Collection Guide
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San José State University Library Records
MSS-2009-03-03
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: San José State University Library Records
Identifier/Call Number: MSS-2009-03-03
Physical Description:
61 boxes
(71.92 linear feet)
Date (bulk): 1962-1999
Date (inclusive): 1880-2022
Abstract: The San José State University Library Records (1880-2022) document the administrative and operational functions of the university
library. The records consist of reports, blueprints, architectural drawings, and administrative files such as meeting minutes.
Also included is student census data and blueprints of the university library as well as library publications and library
faculty publications.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright is assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the 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.
San José State University Library Records, MSS-2009-03-03, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Collection processed and finding aid EAD encoded by Robert Donahue. Reviewed by Danelle Moon and Erin Louthen. In March 2016,
Series III was added to the collection by Grace Song, and further accruals to that series were included by Natalie Sanchez.
Series IV was added in November 2017 by Dana V. Lema. Accruals were added to Series IV and Series I, Box 54, and Finding Aid
was revised by Christine Thuy Minh Nguyen in December 2022.
This finding aid was created as part of the Survey and Cataloging Project, a two-year San José State University Library grant
project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project began in 2008. The Project Director
was Danelle Moon. The Project Archivist was Erin Louthen.
In 1857 the San Francisco Board of Education established Minns' Evening Normal School for current and prospective teachers
in the city. Named after its principal, George W. Minns, the institution was formally established as the first California
State Normal School by the State Legislature in 1862. A decade later, the Legislature voted to move the Normal School to San
José, and the school relocated to its new home on Washington Square prior to the fall term of 1872. After a fire destroyed
the Normal School building in 1880, the Legislature authorized $200,000 to construct a new building on the same site. Completed
in 1881, the building was commonly referred to as the Second State Normal School. After several names and curriculum changes,
Minns' Normal school is now San José State University, offering more than 134 bachelor's and master's degrees with 110 concentrations,
and is recognized as one of the top public universities granting such degrees in the West.
The San José State University Library can trace its origins to the early days of the California State Normal School, which
provided funding to purchase books and other materials for a campus library in the 1860s. The first California State Normal
School building in San José was completed in 1872, with a new library located on the first floor. The building was destroyed
by fire in 1880, but most of the library's 2,000 volumes were saved. Further expansion of the college library occurred in
1942 with the construction of a Library Annex in 1956, which extended northward toward the old public 1901 Carnegie Library
(corner of Fourth and San Fernando Streets). The Carnegie building had ceased being a public library in 1936, and was sold
to the college for use as a Student Union. In 1961, the Carnegie Library was destroyed to make room for Library North, a new
building later to be named Wahlquist.
In the 1970s many San José State campus buildings were deemed unsafe and were destroyed, including the 1910 library. The Robert
D. Clark Library, completed in 1982, became the home to new acquisitions, while older materials remained in the John T. Wahlquist
library building. In the early 1990s, SJSU President Robert L. Caret and San José mayor Susan Hammer began negotiations to
build a joint university and city library. In 2000, the Wahlquist Library was destroyed to make space for the construction
of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on October 20, 2000 and the library opened
on August 1, 2003.
The San José State University Library Records (1880-2022) document the administrative and operational functions of the university
library. The records consist of reports, blueprints, architectural drawings, and administrative files such as meeting minutes.
Also included is student census data and blueprints of the university library as well as library publications. The bulk of
the records document the library from 1962 to 1999, but there are historically significant materials from earlier incarnations
of the library, such as accession records dating back to the late 1800s. Artifacts that were used in the library, such as
property stamps, Special Collections stamps, and more, are included. Also included is memorabilia documenting library staff
events dating from 1949-1953. Additionally, publications such as the Academic Gateway and the Library News dating from 2007-2022
are included, as well as faculty publications from 2006 by Paul Kauppila.
This collection is arranged into five series: Series I. Administrative Files, 1880-2002; Series II. Blueprints and Architectural
Drawings, 1916-1973; Series III. Artifacts and Memorabilia, circa 1949-2002; Series IV. Publications, 2007-2022; and Series
V. Library Faculty Publications, 2006.
San José State University and the San José Public Library System Joint Library Project Records, MSS-2009-08-05
University Archives Collection
Record Group: 6.7.1
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San José State University -- History
San José State Teachers College -- History
San José State University -- Library
San Jose State Normal School -- History
San José State University -- Library -- History
San Jose State College -- History