New book showcases City College’s history

By Catherine Lee
The Guardsman

With its recent release “City College of San Francisco,” Arcadia Publishing illustrates the history of the college with archival photos and descriptive captions.

For those unfamiliar with Arcadia’s local history books, the charm of the paperback series is the everyday beauty of its photos which tell a story, often about a neighborhood or region. The San Francisco-themed books cover neighborhoods like Bernal Heights and the Sunset, but also feature topics as specialized as ferries and local theaters.

The book opens with a rich and frothy short introduction to City College, researched by Austin White, a former chair of City College’s social sciences department.

Julia Bergman, a retired City College librarian and member of the Works of Art Committee, has adapted and augmented White’s research with fellow photographic historian Valerie Sherer Mathes to create a “must-have book.”

Photographs show the birth and genesis of adult education; an enriched definition of “campus” and works of art; and architecture commissioned and built by the college’s founders.

There’s a fair amount of San Francisco history, including wild descriptions of trolley car commuting and the celebration of Black Panther Day at Ram Plaza.

The history of the school highlights the fondness San Franciscans have for funding adult education. School bonds to benefit City College have been vote winners since 1938—even during the Great Depression.

City College was founded by visionary leaders whose goal was to broaden educational opportunity for women and students of all races and backgrounds. The dual force of the founders “education for all” policy and the start of WWII impacted student enrollment.

This is best illustrated in the photos taken during WWII, which show how students and instructors—from machinery to the military mess halls—contributed to the communal effort required by the war.

An interesting fact readers may not be aware of, is that Science Hall was the first permanent building at City College’s Ocean campus. It was designed by Timothy Pflueger, the architect who also designed the Castro and Alhambra theaters in San Francisco and the Paramount Theatre in Oakland.

For City College students, faculty and visitors at any campus, the historical photos and captions found in the book will open their eyes to the treasures that surround them daily, but are easily bypassed when rushing to class.