Finding Aid for the Joseph E. Spencer Papers, 1924-1985

Processed by Russell A. Johnson; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 1997
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Finding Aid for the Joseph E. Spencer Papers, 1924-1985

Collection number: 1543

UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections

Manuscripts Division



Los Angeles, CA

Contact Information

  • Manuscripts Division
  • UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
  • Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
  • Box 951575
  • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
  • Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
  • Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
  • URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
Processed by:
Russell A. Johnson, 1997
Encoded by:
Caroline Cubé
Online finding aid edited by:
Josh Fiala, November 2002
© 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Joseph E. Spencer Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1924-1985
Collection number: 1543
Creator: Spencer, J.E. (Joseph Earle), 1907-
Extent: 19 boxes (9.5 linear ft.) 6 oversize boxes
Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Abstract: Joseph E. Spencer (1907-1984) was a professor of geography at UCLA. His fields of expertise were East and Southeast Asia and cultural geography. The collection consists of manuscripts, course notes, syllabi, correspondence, publications, research files, and printed materials related to Spencer's life and career.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Language: English.

Administrative Information

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Restrictions on Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

Additional Physical Form Available

A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Department of Special Collections for in-house consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact:
  • Public Services Division
  • UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
  • Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
  • Box 951575
  • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
  • Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
  • Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Gift of Kathryn Smith, 1987.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Joseph E. Spencer Papers (Collection 1543). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 3222226 

Biography

Spencer was born near Bolivar, Missouri, on September 11, 1907; grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California, and graduated from Burbank High School; BA, geography, UCLA, 1929; Ph.D, geography, University of California at Berkeley, 1936; worked for the Salt Revenue Administration Ministry of Finance, China, 1932-40; instructor in Geography, UCLA, 1940-42; served in World War II and afterwards returned to UCLA as an assistant professor; became professor of Geography (1953-75) and professor emeritus (1975-84); his fields of expertise were East and Southeast Asia and cultural geography; recipient of UCLA Teaching Award, 1966; received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Association of American Geographers in 1968; retired in 1975; died on May 23, 1984.

Scope and Content

Collection consists of manuscripts, course notes, syllabi, correspondence, publications, research files, and printed materials related to the life and career of UCLA geography professor Joseph E. Spencer. Includes annual reports of the UCLA Department of Geography, announcements and minutes of department and committee meetings, and various newsletters.

Expanded Scope and Content

The papers of Joseph E. Spencer span the years 1924-1985. Biographical and autobiographical material includes curriculum vitae and memorial tributes. Activities of the UCLA Department of Geography are richly documented by annual reports to the University president, announcements and minutes of department and committee meetings, memoranda to staff; and a handful of student, alumni and department newsletters. Spencer's teaching duties are represented by course notes, syllabi, and examinations for nearly two dozen different classes, as well as preliminary and comprehensive examination questions administered across two decades. Correspondence with friends, colleagues and publishers in some cases spans more than two decades. Photographs include Spencer's family and research photographs which supported publications on Utah, Chungking (China), India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and numerous locations throughout southeastern Asia. Manuscript material includes drafts of articles and correspondence pertaining to a handful of papers as well as twenty years' worth of Spencer's reviews. Spencer's publications include offprints and reprints of many of his articles and book reviews. Research files supporting publications or class use include extensive field and reading notes on the cultural and economic geography of Asia.

Organization and Arrangement

Arranged in the following series:
  1. Biographical and autobiographical material (1976-85).
  2. UCLA Dept. of Geography (1924-83).
  3. Teaching (1942-84).
  4. Correspondence (1941-84).
  5. Photographs (1930-52).
  6. Manuscripts (1941-78).
  7. Publications (1931-84).
  8. Research files (1933-83).

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Spencer, J.E. (Joseph Earle), 1907- --Archives.
University of California, Los Angeles--Faculty--Archival resources.
Geographers--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.


 

Biographical and Autobiographical Material

Box 1, Folder 1

Personal data sheet, curriculum vitae, 1976, 1979.

Box 1, Folder 2

Death and memorial announcements issued by UCLA Geography Department, 1984.

Box 1, Folder 3

In Memoriam (biographical essay), 1985.

 

UCLA Department of Geography

Box 1, Folder 4

Chairman's annual and biennial reports to the President, 1924-1946.

