robert Glass Cleland; it consists of correspondence, documents, lectures, drafts, research notes, source materials and manuscripts.

Robert Glass Cleland (1885-1957) was a well-known California historian, scholar, professor, and college administrator. As a writer and scholar, he published 32 works, numerous articles, and writings in the fields of Southwestern and California history. Cleland was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky to Reverend Robert W. Cleland and Sallie Glass Cleland on February 19, 1885; he came to Southern California as a child with his family in the early 1890s where they settled on a ranch near Duarte, California. Cleland graduated from college in 1907 and obtained a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1912 with a dissertation on the history of Mexico; in the same year, he joined Occidental College as a professor of history. In the ensuing years at Occidental College he served as Dean of Men; Vice President, 1927 to 1928; Acting President; Dean of the Faculty; Trustee and Chair of the Board of Trustees; and chair of a presidential search committee. He also served as the Norman Bridge Chair of Hispanic American Relations, as well as the President of the Association of Colleges and Universities of the Pacific Southwest (later Western College Association). He was a visiting scholar at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, from February 1937 to February 1938; in 1943, he joined the Permanent Research Group at the Huntington Library. While at the Huntington, Cleland worked in the field of American History concentrating upon the history of California and the Southwest. In 1945, he was appointed as a Trustee of Princeton University and was also on the Board of Trustees for Scripps College. Cleland received honorary degrees from Occidental College in 1943 and from the College of Idaho in 1951; he died on September 3, 1957.

15 Linear Feet (37 boxes)

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.