World War II Era projects and programs at Cal Poly:

• Civil Aeronautics Authority Civilian Pilot Training Program
• National Youth Authority Resident Project 
• Adult National Defense Training Program 
• U.S. Air Depot program
• Cooperative project with the Navy to train naval aviators and deck and engineering officers
  • Navy's V-1 training program
  • Naval Flight Preparatory School (NFPS); V-5 program
  • Naval Academic Refresher Unit (NARU)
• Food Production War Training Program

Secondary sources - research including WWII-era history at Cal Poly

Cal Poly: The First Hundred Years. San Luis Obispo: Robert E. Kennedy Library, 2001.

Print copies: LD729.6.S5 C344 2001

​Kennedy, Robert E. Learn by Doing: Memoirs of a University President: A Personal Journey with the Seventh President of California Polytechnic State University. San Luis Obispo: California Polytechnic State University, 2001.

Print Copy in library: LD729.6.S5 K42 2001

Internet access full text: https://archives.calstate.edu/concern/archives/pz50h1326

Smith, Morris Eugene. A History of California State Polytechnic College: The First Fifty Years, 1901-1951. Dissertation. 1958.

Print copy: LD729.C99 S6 1958 

Internet access: https://archives.calstate.edu/concern/archives/p5547w230​

President McPhee papers: Search the inventory here

Mustang Roundup (WWII-era Cal Poly magazine), 1942-48

1942 El Rodeo Yearbook (last one published until 1946)

Cal Poly Student Newspaper (not published 1943-1944)

Everything digitized from 1939-1948

President's Annual Reports (good summary overview of the year's activities)