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Organized in 8 series: 1 containing materials for all presidents prior to 1927, 1 each for records from the Marvin, Colclough/Carroll, Elliott, Trachtenberg, and Knapp presidencies, 1 containing scrapbooks created by the office of the president, and 1 containing copies of the annual reports of the president.
Within the first series, the materials are organized in one sub-series for each president. Within the series for individual presidents, the materials are organized in sub-series that represent sets of files as they were transferred to the archives.
Although governed by a Board of Trustees, the president of the university has always been the chief administrative officer for the institution. Since the founding of Columbian College in 1821, 19 different men have served as its president. With the exception of the period between October 1841 and October 1843, there has always been an acting, interim, or regular president.
Throughout much of the 19th century, the role of the president was envisioned primarily as that of a leader among the faculty, rather than an administrator separate from it. Though charged by the Rules of the College with the "general superintendence of the government and reputation of the College," the president was also a key member of the teaching faculty, serving as their voice to the trustees and performing other duties as assigned to him by the trustees.
In keeping with the beliefs of Columbian College's founders, early supporters, and many of its trustees, six of the institution's first seven presidents were also Baptist ministers, Welling being the first exception (Greene, who followed Welling as acting president, was the last Baptist minister to serve).
With the transition from Columbian College to Columbian University in 1873 and ultimately to the George Washington University in 1904, the role of the president also shifted. Over the course of the administrations of Welling, Whitman, and Needham, the position of president was professionalized and secularized. By the early 20th century, presidents were no longer teaching a significant proportion of the unviersity's courses, and their roles were solidified as modern administrators.
Biographical and historical notes relevant to individual presidents are included in the series and subseries descriptions below.
The collection contains a mixture of personal and family papers, biographical research, and administrative records representing all but one GW President (Howard Lincoln Hodgkins, who served as president ad interim from 1921 to 1923). In addition, it contains a series of scrapbooks containing news clippings maintained by the office of the president during the early-to-mid-20th century, as well as copies of the president's annual reports (1888-1917, 1964-2007).
For the earlier presidents, the materials tend to be scarce and randomly collected, but as time progresses, the records become more standardized, organized and complete. No significant body of records from President Knapp has been included in this collection yet.
See the scope and content notes for the individual series and sub-series listed below for more details on what types of materials are included from each administration.
Much of this collection was transferred to the library directly from the office of the president, while other portions were gathered together by librarians, archivists, curators and university historians who were charged with tending the university's historical record throughout the 20th century. Whenever the immediate source of aquisition for a set of records is known, it is annotated at the series or sub-series level.
Non-pubic materials in this collection are closed for 50 years from the date of creation. Currently, this includes portions of the Elliott and Trachtenberg series. See notes at the start of these series for assistance in identifying restricted portions of the collection.
Permission to use restricted materials may be obtained from the office of the president; please contact email@example.com to facilitate permission.
Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.
Please provide the title and date of item, catalog number (if applicable it will be found written on the folder), name of the collection, name of the repository, and location of the repository. Example: James Oglethorpe to the Trustees, 13 January 1876, RG0001 Series 1, Box 4, Folder 3. Records of the Board of Trustees, Special Collections Research Center, Gelman Library, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
No boxes 97-99, 137, or 254-256. 257-260 are unboxed oversize volumes.
The Office of the President records were reprocessed into their current arrangement and description in Fall 2016. This was largely an effort to consolidate item-level accessions into series, to bring all description online, and to provide better contextual background and description for the records.
The first efforts to organize these materials into a collection occurred in the 1970s and early 1980s, as described in the following statement, written around 1981:
"Because of the way in which our archival collection was obtained, there are some problems in knowing where to look for particular materials. When the dept. was started in 1969, we had nothing in the way of file cabinet materials, altho some of them were in the library (in a vault) at the time. As material was received, we tried to put like materials together under the name of the issuing office. After the appointment of our curator in 1975, we began to set up an archival arrangement primarily by subject since at that time it was unlikely that we would ever obtain really official records of the University. Between 1976 and about 1978 many other materials were turned over to us by the University Historian. These arrived already set up under subject headings in two metal cabinets. The nature of their arrangement was, however, entirely different than ours and not at all consistent. We have since then been trying to absorb the collection into our library archival arrangement, setting up new finding aids when there were none. This work has been about 3/4 completed. At the same time, a great deal of archival material was sent to us by other offices, the largest amount being that from the President's Office. The Curator felt that we would be likely to get numerous calls from the President's Office for those items asking for them by the same subjects and names that they had assigned to them. Therefore, he thought it more expedient to retain the President's Archives intact in separate metal cabinets and to make finding aids corresponding exactly with the listing sent to us by that office. (See binder, "President's Archives.") The reason that those finding aids were combined with ours (even tho they were inconsistent with ours and housed in entirely different cabinets) was so that we could find them, as well as our own materials at the same time. In addition, we were able to add "SEE ALSO's" to existing cards should new items on the same subjects arrive. This should explain the inconsistency and confusion present in our finding aid file."
