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Klapp (Orrin Edgar) Papers
MS-0341
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & University Archives
Title: Orrin Edgar Klapp Papers
Creator:
Klapp, Orrin Edgar
Identifier/Call Number: MS-0341
Physical Description:
0.21 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1942-1997
Language of Material:
English
.
The
Orrin Edgar Klapp Papers documents the sociologist's career as a professor, naval officer, and professor at San Diego State College from 1949 to 1969.
The collection is comprised of information pertaining to the history of the Hydrographic Office during WWII, correspondence
to and from Klapp, newspaper clippings, and a handwritten manuscript of his work,
A Materialist Metaphysics. Other highlights include manuscripts from
Scuttle Butte, a weekly humor magazine edited by Klapp, and the John Simon Gugenheim Fellowship Application form.
This collection is open for research.
The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with
the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections
is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Requests for permission to publish must be
submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available
for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including
but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
Evelyn Klapp
Identification of item, folder title, box number, Orrin Edgar Klapp Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, San
Diego State University Library.
Born in 1915, Orrin Edgar Klapp was one of San Diego State College's top sociological researchers and professors. A Chicago
native, Klapp received his bachelors, masters, and Doctorate from the University of Chicago in Sociology. At the outbreak
of World War II, he left his doctoral program and became a Lieutenant in the US Navy. As a Lieutenant, he worked in the hydrographic
office making maps for airplanes and ships.
During his time in the service Klapp started publishing written work. He was the editor of Scuttlebutt, a humor magazine intended
to be distributed throughout Klapp's fleet. The publication was discontinued after the humorous albeit irreverent material
started to offend other officers.
After his time in the military, Klapp finished his doctoral degree and began teaching Sociology at San Diego State College
in 1949. In his twenty years in San Diego, he published several works exploring sociological interaction in San Diego. His
first book, Ritual and Cult, was published in 1956. In 1962, he authored his best known work, Heoes, Villains, and Fools,
a scholarly investigation about the changing American culture in the 1960's.
Klapp left SDSC in 1969 to pursue another teaching career at the University of Western Ontario. He taught there for an additional
14 years and continued his sociological research during that time. After a struggle with Alzheimer's, Klapp died in 1997.
2002-039
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Personal Papers
Photographs
Sociologists--California--San Diego--Biography--Sources
Klapp, Orrin Edgar, 1915--Archives
San Diego State University--Faculty--Biography--Sources