The Founder's Day Collection documents the history of the college's Founder's Day festivities from the school's early years through 1980.  The collection dates from 1936-1980, with the bulk of the documents ranging from the 1940s through the 1970s. It consists solely of paper records. The collection documents the annual open house, festivities, and activities associated with SDSU's Founder's Day celebration. Included are Founder's Day programs which document the dedication of the Greek, or Open Air Theatre in 1941, and the Malcolm A. Love Library in 1971. Also included is a schedule of events booklet from the college's 50th Anniversary celebration in 1947.  Miscellaneous items such as Founder's Day invitations to students, newspaper clippings from the Daily Aztec promoting Founder's Day festivities, and Founder's Day committee meeting minutes are also included in this collection.  Materials are organized chronologically.

San Diego State University's Founder's Day was an annual event that took place the first day in May. Founder's Day originated as Dedication Day, a celebration commemorating the anniversary of the dedication of the original Normal School building in 1899. Dedication Day was renamed Founder's Day in the 1930s under Walter Hepner's presidency. Founder's Day festivities included an Open House where faculty members would hold meet and greet sessions for students and their families, as well as activities, exhibits and programs sponsored by individual departments.

1.25 Linear Feet

The copyright interests in some of these materials have been transferred to or belong to San Diego State University. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. 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.

This collection is open for research.