Although the materials transferred directly from the office of the president were rehoused in archival folders and boxes at some point in the 1980s or 1990s, each transfer continued to be understood, organized and accessed as an individual accession with its own finding aid. This practice continued through the 1990s, until by the end of the Trachtenberg era there were over 50 individual accessions attributed to the office of the president.
Around 2005, coinciding with the implementation of the library's first collection management software, all of the accessions from the office of the president were grouped together for the first time under a single collection, RG0002. However, the accessions were in fairly random order and no additional effort at arrangement or description was made at that time. This order was maintained through migrations into two additional collection management systems, and by 2016 RG0002 consisted of 53 or so series with minimal contextual or descriptive information, and over 300 boxes of unprocessed and largely unaccounted-for content.
The current round of processing was begun in an effort to improve understanding of and access to these materials. These activities consisted of identifying, arranging and re-numbering the boxes for entire series and subseries of records whenever possible. It also resulted in the removal of non-records materials to more appropriate collections, such as the university photographs collection, the university memorabilia collection, and the historical materials collection. One set of records related to the national celebration of the bicentennial of George Washington's birth was made into its own manuscript collection.
During the 2016 processing, the following accessions could not be located and were removed from the collection description: ACC#630 (Two copies of a Scottish Rite publication mentioning GW), ACC# 780 (one large ornament and stand with the lettering "SJT, 15th President").
Photographs of the presidents and photographs of their painted portraits, as well as a set of photo files from the Elliott administration may be found in the University Photographs Collection. Gifts and awards given to presidents Elliott and Trachtenberg may be found in the University Artifacts and Memorabilia collection. Oral histories conducted with Presidents Elliot and Trachtenberg, as well as interviews with people including Elmer Louis Kayser about the Marvin administration may be found in the Oral History collection.
This series is open for use.
This series is arranged in 10 sub-series, one for each president prior to Cloyd Heck Marvin, except for Howard Lincoln Hodgkins, for whom the archives does not hold any presidential records, and Green and Whitman, who share a sub-series due to the small quantity of their materials. The sub-series are arranged chronologically by the dataes of the presidents' administrations.
In its first 126 years of existence, the institution that evolved from Columbian College to Columbian University and finally to the George Washington University was led by 13 different men who served as president or interim president: William Staughton (president 1821-1827), Stephen Chapin (president 1828-1841), Joel Smith Bacon (president 1843-1854; there was no president from October 1841 to October 1843), Joseph Getchell Binney (president 1855-1858), George W. Samson (president 1859-1871), James C. Welling (1871-1894), Samuel Harrison Greene (acting president 1894-1895 and again 1900-1902), Benaiah Longley Whitman (president 1895-1900), Charles Willis Needham (president 1902-1910), Charles Herbert Stockton (president 1910-1918), William Miller Collier (president 1918-1921), Howard Lincoln Hodgkins (interim president 1921-1923), and William Mather Lewis (president 1923-1927).
For more information on the biographies and presidencies of each of these men, see the notes attached to each sub-series, below.
A small amount of incoming correspondence to Howard Lincoln Hodgkins, unrelated to her time as president, is located in MS2132.
For most of the early presidents, this series includes only scant and fairly random documentation. With the exception of the Collier and Lewis sub-series, these materials were generally collected and organized long after the presidency in question, usually by the university historian, Elmer Louis Kayser, or a librarian or archivist. Most of the materials in this series date from the time of the presidencies with which they are associated, although the series also includes general biographical information about the presidents and, in the case of Samson, also includes some family papers that were donated to the university.
See notes at the start of each sub-series, below, for more detailed information about their contents.
This series does not include any records from Howard Lincoln Hodgkins, who served as President Ad Interim from 1921 to 1923.
This subseries has been scanned and is
The correspondence in this sub-series is arranged chronologically; the remainder of the sub-series does not appear to follow any particular arrangement, although similar materials are grouped together.
