California Institute of Technology
Welcome to the Caltech Archives

 

The Caltech Archives
were formally established in 1968 to serve as the collective memory of the California Institute of Technology. Our mission is to preserve and make accessible the institutional records, personal papers, documents, artifacts and pictorial materials that tell the school's history.

The Archives' unique research collections in the history of science and technology range from the time of Copernicus to today. They are available to the campus community for instructional and research purposes, as well as to qualified non-campus users by appointment.

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Images above are from the Caltech Archives' PhotoNet, an online, searchable database of thousands of images.

In the News
Collection news: Gutenberg's data. Geophysicist Beno Gutenberg (1889-1960) used accumulated Gutenbergrecorded earthquake data to study the physical properties of the earth. A gap in Gutenberg's data sets has recently been filled. Learn more. 5-3-2010

Collections in preparation: James Bonner
The papers of James Frederick BonnerBonner (1910 - 1996), Caltech alumnus (PhD, 1934) and professor of biology, 1938-1981, are currently being prepared for use by researchers. The collection is especially rich in scientific and personal correspondence. Learn more. 5-3-2010



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Talk of the Archives

The Campus turns 100

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Photo ID 40.4-70
Throop Hall,
Caltech's first building, dedicated June 8, 1910.

Caltech celebrated the centennial of its founding in 1991, but the current campus is having its own 100th birthday in 2010. The complex of six schools that formed Throop Polytechnic Institute, Caltech’s predecessor, broke apart in 1910. The first building on the current campus, Throop Hall, was dedicated June 8, 1910, and was paid for by the citizens of Pasadena—and was originally named Pasadena Hall. The campus occupied the 28 acres bounded by Wilson and Hill Avenues on east and west and by San Pasqual Street and California Boulevard on north and south—only about 20 percent of the present grounds. The newly reformed Throop was to be collegiate only and devoted to the education of top-level engineers and scientists. The former lower division became the independent Polytechnic School, located just across California Boulevard from the new college.

Until it was irretrievably damaged by the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, Throop Hall stood at the center of the new campus.  The original campus plan dates from 1908.  It was later superseded by the work of renowned architect Bertram Goodhue.
Posted 5-3-2010

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