Box 1, Folder 5

Department meetings (minutes), 1925-1943.

Box 1, Folder 6

Graduate Committee meetings, 1939-1940.

Box 1, Folder 7

Letter from Robert M. Glendinning to George M. McBride re a program devoted to the solution of post-war problems, 1942.

Box 1, Folder 8

Student Geographic Society field trip notes, 1938, 1947-1949.

Box 1, Folder 9

Memos to staff, 1939.

Box 1, Folder 10

Memo from Myrta Lisle McClellan, 1939-1940.

Box 1, Folder 11

Memos to staff, 1962-1978.

Box 1, Folder 12

Geography 1A and 1B enrollment statistics, 1967-1971.

Box 1, Folder 13

Historical chronology of the Department of Geography, University of California, 1882-1972.

Box 1, Folder 14

Graduate students and faculty meetings (minutes), 1972.

Box 1, Folder 15

Proposal to establish departmental archives, 1974.

Box 1, Folder 16

List of completed Geography M.A. and Ph.D.s, UCLA and UC Berkeley, ca. 1978.

 

Geographic Society Newsletters, 1940-1949

Box 1, Folder 17

- The Polar Front Blast (alumni).

Box 1, Folder 17

- Bulletin - Alumni Group of the Geographic Society.

Box 1, Folder 17

- The Compass (students).

Box 1, Folder 17

- Westwood Zephyr (a magazine for adolescent minds).

Box 1, Folder 18

Department newsletters, 1967-1983.

Box 1, Folder 19

Personnel issues, 1968-1983.

Note

[folder closed until A.D. 2058]
 

Teaching

Box 2, Folder 1

UC Extension 1A: Forums for Freedom (announcement) 1942.

Box 2, Folder 2

Geography 1B: Introduction to Cultural Geography, 1959, 1970-1975.

Box 2, Folder 3

Geography 5: Man and the Earth Ecosystem (syllabus), n.d.

Box 2, Folder 4

Geography 101: Beginnings of Man (syllabus), n.d.

Box 19

Geography X103: East Asia.

Box 2, Folder 5

Geography 120: Cultural Bases of Geography, 1966-1971.

Box 2, Folder 6

Geography 124A, 124B: Geography of Southern Asia (notecards), 1950.

Box 19, Folder 4

Geography X126: Eastern Asia (correspondence course), 1947.

Box 2, Folder 7

Geography X126: Eastern Asia (correspondence course), 1947, 1952, 1957.

Box 2, Folder 8

Geography X129: Eastern Asia, 1963.

Box 2, Folder 9

Geography 130: Cultural Geography, 1971-1976.

Box 19, Folder 4

Geography 130: Cultural Geography, 1975, 1979.

Scope and Content Note

Includes typescript outline for book: Themes in Advanced Cultural Geography.

Note

(see also Box 18)
Box 2, Folder 10

Geography 131 (syllabus), n.d.

Box 3, Folder 1

Geography 175: Growth and Spread of Geography, 1949-1965.

Box 3, Folder 2

Geography 189: Growth of Geographic Thought, 1979.

Box 3, Folder 3

Geography 198: Proseminar, 1967.

Box 3, Folder 4

Geography 202: [Land Tenure] (ungraded student papers), 1979.

Box 3, Folder 5

Geography 220: Advanced Cultural Geography, 1968-1969.

Box 3, Folder 6

Geography 225: Modern World and its Cultural Geography, 1976.

Box 3, Folder 7

Geography 240: Human Geography (syllabus), 1976.

Box 3, Folder 8

Geography 250: Growth of Geographic Thoughts, 1956-1958.

Box 3, Folder 9

Geography 301 (examinations), 1975-1976.

Box 3, Folder 10

Geography 396 (University of British Columbia): Monsoon Asia, 1973, 1978-1979.

Box 3, Folder 11

Geography 570 (San Fernando Valley State): Growth of Geographic Thought, 1966-1967.

Box 4, Folder 1

Taiwan Biogeography, 1970.

Box 4, Folder 2

Seminar in Cultural Geography: Seoul, ca. 1977.

Box 4, Folder 3

Untitled class lecture notes, n.d.

Box 4, Folder 4

Unidentified examinations, n.d.

Box 4, Folder 5

Student papers, 1981, n.d.