William Staughton (Stoughton) (1770-1829) -- a respected Baptist clergyman, educator, and music composer -- was the first president (1821-1827) of Columbian College (later George Washington University). He was born to Sutton and Keziah Staughton on January 4, 1770 in Conventry, Warwickshire, England. He attended and graduated from Bristol Baptist College in 1792. In 1793 when Dr. John Ryland became president of Bristol Baptist College, William Staughton was offered Ryland's former church at Northampton. William Staughton, however, elected to emigrate to the United States. In the fall of 1793 he arrived in Charleston, South Carolina and shortly thereafter married Maria Hanson. For the next year and a half, he preached in Georgetown, South Carolina. During the summer of 1795 he moved to New York city and subsequently settled in Bordentown, New Jersey. While residing in Bordentown, he pastored the Baptist church, headed an academy, and was ordained a Baptist minister on June 17, 1797. Between 1797 and 1805, William Staughton served as pastor at Burlington, New Jersey. In 1801, he received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Princeton. In 1805 he was offered and accepted the pastorship of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, a position which he held until the formation of the Sansom Street Church in 1811. In addition to his pastorate of the Sansom Street Church from 1811 until his resignation in 1822, William Staughton was the designated tutor of the Baptist Education Society of America of the Middle States founded in 1812, founder of the Philadelphia Bible Society (the first female biblical association in the world), an organizer and "corresponding secretary" of the Triennial Convention (Baptist General Convention for Missionary Purposes) from 1814 until 1826, and the principal of the theological department of the Triennial Convention in 1817. At this point, Reverand Luther Rice, a philanthropist and Baptist missionary who had returned from India, began advocating the establishment of an educational institution (college) in Washington, D. C. for training Baptist ministers. William Staughton supported Rice's idea of an educational institution. In 1819 Luther Rice and his associates founded an association, and later a tract of land was purchased on the outskirts of Washington, D. C. to be held by the convention and used for an educational facility. Two years later, the Congress of the United States granted a charter which established the Columbian College. In 1821 William Staughton was chosen to be president of Columbian College, and, on January 9, 1822, he formally opened the college. William Staughton was responsible for teaching courses in both the theological and classical departments of the college. His courses were "General History, Belles Lettres, Rhetoric, Moral Philosophy and Divinity and Pulpit Eloquence". In January 1823, William Staughton's wife died, and the students at the college wore black armbands for a month in memory of her. Four years later, William Staughton resigned as president of Columbian College because of the college's financial difficulties and differences of opinion among its trustees redgarding the theological and classical departments. During his presidency of Columbian College, he also served as chaplain to Congress during two sessions. In September 1829, William Staughton was chosen to be president of the Literary and Theological Institution (Georgetown College) in Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky. While enroute to his new position, William Staughton died in Washington, D. C. on December 12, 1829. He was buried in the District of Columbia's Episcopal cemetery. Approximately three years later, his body was exhumed, moved to Philadelphia, and reinterred in the Sansom Street Church cemetery.
Five months prior to his death, William Staughton had married James Peale's daughter, Anna Claypoole Peale, and she lived until 1878. William Staughton was also survived by three of his four children born during his first marriage -- Leonora, Elizabeth Ann and James Martin. Leonora Staughton was wedded to Reverand Samuel W. Lynd who later authored Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D. D. which was published in 1834. Elizabeth Ann Staughton was the wife of Dr. John Taylor Temple who subsequently served as a member of the Board of Trustess of Columbian College from 1832 to 1835. James Martin Staughton, bearer of a medical degree from the University of Pennyslvannia (1821), was Professor of Chemistry and of Surgery in the Columbian College's Medical School from 1821 to 1829.
William Staughton authored a "volume of Juvenile Poems" while a teenager and an occasional sermon and discourse, such as "Eulogium on Dr. Benjamin Rush", during his pastoral career. He was a regular contributor to The Latter Day Luminary. He also edited two works: The Words of Virgil. . .To Which is Added a Large Variety of Botanical, Mythological and Historical Notes and A Compendious System of Greek Grammar written by Edward Wetenhall. In addition, William Staughton was a recognized lyricist and hymnist. According to the Biographical Dictionary of American Music, he wrote "Strike the Cymbal" in 1812 to the music of an Italian tune. A number of his hymns are reportedly contained in the 1825 edition of the Baptist Hymn Book. In addition, several of Staughton's hymns reportedly appear in the 1819 and 1826 editions of Hymns compiled by John Rippon. William Staughton was also a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Prior to 2016, this subseries existed as a separate manusript collection, MS311 William Staughton Collection. The following information is about the creation and processing of that collection.
