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John R. Hubbard papers

 Collection
Identifier: 5009

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Scope and Contents

The collection documents more than fifty years of Dr. John Hubbard's life from his life as a naval aviator during World War II through his many years as an educator, dean, and university president at several universities. A good portion of his papers consists of correspondence, both personal and business, the bulk of it from the 1940s and 1950s. Hubbard's multi-faceted career at USC is represented through over twenty years of speeches, recommendations, Board of Trustees files, and ephemera pertaining to the many organizations with which he was associated in his capacity as Provost, Vice-President, and President of USC.

Dates

  • Creation: 1935 - 1988

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

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

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Biographical Note

John R. Hubbard served as the eighth president of the University of Southern California from 1970 to 1980, during which time the university rose from 33rd to 19th in National Science Foundation rankings for federally sponsored research. During that decade, applications for admission to USC rose from 4,100 in 1970 to more than 11,000 in 1979, and the mean grade point average for admitted freshmen vaulted to 3.4 on a 4.0 scale.

A graduate of the University of Texas with a Ph.D. in history, Hubbard began his career as a naval aviator during World War II and attained the rank of lieutenant commander. Following his military service, Hubbard held a variety of academic posts, including faculty appointments at Louisiana State University, Tulane University, and Yale University. In 1953, he returned to New Orleans to accept a deanship at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, an historic women's college that is part of Tulane University.

In 1965, Hubbard and his family left for India where he served as chief education advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Four years later, they returned to the United States where Hubbard accepted the position of vice-president and provost at USC. He then succeeded Norman Topping as president and established the Office of International Alumni and the Emeriti Center. In the late 1980s, Hubbard returned to India as U.S. Ambassador and was awarded the Alben W. Barkley Medal for Distinguished Service.

When he returned to USC, Hubbard continued to support the USC Emeriti Center as a senior advisor and served as a trustee emeritus on the USC Board of Trustees, and continued to teach history until failing health at age 91 forced him to stop. Hubbard passed away in 2011 at his home in Rancho Mirage, California.

Extent

16.563 Linear Feet (16 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

John R. Hubbard served as the eighth president of the University of Southern California from 1970 to 1980, during which time the university rose from 33rd to 19th in National Science Foundation rankings for federally sponsored research. During that decade, applications for admission to USC rose from 4,100 in 1970 to more than 11,000 in 1979, and the mean grade point average for admitted freshmen vaulted to 3.4 on a 4.0 scale. Prior to joining USC, Hubbard served as President of Newcomb College, chief education advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development in India (where he later served as US Ambassador). While President of USC, Hubbard established the Office of International Alumni and the Emeriti Center. Hubbard passed away in 2011. The collection documents more than fifty years of Dr. John Hubbard's life from his life as a naval aviator during World War II through his many years as an educator, dean, and university president at several universities. A good portion of his papers consists of correspondence, both personal and business, the bulk of it from the 1940s and 1950s. Hubbard's multi-faceted career at USC is represented through over twenty years of speeches, recommendations, Board of Trustees files, and ephemera pertaining to the many organizations with which he was associated in his capacity as Provost, Vice-President, and President of USC.

Additional collection guides

Processing Note

The collection is unprocessed.

Title
Finding Aid of the John R. Hubbard papers
Status
Unprocessed
Author
Jacqueline Morin
Date
2018 June
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2022 July: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub: created new container records (listed under "Unprocessed material") after finding unprocessed boxes during Grand Archives stacks shelf-reading.
  • 2023 January: Updated by Marissa Chavez for History Associates Incorporated

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States