Box 4, Folder 6

Individualized Preliminary and Comprehensive Examination questions, 1961-1978, n.d.

Box 4, Folder 7

List of dissertations supervised by JES (1950-1975), 1984.

Box 4, Folder 8

Dissertation proposal by Ruth A., 1979-1980.

Box 4, Folder 9

Proposal by Cathy Enterton, 1979.

 

Correspondence

Box 4, Folder 10

Job recommendations for students, 1967-1978.

Note

[Closed until A.D. 2053]
Box 4, Folder 11

Job recommendations for students, 1979.

Note

[Closed until A.D. 2054]
Box 5, Folder 1

JES: Most useful letters pulled from files by HJN, 1964-1982.

Box 5, Folder 2

Broek, Jan, 1942-1961.

Box 5, Folder 3

Brennan, Walter, 1971-1973.

Box 5, Folder 4

Caviedes, Cesar, 1977-1981.

Box 5, Folder 5

Cressey, George, 1954-1960.

Box 5, Folder 6

Dure, Edmund, 1980-1982.

Box 5, Folder 7

Fitzsimmons, Allan and Ruth Ann, 1973-1983.

Box 5, Folder 8

Hart, Fraser, 1972-1978.

Box 5, Folder 9

The Hartshorne Correspondence, 1959(?).

Box 5, Folder 10

Horvath, Ron, ca. 1970-1979.

Box 5, Folder 11

Hsu, Shin-yi, 1967, 1977.

Box 5, Folder 12

Kennamer, Lorrin, 1969-1972.

Box 5, Folder 13

Kim-Young-Il, n.d.

Box 5, Folder 14

Lee, Chan, 1979-1981.

Box 5, Folder 15

Prentice-Hall, 1971-1980.

Box 5, Folder 16

Roundy, Robert W., 1972, 1977.

Box 5, Folder 17

Stewart, Norman R., 1963-1977.

Box 5, Folder 18

Thomas, William, 1969-1984.

Box 5, Folder 19

Wheatley, Paul, 1960-1982.

Box 5, Folder 20

Wikkramatilek, Rudy, 1961-1980.

Box 5, Folder 21

John Wiley & Sons, 1977-1984.

Box 5, Folder 22

Zelinsky, Wilbur, 1977-1982.

 

Correspondence, v.d.

Box 6, Folder 1

1941-1949.

Box 6, Folder 2

1950-1959.

Box 6, Folder 3

1960-1969.

Box 6, Folder 4

1970-1976.

Box 6, Folder 5

1977.

Box 6, Folder 6

1977-1983.

Box 6, Folder 7

1978-1979.

Box 7, Folder 1

1980.

Box 7, Folder 2

1981.

Box 7, Folder 3

1982-1984.

Box 7, Folder 4

Unidentified and undated correspondence, n.d.

 

Photographs

Box 7, Folder 5

Spencer family photographs, n.d.

Box 7, Folder 6

Utah photographs, 1930-1932.

Box 7, Folder 7

Southern Utah (Housetype photos used in Geographical Review article), 1930-1936.

Box 7, Folder 8

Utah housetype pictures, 1936.

 

Chungking, 1937-1939

Box 7, Folder 9

- Teh-Yuan Studio -- boat and river photos.

Box 7, Folder 9

- C.C. Miao and Fei Wen-Yao photos.

Box 7, Folder 9

- Model Shop, Ichang.

Box 7, Folder 10

Random Szechuan photos, 1937-1939.

Box 7, Folder 11

Prints from Hanley dissertation (1941), n.d.

Box 8, Folder 1

India enlargements and some small photos -- chiefly Taj Majal features, 1944.

Box 8, Folder 2

Maps of land, population in Malaya, 1946.

Box 8, Folder 3

Photos of Ceylon from Rudy Wikkramatilek, 1948-1952.

Box 8, Folder 4

House types slide list not before 1952.

Box 8, Folder 5

Bangkok and Japan photographs, n.d.

Box 8, Folder 6

South East Asia photographs, n.d.

Box 8, Folder 7

Asian culture (negatives), n.d.

Box 8, Folder 8

Himalayan rivers and water catchment maps, n.d.

Box 8, Folder 9

Miscellaneous negatives, n.d.