At the beginning of October 1989 the William Staughton Collection was non-existent. the limited material on William Staughton was scattered and, therefore, virtually inaccessible to staff members and to researchers. In the ensuing weeks, a concentrated effort was made to create a viable collection. To accomplish this undertaking, a number of appropriate University Historian files and vertical files were reviewed. Several of the the University Historian files which contained original material (primarily correspondence) were transferred to the future collection and were used as the nucleus of the future collection. The transferred correspondence was inventoried, and appropriate conservation measures were applied to the letters. The inventoried correspondence will be incorporated into the finding aid. Other appropriate existing collections (Luther Rice, W. Lloyd Wright, Stephen Chapin, William Ruggles, and Faculty and Alumni Pamphlet) were examined. Any correspondence to or from William Staughton discovered in these collections were photocopied onto acid free paper, and the photocopy was cross-referenced to the collection containing the original letter. The photocopy was incorporated into the collection being formed, and the photocopied letter was added to the inventory of correspondence. Other information considered useful to either researchers or to someone responding to reference questions was extracted from the University Historian files and appropriate Donor(s) file(s). Each item of extracted information was documented as to the originating file and exact source (letter, etc.) and the items of extacted information was computerized.
Photographs were removed from the University Historian files and incorporated into the future collection. Proper conservation techniques were applied. Photos were separated with acid free tissue paper. Also, a listing of archival photos of William Staughton was compiled.
For the purpose of developing the finding aid and ultimately for retention in a vertical file on William Staughton, biographical citations were compiled from the Biography and Geneology Master Index. The citations were checked and the information was obtained and properly cited. In addition, Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D. D. was read and information extracted. Also for the finding aid, William Staughtons writings were collated by using Marc/Pac and OCLC, by reading Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D. D., and by searching the George Washington University Bulletins. From the Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D. D., a register of attributed writings of his has been created. Any materials that have been gathered or generated on William Staughton will be retained and incorporated into a vertical file.
The William Staughton collection consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence, either original or photocopied, a facsimile of William Staughton address at the opening of Columbian College, printed material from The Latter Day Luminary bearing William Staughtort name, either from the publication itself or from the Luther Rice Collection, a register of writings attributed to William Staughton created in 1989 from Reverand Samuel W. Lynd' a Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D.D., and photographs of paintings of William Staughton. The collection also contains tracings of the alleged ancestral coat-of-arms of the Staughton family, photocopied typescripts and a notebook of excerpts from Memoir of the Rev. William Staughton, D.D., a printed biographical sketch of William Staughton, and a printed engraving of William Staughton from an unknown publication. Included in the collection is other material about William Staughton and his descendents that may be of value to researchers.
The following sources were consulted during the writing of this biographical note:
This is a photocopy of Dr. William Staughton's original letter. The original ones are in Wright Collection.
Typescript is also available in PDF format.
The letter was photocopied from Gideon Welles Papers (No. 19015), the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
The letter was photocopied from Gideon Welles Papers (No. 19015), the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
This is a photocopy of the original letter, which is in Bible, N.T., Persian, 1815 -- part of the William Ruggles Collection.
Photocopies of images contained in the university photographs collection
The correspondence in this sub-series is arranged chronologically, with incoming and outgoing correspondence in separate folders. The publications are at the end of hte sub-series.
Stephen Chapin was the second President of Columbian College, from 1828 to1841. He was born in Milford, Massachusetts, Nov. 4, 1778, and died Oct. 1, 1845. He graduated from Harvard in 1804, and then studied theology under Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, of Franklin, Massachusetts. He entered the Congregational ministry and served as pastor at Hillsborough, N.H., from 1805 to 1808, and at Mount Vernon, N.H., from 1809 to 1818. Having changed his views on the mode and subjects of baptism, Chapin entered the Baptist ministry, and in 1819 was ordained pastor of the church at North Yarmouth, Maine. In 1822 he accepted the professorship of theology in Waterville College (now Colby College), and remained there until 1828, when he became President of the Columbian College. This position he retained until 1841, when failing health compelled him to resign. He was a man of culture and learning, and won the regard of all with whom he associated. In Washington he was intimate with the leading statesmen and scholars of his day. His published works include sermons, addresses and essays.
Under Chapin's administration, the first Master of Arts degrees were awarded and an Act of Congress conferred on the school a federal grant of $25,000 in city lots. At the very end of Chapin's tenure, Columbian College was free of debt.
This sub-series comprises incoming and outgoing correspondence of Stephen Chapin during his presidency of Columbian College, as well as copies of two of his publications. The correspondence deals overwhelmingly with the business affairs of the college, including a great deal related to fund-raising, as well as other matters.
Of particular note is the 1827 letter recruiting Chapin to serve as president of Columbian College. The majority of this correspondence in this sub-series comprises original manuscripts, but it does include one folder of photocopied correspondence.
The materials in this sub-series are not arranged in any particular order.
