Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope of the Collection
Material Cataloged Separately
Descriptive Summary
Title: Papers of Edward Hutchings, Jr.,
Date (inclusive): 1937-1987
Creator:
Edward Hutchings, Jr.
Extent: Linear feet: 1
Repository:
California Institute of Technology. Archives.
Pasadena, California 91125
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the California Institute of Technology Archives. All
requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing
to the Head of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the
California Institute of Technology Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not
intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item, Box and file number], Papers of Edward Hutchings, Jr., Archives,
California Institute of Technology.
Biographical Sketch
Edward Hutchings Jr. was born in 1912 in Brooklyn and raised in upstate New York. After
graduating from Dartmouth College in 1933, he worked as an editor and writer for a number
of magazines, including
Literary Digest,
Business Week,
Look,
Liberty,
Collier's and
Science
Illustrated.
In 1948 he was offered the job of editor of Caltech's alumni
magazine,
Engineering & Science (E&S). Later he acquired the title of
Director of Publications.
Over the course of his thirty-one-year tenure with E&S, Hutchings refashioned it into
a publication that went well beyond the typical alumni magazine by reaching out to
faculty, students, parents, trustees, donors, science teachers, the press, and the
interested public. His philosophy was to make any science concept available to the
layman. By his own admission he was careful to observe the old dictum of never
underestimating the intelligence of his readers while never overestimating their
knowledge. Bringing scientist and layman together was, he wrote, "like being the operator
of a lonely-hearts club. I've tried to promote a match." He was scrupulous to involve
students in his work and to cover student life in the magazine, as well as to present the
important research that was continually taking place on campus and at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. He taught journalism classes and was advisor to the student newspaper, the
California Tech. In 1958 he compiled and edited the book
Frontiers
of Science,
a set of the best material from E&S to that time, which contains
some of the most illustrious names in science of that era, from Linus Pauling to Richard
Feynman to J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Hutchings also participated actively in campus life. He was a member of the Caltech Stock
Company, led by English professor J. Kent Clark, which presented original shows to mark
major campus events from the 1950s into the 1980s. He retired from E&S in 1979 and
from teaching in 1987.
Scope of the Collection
The papers represent a somewhat miscellaneous cross section of material touching on
various aspects of life at Caltech. Of particular interest are talks about or interviews
with prominent Caltech faculty. There is also interesting material on student life, as
well as several sets of slides showing student pranks. Other sets of slides generated by
faculty retirement dinners provide some interesting pictorial records. Researchers should
also refer to the Edward Hutchings Jr. oral history.
Material Cataloged Separately
Framed watercolor by Hunt Lewis, view of Throop Hall through arches. Added to fine art
collection.
Books authored by Edward Hutchings Jr. Added to landmark book collection.