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  • Oral Histories

Normal School Reunion lectures, luncheon, and self-recorded oral histories, 1978

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HOMECOMING1978
Normal School Reunion lectures, luncheon, and self-recorded oral histories, 1978
circa 1978-11-03
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The speakers with an unidentified moderator were recorded on November 3, with the luncheon on November 4. Band music begins the tape, with an introduction of Fred Osenberg. The moderator then introduces Ruth Varney Held, author of Beach Town, who is supposed to talk about the years 1924-1927. Held sings a song from The Pirates of Penzance and talks about life and sports in the middle 1920s. Next is Guy Fox, speaking about 1928 and 1929, followed by Sue Earnest, taking Don Wolfer's place to talk about 1930 to 1933. John Adams then speaks on "Back through the Archives." The luncheon speaker was Isabella S. Hammack, Class of 1910.

After this comes a series of short autobiographical sketches recorded on an unattended tape recorder during the reunion. The first is by an unidentified person who attended the Normal School shortly after going to Riverside Junior College in 1925. After graduation, this person taught at several elementary schools, including Burbank Elementary, claimed to be segregated at that time, having "only Mexican children and Japanese." The second person identifies herself as Margaret Giles Correll and describes her experience at and following San Diego State without giving dates. Marcella Clatsinger follows, giving a short biography including the dates of her years at San Diego State (1927-1930). Next Alfred E. O'Day summarizes his career after graduating from San Diego State in 1933. Pauline Barr White describes portions of her life, including her specialties such as teaching hard-of-hearing children and being a home teacher. Christopher Harris talks about his life at at San Diego State after graduating from San Diego High School in 1932, followed by Woodrow Tighe, who came to San Diego State Teacher's College in 1923. Coretta Hancock provides a very brief summary of her life, marriage, family, and occupation after coming to San Diego in 1914. Hazel Miner Peet only attended San Diego State from 1925 to 1926 and quit to take her first job. Ruth Bickerton McNiter attended the Normal Grammar School and San Diego State Teacher's College at the Normal School address. George Merican settled in Ventura County at a citrus orchard in 1937 and is still there at this time. Marie Culbertson moved with the Teacher's College to the current San Diego State location and describes the thick mud that first winter. Florence Murray Carroll gave details of her first job, for a dean at San Diego State when she attended school. Ruth Elizabeth Dibble Beaujais attended the San Diego Normal School from 1914 to 1915. Marcia Helen Genet Menville tells of transferring to the new campus in February 1931, "when there was just adobe mud around." Ray Genet confesses to dropping out of college in 1927.

Ruth Varney Held; Beach Town (book); Guy Fox; Sue Wolfer Earnest; Donald P. Wolfer; John R. Adams; Isabella S. Hammack; Margaret Giles Correll; Alfred E. O'Day; John Hancock; Frances Bliss; Paper Lantern; Arthur G. Peterson; Charles E. Peterson; The Pirates of Penzance; Southern California Junior College Conference; Epsilon Eta; Eta Omega Delta; HODs; Sphinx (fraternity publication); Shen Yo; Skull & Dagger; Delta Kappa; Dick's College Pharmacy; Henry Parrish; Bark Garner; Loris Hoyt; Treble Clef; Samuel Black; Reunions; San Diego Normal School; Irving Gill; San Diego State Teacher's College football team; Charles Leonard; San Diego State Library; White and Gold (yearbook); Harry Steinmetz; Alvena Suhl Storm; James Crouch; Everett Gee Jackson; Chesney Moe; Abraham Nasatir; Baylor Brooks; Broadoaks Childrens School; Whittier College; Great Depression; Sweetwater High School District; Epsilon Pi Theta; Carpooling; Exercise and Nutritional Sciences building; Track and field; Fred Osenburg
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  • Oral Histories
English
Audiotape
02:06:22
Yes
HOMECOMING1978TRANS; sp-tr-006; MS-0369-09M-44; acu-ho-110; fs-a-am-029; acu-ho-148; sp-tr-001a; acu-ho-128; ov-133; fs-p-ppe-056; sp-c-003; sp-f-016; ox-2; sp-co-002; MS-0369-01J-15; fs-sm-sz-041; NEG-08-193; acu-ho-082; sp-fo-042; so-trc-010; acs-si-1
see HOMECOMING1978TRANS; additional keywords from transcript: Associated Men Students; Roaring Twenties; Men's Glee Club; May Pole Day; Founder's Day; Academic regalia; Caps and gowns; Del Sudoeste (yearbook); Dave Barnes; Associated Women Students; Phi Sigma Nu; Phi Lambda Xi; El Palenque; San Diego Athletic Club; The Aztec (student newspaper); Arms and the Man (play); Kollege Kut-Ups; Peterson Gymnasium; Women's rowing teams; Segregation; Burbank Elementary School (San Diego); Kappa Theta; Gamma Phi Beta; Hugh Gillis; Sybil Eliza Jones; Seventeen (play); Passing of the Third Floor Back (play); Trelawney of the Wells (play); Deborah Smith; Once in a Blue Moon (operetta); Robin Hood (operetta); Carol Woods Nelson; Alta Robbins Ellison; J. Milford Ellison; Dave Jessop; Helen Squires; Thorndike Intelligence Test; Lionel Ridout; Rena Case; Phyllis Barker; Gertrude Tyler; Beth Porter; Woodrow Wilson Junior High School; Normal Grammar School; Mary McMullen; Aztec Band; Associated Students; Associated Students Council; Grace Walker; Richard C. Boronda; Harold B. "Hal" Grant; Paul Flack; Harriette Sargent; Ruth Mary Hamill; Betty Grimse; Irene Watson Hering Berkley; Bernice Kelleher Anthony; Abbie Johnson Giddings; Keith Atherton; Jean Donald Swiggett; John Tyers; Margaret "Peg" Kendell; Lewis Schellbach; Elaine Mark Bond; Reinette Chase; Beatrice Schnug; Clifford Baker; Willis E. Johnson; Alice Warner; Spencer Rogers; Christine Springston; Franklin Walker; Ada Hughes Coldwell; Les Earnest; The Savoy Theatre; Georgia C. Amsden; Emma F. Way; Alice Edwards Pratt; San Diego Zoo; Theodore Brooks; Alvena Suhl Storm; Robert D. Harwood
  • San Diego State University Library and Information Access, Special Collections and University Archives
Audio
MP3
163.48 MB