Joel Smith Bacon was President of Columbian College from 1843 to 1854. Joel Smith Bacon came to Columbian College from Hamilton College. He oversaw the transition as the College's Department of Medicine moved to the old jail in Judiciary Square and became the National Medical College, one of the nation's first teaching hospitals. Other innovations included a program in natural science leading to the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, the college's first alumni association, and the awarding of the first Doctor of Laws degree.
The folders of letters related to the Arnold case and the provenance of the letters were temoporarily processed as their own collection, MS2350 Collection of Joel S. Bacon letters related to the Arnold case.
This sub-series consists of assorted ledger sheets, correspondence, and publications by and related to Joel Smith Bacon. Of particular note are manuscript drafts and copies in Bacon's own hand of correspondence related to the 1847 expulsion of student Henry J. Arnold for attempting to assist an enslaved man owned by the college steward to file a lawsuit for his freedom. The subseries also includes correspondence related to the discovery, attempted publication and sale of the letters to George Washington University, some correspondence between Elmer Louis Kayser and Bacon's great granddaughter, and an 1865 flyer for the Fauquier Femal Institute of Warrenton, Virginia, which lists Bacon as the Principal and Prioprietor.
Correspondence: 1847
Arnold Case Letters Provenance: 1903-1967
The materials in this sub-series are not arranged in any particular order.
Joseph Getchell Binney was the fourth President of the College from 1855 to 1858. He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, Dec. 1, 1807, and died at sea Nov. 26, 1877, while returning to Burma. He was educated at Yale and Newton Theological Seminary, and was ordained in 1832. Binney settled in Savannah, Georgia, but in 1843 left for India to engage in missionary work among the Karens. He established in 1845 the Karen Seminary for the training of native ministers, but after some years he returned to America, owing to the precarious health of Mrs. Binney. He was engaged for a time as pastor at Elmira New York and Augusta, Georgia, and in 1855 accepted the Presidency of Columbian College. He resigned in 1858 to resume his work among the Karens, where he labored with great success until 1875 when failing health caused him to take a trip to America. On his return, in 1877, he died at sea and was buried in the Indian Ocean.
In 1855 the Columbian College awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and the Bachelor of Philosophy. German was also added to the curriculum during Binney's tenure.
This sub-series comprises two pieces of correspondence from Binney accepting the position of president of Columbian College in 1855; financial records in the form of bills, receipts and canceled checks; and two publications, his inaugural address and an 1857 appeal for funds.
The Samson family papers, as well as some Samson family photographs, which are cataloged with the university photographs, were donated by Henry Whitefield Samson, grandson of George W. Samson.
The files in this sub-series do not appear to be organized in any particular matter, although materials related to a particular person are grouped together and the family papers precede President Samson's materials.
George W. Samson was President of Columbian College from 1859 to 1871. To the Rev. George Whitefield Samson, formerly Pastor of the E Street Baptist Church, fell the difficult task of guiding Columbian College through the Civil War.
This sub-series contains correspondence and other materials related to Samson's time as President of Columbian College, as well as general biographical information about him and personal papers from several of his descendants.
Another set of correspondence and documents related to George W. Samson and his family can be found in the
This sub-series is not arranged in any particular order.
James C. Welling was President of Columbian University from 1871 to 1894. He came to Columbian College--soon to be known, following an Act of Congress in 1873, as Columbian University--from Princeton University, where he was a professor of belles lettres, having previously served as president of St. John's College in Maryland.
President Welling was connected with many literary, historical and scientific societies. He was the President of the Anthropological Society of Washington, President of the Board of Trustees of the Corcoran Art Gallery, Regent of the Smithsonian Institution and Chairman of its Executive Committee. He wrote a great deal, but most of his published work appeared in the form of editorials and literary addresses, and as contributions to various periodicals. Under his administration the name of the institution was changed to the Columbian University, a permanent endowment fund was for the first time established, and large and conveniently arranged buildings were erected in the heart of Washington. The Law School was greatly enlarged, the Scientific School and the Dental School were established, the number of students increased from 326 in 1871 to 755 in 1891, and the number of the Faculty from twenty-five in 1871 to fifty-six in 1891.
The bulk of this sub-series consists of notes and writings related to the academic pursuits of president Welling, primarily in the area of law. It also includes manuscript drafts of reports to the board of trustees, a small amount of correspondence, and items such as a hand-drawn sketch of a four-story college building, an 1899 newspaper clipping about the burining of the Welling Residence, as well as 1942 correspondence from the director of the Corcoran Gallery, G. Paul Minnigerode about a portrait of welling, and correspondence with Elmer Louis Kayser about Welling.
