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Glenn S. Dumke Papers

 Collection
Identifier: CSU-044-01

Scope and Content of Collection

The Glenn S. Dumke collection spans from approximately 1935 to 1989. Material types in the collection are documents and reports, articles, correspondence, photographs, art work, journals, books, short stories, newspaper clippings, microfiche, and artifacts. The collection includes extensive correspondence files from 1957-1989. Selected executive correspondence exists on microfiche for the years 1962-1982. The majority of material in this collection is written or typed correspondence (including personal letters), speeches, and reports. Copies of most of Dumke's major speeches given from 1957-1989 are in this collection. There are extensive holdings of minutes, memos, reports, and correspondence from the Boards of Trustees of the CSC and CSU (1962-1982). Some material in this collection relates to the creation and implementation of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California. There are confidential reports, memos, and recommendations, as well as correspondence, speeches, and testimonies, all chronicling the creation of the California State College System in 1961.

Also found in the collection are hundreds of minutes, reports, correspondence, and memos related to various organizations and committees, that Dumke was associated with (personally or in an official capacity) from 1950-1989. There are also extensive travel logs and receipts documenting his activities from 1957-1982. The collection holds newspaper clippings and photographs relating to Dumke or events, ceremonies, conferences, associations, and issues, he was involved with as Dean of Faculty at Occidental College, as President of San Francisco State College, and as Chancellor of the California State University System.

Dates

  • 1880s-2009, undated

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material is in English.

Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Gerth Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical Note

Glenn S. Dumke was born May 5, 1917 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. At age five, his family moved to Glendale, California where his father, William Frederick Dumke, became a buying agent for a major Los Angeles grocery business. Originally, his mother, Marjorie Schroeder Dumke, was the home maker, largely responsible for raising Glenn and his sister. After William died, she went to work as a title searcher in the Land and Titles Office of Los Angeles.

Dumke's K-12 schooling occurred at the UCLA Training School before attending Occidental College as a history major. While at Occidental, Dumke also studied art and photography before graduating with his history degree in 1938. He earned a Master's Degree in History from Occidental and his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1942. He then took up a teaching position at Occidental College in their history department as a specialist in Western American and Hispanic history. On February 3, 1945, he married Dorothy D. Robison. While teaching at Occidental, Dumke published numerous articles, and several books. His most notable publications during his Occidental years were the books: The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California (1944);Mexican Gold Trail: The Journal of a Forty-Niner (1945); and co-authored book (with Osgood Hardy),A History of the Pacific Area in Modern Times (1949). In later years, Dumke also published Western Fiction stories under the pseudonyms Glenn Pierce and Jordan Allen. In 1950, he became Dean of Faculty at Occidental while he also continued to teach occasional classes.

In 1957 Dumke accepted the position of President of San Francisco State College (SFSC). Shortly after taking up this new position, he was invited to participate on the committee creating the Master Plan for California's Higher Education system. After his work on the Master Plan Survey Team, Dumke served as the first Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the California State College system from 1961-1962. During that year, the first Chancellor of the new CSC system, Buell Gallagher, resigned from the position after eight months. After a short search, the Board of Trustees appointed Dumke to the chancellorship.

Dumke is the longest serving Chancellor of the California State University, beginning his tenure during the second year of the California State Colleges formation and governance under the Board of Trustees from 1962 through extensive growth and change. He retired in 1982 after twenty years. After retiring he remained active as President for several think tanks including "The Institute for Contemporary Studies" (1982-1986) and the "Foundation for the 21st Century" (1986-1989). He also remained an active member on the Board of Trustees for a wide variety of organizations such as Pepperdine University, University of the Redlands, Joint Council on Economic Education, The West Coast Advisory Board, and the California Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, Dumke remained active in a host of social clubs including the Bohemian Club, Commonwealth Club, Los Angeles Club, Virginia Country Club, Rotary Club (Long Beach), and the California Club.

For his accomplishments as a historian, educator, and administrator, Dumke received several prestigious national awards including the USO Distinguished American Award and the award for Individual Excellence in Education from the Freedoms Foundation. Dr. Glenn S. Dumke died suddenly of a heart attack on June 29, 1989 at age 72. He was survived by his wife Dorothy. They had no children. Mrs. Dorothy Dumke remarried Mr. Bruce Elliot and died on March 15, 2008 at age 89.