Box 8, Folder 10

Miscellaneous photographs, n.d.

 

Manuscripts

Box 8, Folder 11

Correspondence re manuscripts and publications, 1941-1979.

Box 8, Folder 12

Lady nicotine in China (manuscript, letter), 1941.

Box 8, Folder 13

On charcoal burning, and the role of the charcoal burner (typescripts), 1965.

 

Manuscripts, 1965-1984, n.d.

Box 18, Folder 1

- On charcoal burning ... (1965?).

Box 18, Folder 1

- Control over water in southeast Asia (ca. 1974).

Box 18, Folder 1

- The growth of cultural geography in the United States (1979).

Box 18, Folder 1

- Fifty years later -- Varieties of Asian studies (n.d.).

Box 8, Folder 14

The control over water in Southeast Asia, 1974.

Scope and Content Note

(Typescript)
Box 18, Folder 2

Processes, Institutions and Societies: A Speculative Developmental Scenario, Themes in Cultural Geography, 1979-1984.

Scope and Content Note

Chapter 1, 2 (annotated typescript)
Box 18, Folder 3

Processes, Institutions and Societies..., ca. 1979-1984.

Scope and Content Note

Chapter 3, 4 (annotated typescript)
Box 18, Folder 4

Processes, Institutions and Societies..., ca. 1979-1984.

Scope and Content Note

Chapter 5, 6 (annotated typescript)
Box 18, Folder 5

Processes, Institutions and Societies..., ca.1979-1984.

Scope and Content Note

Chapter 7 (annotated typescript)
Box 18, Folder 6

Processes, Institutions and Societies..., ca. 1979-1984.

Scope and Content Note

Chapter 8, 9 (annotated typescript)
Box 8, Folder 15

Reviews by JES, 1977-1983, n.d.

Box 8, Folder 16

Reviews of JES, 1967-1978.

 

Publications

 

JES Publications, v.d.

Box 9, Folder 1

1931-1935.

Box 19, Folder 1

1935-1979.

Box 9, Folder 2

1936-1939.

Box 9, Folder 3

1940-1949.

Box 19, Folder 2

1940-1978.

Box 19, Folder 3

1949.

Box 9, Folder 4

1950-1958.

Box 9, Folder 5

1959.

Box 9, Folder 6

1960-1961.

Box 10, Folder 1

1962-1969.

Box 10, Folder 2

1970-1973.

Box 10, Folder 3

1974.

Box 10, Folder 4

1975-1977.

Box 10, Folder 5

1978-1979.

Box 10, Folder 6

1980-1984.

Box 10, Folder 7

JES Book Reviews, 1949-1978.

 

Research Files

 

Cultural and Economic Geography (5 × 8 Note Cards), ca. 1950-1960s

Box 11

- File control sheet.

Box 11

- Philippines.

Box 11

- Pacific Islands.

Box 11

- Far East--General.

Box 11

- China.

Box 11

- Central Asia.

Box 11

- Manchuria.

Box 11

- Korea.

Box 11

- Japan.

 

Cultural and Economic Geography (5 × 8 Note Cards), ca. 1950-1960s

Box 12

- Southeast Asia--General.

Box 12

- Burma.

Box 12

- Malaya.

Box 12

- Indies.

Box 12

- India.

Box 12

- Pakistan.

Box 12

- Ceylon.

 

Cultural and Economic Geography (5 × 8 Note Cards), ca. 1950-1960s

Box 17

- Southeast Asia--General.

Box 17

- Burma.

Box 17

- Malaya.

Box 17

- Indies.

Box 17

- India.

Box 17

- Pakistan.

Box 17

- Ceylon.

 

Cultural and Economic Geography (5 × 8 Note Cards), 1940s-1970s

Box 13

- Notes on Abacá.

Box 13

- Notes on charcoal and also on rare metals.

Box 13

- Purely regional notes, including the U.S.

Box 13

- Old notes on cultural subject.

Box 13

- Rice project.

Box 14

Preprints, reprints, offprints, and technical reports received, 1933-1983.

Boxes 15-16, 20-25

Photocopied articles on cultural geography and land tenure; collected for class use or research [?], n.d.

Physical Description: Photocopies.
Box 17

Illustrations (5) of junks of central China, n.d.

Physical Description: Matted.