The materials in this sub-series are arranged in three folders: two of Greene's sermons, arranged chronologically, and one containing the Whitman materials.
Samuel Harrison Greene was twice acting president of Columbian University, from 1894 to 1895 and again from 1900 to 1902. Greene was born in Enosburg, Vermont, December 25, 1845, the son of Rev. Columbus Greene and Martha Dow (Webber) Greene. Doctor Greene was a graduate of Colgate, A.B., 1873; A.M., 1876; and of Hamilton Theological Seminary, 1875. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Norwich, 1883, Colgate, 1891, University of Rochester, 1891; as well as Doctor of Laws from Columbian, 1895; and Howard University, 1895. He married Lucia A. Buzzell, daughter of a Baptist minister of Montgomery Center, Vermont, April 23, 1866. He was ordained to Baptist ministry in 1875 and was pastor in Cazenovia, New York, from 1875 to 1879. In 1879 he became pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Doctor Greene gave notable service to higher education in Columbian, now George Washington University, as a trustee from 1899-1912; chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1899-1900; and as acting president of the University, 1894-95, and 1900-02. During his tenure as Acting President the Summer School was established as a branch of the Corcoran Scientific School.
Benaiah Longley Whitman was president of Columbian University from 1895 to 1900. Whitman was born in Torbrook, Nova Scotia, November 21, 1862 and he died in Seattle, Washington, November 27, 1911. Whitman prepared for college in Worcester Academy, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brown University in the class of 1887, with a B.A. degrees, and received an M.A. degree in 1890. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Bowdoin College in 1894; the degree of LL.D. from Howard University in 1899, and from Furman University in 1906. He married Mary J. Scott of Newton, Massachusetts, December 6, 1888. He was pastor of the Free Street Baptist Church, Portland, Maine, 1890-92; President of Colby University, 1892-95; President of Columbian, now George Washington University, 1895-1900; pastor of the Fifth Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1900-07; First Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington, from 1908 until his death in 1911. He was lecturer in Bucknell University, 1900-07; trustee of Newton Theological Institution, 1894-02; of Crozer Theological Seminary, 1901-08; President of the American Baptist Historical Society, 1900-07. He was author of Elements of Ethics (1893); Elements of Sociology (1894); Elements of Political Science (1899); Outlines of Political History (1900). He was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity and of Phi Beta Kappa.
President Whitman had a commanding personality. He was of large figure and his face was impressive with "philosophic calm". It was natural to him to do things in a large way. He was eminent in scholarship, and his judgments were always characterized by magnanimity. Strong intellectuality marked his sermons and addresses, somewhat cold during his presidency but in later years genial with the heart quality of one who with deepening sympathies loved his fellow men.
The University grew in a wholesome way during his administration, although financial difficulties continued, a condition that was soon to become critical. In 1898, an Act creating control of the University by the Baptist denomination was passed by Congress. The student body increased from 1,000 to 1,300, there were many additions to the faculties and many new courses of study. Also during Whitman's tenure the University Extension Program was established, library science was added to the curriculum, a new law school building was erected, and training of nurses begun at the University's new hospital (whose new female superintendent was also the first woman to appear on the official faculty list). A special event during this period was the establishment of the School of Comparative Jurisprudence and Diplomacy. President McKinley and his cabinet attended the opening of the new school.
The Green materials comprise typescripts of sermons, and a biographical sketch. The Whitman materials comprise a small amount of correspondence with Charles W. Holmes, including a request that Holmes send Whitman all his papers from the president's office; and a biographical sket of Whitman written by his grand-nephew Rev. Carrol R. Armsorong.
The contents of this series are organized roughly by document type (correspondence, reports), and the correspondence is arranged into folders by date.
Charles Willis Needham was the seventh President of The George Washington University from 1902 to 1910. He was born September 30, 1848 in Castile, New York. He died June 1, 1935 in LaSalle, Illinois. He attended Castile Academy and Albany Law School, where he earned an LL.B. degree. He received LL.D. degrees from Rochester University and Georgetown University, Kentucky. From 1874-90 Needham practiced law in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C. He became professor of law at Columbian, now George Washington University in 1897 and was selected as President in 1902. A Baptist layman and Dean of the Law School when elected as the eighth President of the University, Needham was hampered by financial difficulties. His tenure was nevertheless marked by many outstanding events. A training school for Nurses in connection with the Columbian University Hospital was opened, and in 1904 an Act secularizing the University and authorizing a change in the name to "The George Washington University" was passed by Congress. The first convocation of the newly named University was held in 1905, where the new seal and flag were displayed for the first time.
