Blacker Hovse People Base: Notes and Acronyms


Year | Main Page | Official Blacker Hovse page
Alpha List | Stats | States | Majors


Here are some of the codes used on the page listing people by freshman year.

Sources

I have used a great number of sources on this project to establish who the member of Blacker were. Some are primary sources and some secondary. Sometimes the information that they contain conflicts, so I had to make an order of trusting information. Origional Blacker documents always take precedence. After that are offical Caltech publications like the catalog. Next are ASCIT (Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology, Inc) publications. Last is data from the Caltech Alumni Association.
Here is an as complete as possible list of my sources:
  1. The Big T
      This yearbook is published annually first by the Associated Students of Caltech (ASC) and after 1935 by ASCIT (the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology, Inc). For each year that they student Hovses existed, a section has be set aside for each Hovse. Additional, the House affiliation of many graduating seniors was listed in the seniors section.

      Big T's from 1928-1997, excepting 1944 and 1944, were used. No Big T's were published in the missing years due to World War II.

  2. Blacker Hovse Lists
      These are origional documents written to tell who was in the house at that time.
      A list of Hovse lists used can be seen here.

  3. Caltech Alumni Association
  4. Blacker Hovse Secretary Logs
      These are contemporary documents tell of the happenings in the Hovse.
      The first 3 Logs (May 1931 to 30 March 1965) are in existance. After that all records have been lost until 1990 when a new book was started.

  5. Caltech Alumni Association
    • A Computer printout of mailing lables of known Blacker Alums for the Blacker's annual Associate's Tea in 1991. This list of some 900 names provided the core from which this database was contructed.
    • The Alumni directory not only includes a section listing the last know mailing address, major and Hovse affiliation for Alums, but it also includes the official roster of those that have ever graduated Caltech or Throop Polytechnic.
    • 1988 Alumni Directory
    • 1992 Alumni Directory

  6. Caltech Catalogs
      A list of all current undegrads was published in this until the academic year of 1947-8 (which was the last).
      Catalogs that were used include:
        Vol XL, Number 133, December 1931
        Vol XLI, Number 137, December 1932
        Vol XLII, Number 141, December 1933
        Vol XLIII, Number 145, December 1934
        Vol XLIV, Number 149, January 1936
        Vol 46, Number 1, January 1937
        Vol 47, Number 1, January 1938
        Vol 48, Number 1, January 1939
        Vol 49, Number 1, January 1940
        Vol 50, Number 1, January 1941
        Vol 51, Number 1, January 1942
        Vol 53, Number 4, November 1944
        Vol 55, Number 3, October 1946
        Vol 56, Number 4, November 1947

  7. The Little t
      The little t is an annual publication of ASCIT which provides information to undergrads about Caltech and Pasadena. Current versions of the little t include local restaurant reviews, Caltech club information and ASCIT bylaws. From Volume 16 (1936-7) it includes a list of all undergrads and their current mailing address. Many years include each student's house affiliation and major.

      Since the Little t is published in the fall, it's undergrad information is based of 3rd term (April-June) records, so people that decide to cease their studies at Caltech between then and first term in the fall are listed in the Little t. This needs to be kept in mind when establishing when a person was a student.

      Little t's used are volumne 16 (1936-37) through volume 72 (1996-97). No Little was published in for the academic years 1974-75, 1979-80, and 1988-89.

  8. MOSH/DRL/Housing Records
      This is the definitive list of who is in which Caltech owned room for each term. With time I will generate missing house lists from these.

      Housing Records used.

  9. Interviews and Letters from various Alums
      Special note must be made of Dr. Sheldon Cyr Crane ('40) here. After sending an Associates Tea inivitation in 1993, he responded with a letter dated 27 March 1993 and one from 29 March 1993 in which he searched the 1937 to 1940 Big T's for information on fellow Moles. With the second letter came a list with 185 names with majors and graduating class. A few days later I got a letter dated 9 April 1993. He search the whole alumni Direcectory and submitted a list of 1,107 names with majors and graduation dates. His contribution was much appreciated.

  10. Personal knowledge from living in Blacker for 5 years.


A number of organizations have also assisted in my research. I used many of them to get photocopies of the document's listed or to read copies currently in their possession. These organizations/places at Caltech include include:


Data collected by Benjamin Smith, Fr '89, Grad '94, President Dec 1992-Jan 1994
Email: Ben . . This page last modified: 22:01 EDT, 2 July 2015