The collection comprises the personal papers of Roland Eberhart from 1909 to 1967. A substantial portion is Eberhart's correspondence with the many friends, acquaintances and professional contacts he made through his poetry, his years at Stanford, his teaching career and his philanthropic work. Also included are autographed photos and photocopies of several well- and lesser-known figures. Eberhart collected a substantial number of handwritten and published poetry of local poets, including Hamlin Garland and Henry Meade Bland. The remainder of the collection is magazines and pamphlets, Eberhart’s personal records, including his Freemason certificates, programs for a number of local Freemason, Church and other social events, and Christmas cards and postcards dating from 1937 to 1955.

Roland F. Eberhart was a San Jose teacher, Freemason and poet. He was born in Illinois in 1889 but grew up in San Jose. He graduated from San Jose High School in 1909 and went on to pursue his lifelong interest in English and Education as a student at Stanford University, under the tutelage of, amongst others, Ellwood Cubberley. After his graduation from Stanford in 1917, he spent a year teaching English and Typewriting at the Chinese Government Middle School in Tientsin. Then, with the exception of a short stint teaching Commercial Subjects at a public school in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1921, he spent the rest of his career in San Jose. He taught English at the San Jose Normal School, later known as the San José State Teachers College, and San Jose High School and, with his wife Winnie, settled into a home on South Sixth Street.

0.4 Linear feet (1 box)

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The collection is open for research to the public by appointment.