The institution's new charter also permitted it to organize colleges. Thus the National College of Pharmacy, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Washington College of Engineering (the name changed to the College of Engineering and Mechanical Arts) became part of the university. Although endowed with a new name, expansion of schools and courses, combined with the costs of construction and maintenance created a heavy economic burden on the University. In 1910, the House of Representatives, acting under a provision of the original charter, requested the Attorney General of the United States to examine alleged fiscal irregularities at the University. Dr. Needham resigned in April of that year. After leaving the university Needham taught law at American University and was solicitor general for the Interstate Commerce Commission, retiring from that position in 1933.
The bulk of this sub-series comprises relatively un-organized incoming and outgoing correspondence from the office of President Needham. It also includes a folder of reports about the university dating from his administration, and several pieces of correspondence he had with President Marvin. Of particular note in this sub-series are a folder of correspondence with the George Washington Memorial Association, at whose behest Columbian University was renamed, and a folder about the 1908 effort to establish GW as a national university (the "George Washington University movement").
This sub-series is not arranged in any particular order.
Charles Herbert Stockton served as the ninth president from 1910 to 1918. The son of a Protestant Episcopal clergyma, he was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 13, 1845 and he died in 1924. Stockton received a private school education, and at the age of 16 he entered the Naval Academy, from which he was graduated in 1865. He went into active service at once as a midshipman, and was rapidly promoted in rank. During the summer of 1864 he was on duty on the Macedonian, which made the memorable pursuit of the Confederate steamers, the Florida and the Tallahassee. While Lieutenant Commander, in 1889, he cruised the Arctic Ocean from the mouth of the Mackenzie to Wrangal Land, in command of the Thetis. He was commissioned a Captain in 1899, Rear Admiral in 1906, and was retired October 13, 1907. Subsequently, from 1908-1909, he was First United States Delegate to the London Naval Conference.
He was a lecturer in international law at the United States Naval War College from 1897-1900, and was President of the same institution from 1898-1900. Among others, the following are some of the works which he either wrote or edited: History of the United States Asylum, The Laws and Usages of War: A Naval War Code, and A Manual of International Law. It was in recognition of his services in the field of international law that the University conferred upon him the honorary LL.D. at the 1909 Commencement.
Charles Herbert Stockton was made Acting President in May 1910. In June of that year the Attorney General made a preliminary report upon the financial affairs of the University and found that the expenses of the University had exceeded its income and endangered the endowment. A heavy mortgage was placed on the properties housing the Medical School and Hospital. President Stockton, during the early years of his administration served without compensation. He maintained a close scrutiny on all expenditures and laid the basis for a solid recovery for the University.
Through the urging of Dr. Stockton, the Department of Arts and Sciences was moved in 1912 to 2023 G Street, the area that George Washington himself had selected as the site for "his" University. Foggy Bottom was established as the new central location. President Stockton's credentials could not have been better for the challenges that would confront the University. Perhaps his most significant qualification for guiding the University during World War I was his status as a retired Rear Admiral. As the United States drew ever closer to full involvement in the conflict, Stockton placed the University at the government's disposal. Also during the Stockton Presidency the Law School became co-educational, the College of Engineering and Mechanical Arts became the School of Engineering and the Summer Sessions were established.
This sub-series consists of a single folder of correspondence related to the administration of the university, a photocopy of a biographical sketch of President Stockton, and a bound journal in which President Stockton kept records of the weather and events related to the administration of George Washington University for the first half of 1918.
Entries by President Stockton, noting the weather, daily meetings, student enrollment and charges, receipts and disbursments.
The records from Presidents Collier and Lewis were transferred to the library from the office of the president's own archives in April 1980.
The files primarily are arranged alphabetically by subject, with two folders of correspondence with university administrators at the beginning and the former vertical file and file of correspondence with Marvin at the end. The files remain in the arrangement in which they were received in the archives.
William Miller Collier was president of George Washington University from 1918 to 1921. Collier was born November 11, 1867 in Lodi, New York, the son of Rev. Isaac H. and Frances Miller. He married Frances Beardsley Ross of Auburn, September 13, 1893. Collier died April 15, 1956. An alumnus of Hamilton College (A.B., 1889; A.M., 1892), Clinton, N.Y., and Columbia University Law School, Dr. Collier was a lawyer by profession and a recognized authority on Civil Service. He rose from law clerk to become referee in bankruptcy and president of the New York State Civil Service Commission (1899-1903). Dr. Collier wrote a number of books on law. He was a distinguished lecturer on international law and diplomacy for many years, both at New York University Law School and at the George Washington University.