Extent

99 boxes (70.76 Linear Feet)

Abstract

The Glenn S. Dumke Papers contain articles, correspondence, photographs, art work, journals, books, newspaper clippings, microfiche, and artifacts. The collection includes extensive correspondence files from 1957-1989. Selected executive correspondence exists on microfiche for the years 1962-1982. The majority of the content in this collection is written or typed correspondence (including personal letters), speeches, and reports. Copies of virtually every major speech Dumke gave from 1957-1989 can be found in this collection. There are extensive holdings of minutes, memos, reports, and correspondence from the Boards of Trustees of the CSU (1962-1982). There are materials in this collection relating to the creation and implementation of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California. There are confidential reports, memos, and recommendations, as well as correspondence, speeches, and testimony, all chronicling the creation of the California State Colleges, now the California State University.

Arrangement Note

Arranged in eleven series:

  1. Series I. Occidental College records, 1927-1960
  2. Series II. San Francisco State University, Office of the President records, 1948-1964
  3. Series III. California State University, Office of the Chancellor records, 1954-1986, 1991
  4. Series IV. Correspondence, 1925-1989, undated
  5. Series V. Speeches and Media Coverage, [1939?]-1989
  6. Series VI. Associations and Consulting, 1940-1990
  7. Series VII. Writings, 1940-1989, undated
  8. Series VIII. Photographs and Drawings, 1880s-1992
  9. Series IX. Awards and Artifacts, 1940-1989
  10. Series X. Dorothy Dumke papers, 1918-2009, undated
  11. Series XI. Audio-visual material, 1957-1989, undated

Acquisition Information

It is unclear when all of the materials in this collection were acquired by the California State University Archives, Dominguez Hills. It appears that the Dumke materials were acquired on at least four or five different occasions. The first acquisition included eleven boxes and seems to have occurred in July of 1982, as a donation from Dr. Dumke. The second acquisition might have occurred sometime in 1984. The third major acquisition may have occurred in November of 1987, although it is also very possible that items trickled into the archives throughout the year. Materials received in the second and third acquisitions probably came from the Chancellor's Office or from Dumke himself. In 2005-2006, Dorothy Dumke Elliott sent additional materials to the archives. In 2011, after Mrs. Dumke Elliott passing, Occidental College sent remaining material from the DUmke-Elliott Estate to the CSU archives. It is virtually impossible to recreate the records of the acquisition of materials for the Dumke collection because no donor agreements or schedules exist. Furthermore, it appears that a preliminary inventory was prepared only for the first eleven boxes received in 1982. The processor has arranged meeting minutes, speeches, and correspondence chronologically when the materials were not found in any particular order (such as by subject). Where an original filing order appears to still exist, the materials were not rearranged.

Related Material

The following related collections are located in Archives & Special Collections, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH).

Related Collections and Content

  1. Chancellor's Office Records
  2. California State University Reports
  3. Oral History Interview with Dr. Dumke
  4. Board of Trustees Meeting Materials
  5. Board of Trustees Audio Recordings

Processing Information

The collection was initially processed, and an early draft of this finding aid created, under the supervision of the Director of the Archives and Special Collections, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Karen Jean Hunt. The collection was processed by Mike Knight in September of 1999, with the assistance of Traci Liley and Olya Sharova. The addendum was processed by Kim Leaming in June of 2004. The collection was re-processed during 2004-2006 CSU Archives Processing Project. The intellectual arrangement of the content was reconstructed in the fall of 2019 by Ashley Evans. Finding aid updated by Summer Espinoza in 2019. Second addendum was processed, cataloged, and integrated into the finding aid by Petra Warren in fall 2021.

Title
Glenn S. Dumke Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Michael Knight, Kim Leaming, Tom Philo, Ashley Evans, Summer Espinoza, and Petra Warren
Date
2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English

Repository Details

Part of the California State University Archives Repository

Contact:
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University Library South, 5039 (Fifth Floor)
1000 E. Victoria St.
Carson CA 90747
(310) 243-3895