The Walter R. Hepner Memorial Collection documents aspects of Hepner's professional administrative career and his involvement with the community at large, including international travel. The collection dates from 1892 to 1977, with the bulk of documents created between the 1940s and 1960s. The majority of the collection consists of paper materials such as correspondence, retirement mementos, memorial artifacts, and personal scrapbooks. It contains a significant number of speeches written during and after Hepner's tenure as President of San Diego State College (SDSC). The collection also consists of a large amount of materials from the Hepners' travels, both paper and photographic slides. The collection has been divided into three series: Office Files, Speeches, and Travel. The Travel series is made up of two subseries: Paper Materials and Slides.

Walter Ray Hepner was born in Covina California, October 30, 1891. The son of a major orange grower, Hepner received his A.B. (1913), A.M. (1916) and Ed.D (1937) from the University of Southern California. He also completed two years of graduate study in Sociology and Education at the University of Chicago from 1917-1919. Hepner married Frances Hepner in 1919 and they had one son, Walter Ray Hepner, Jr.

4.75 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. Permissions 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.