Dr. Collier served and was a friend of seven United States Presidents. He was the First Solicitor of the former Department of Commerce and Labor and then special assistant to the Attorney General in charge of antitrust cases under President Theodore Roosevelt, who later appointed him to be Minister in Spain (1905-09). In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson sent him to Norway to head the United States delegation at an international conference to frame a government for the island of Spitzenberg.
President Collier assumed his duties at the University in the late summer of 1918 as the American involvement in Europe was reaching its highest point. A unit of the Student Army Training Corps and United States Naval Unit were established for the period of the war. In 1918 a special convocation was held for the first conferring upon a ruling prince of an honorary degree in the Nation's Capital. His majesty, Albert, King of the Belgians, received the honor. In 1921, having presided over the centennial celebration of the University, Collier resigned when President Warren G. Harding nominated him for an ambassadorship to Chile (where he served from 1921-28), and was instrumental in mediating a border dispute between Chile and Peru. Universities in both countries honored him for his part in the settlement.
In the records from the presidency of William Collier we find for the first time the beginnings of a modern administrative filing system, though much of it has undoubtedly disappeared or been destroyed prior to its arrival in the archives. The files consist primarily of correspondence related to administration of the university, including the Student Army Training Corps during WWI.
The sub-series also includes several files of materials collected about Collier following his presidencylater, including a vertical file and a file of correspondence with President Marvin.
The records from Presidents Collier and Lewis were transferred to the library from the office of the president's own archives in April 1980.
This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent name or subject, with the two general files of information about President Lewis at the end. The alphabetical files remain in the order in which they were received in the archives, which is presumably the order established by Lewis' office staff.
William Mather Lewis, the eleventh president of George Washington University, served from 1923 to 1927. Lewis was born in Howell, Michigan on March 24, 1878, and moved with his family to Joliet, Illinois, where he received his elementary education. He attended high school in Galesburg, Illinois and graduated from Lake Forest College with an A.B. degree in 1900. He received his M.A. at Illinois College in 1902, where he also taught English literature. In 1903 he returned to Lake Forest College, where he taught until 1906, when he became head master at Lake Forest Academy. He resigned in 1913 and went abroad for two years to study English, French, and German school systems. Upon his return in 1915, citizens of Lake Forest elected him mayor, and he instituted a far-reaching "City Beautiful" project.
During World War I he was executive secretary of the National Patriotic Societies. From 1919-21 he was director of the Savings Division of the United States Treasury, where he oversaw a national thrift campaign. In 1921 he became chief of the education service for the United States Chamber of Commerce, advising cities around the country how to improve their school curriculum, buildings, and equipment. "Spend as much money as possible for education, but make it pay a good dividend," was the backbone of his advice. In 1923 he was chosen as President of George Washington University. President Lewis was well known as a brilliant speaker and in demand by various groups. During his four-year presidency, a new gymnasium was erected and Mrs. Joshua Evans, Jr. was elected by the Alumni as the first woman member of the Board of Trustees. After leaving George Washington University Lewis assumed the presidency of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He died in 1945.
This sub-series primarily comprises a set of alphabetical correspondence files from the Lewis administration, as well as two files of biographical and other information collected about Lewis.
This series is open for use.
This series is arranged in seven sub-series. The first six sub-series (Alphabetical correspondence files, Special events files, Publications, Accreditation files, University organization files, and Prizes and prize tea files) were established prior to the files' transfer to the archives, presumably by Marvin's own office staff. They are presented here in no particular order, although their contents remain in the order in which they were received. The final sub-series brings together files of additional materials about Marvin and his presidency by people outside the Marvin administration.
Cloyd Heck Marvin was the twelfth President of the George Washington University, a position he held from 1927 to1959. The thirty-two years of Dr. Marvin's presidency is the longest in the history of the school. He was born August 22, 1889 in Findlay, Ohio. He moved with his family to Riverside, California in 1909, and graduated from high school there that year. After beginning his studies at Stanford University, he earned an A.B. degree (1915) and M.A. degree (1916) from the University of Southern California, and an M.A. (1917) and Ph.D. (1919) from Harvard. He served as a faculty member and dean at U.C.L.A. from 1919-22, and became president of the University of Arizona in 1922, at the age of 33. He served five years there before coming to GW in 1927.
When he arrived, the "G Street high school," as some derided it, was crowded into about one square block, and had 109 full-time faculty and an enrollment of 5,478. Dr. Marvin reorganized the administration of the University, and with the assistance of the Board of Trustees he revamped and strengthened its financial structure so that at no time in his administration, even during the depression and the war years, was there a retrenchment through reduction in the size of the teaching staff or in faculty salaries. By the 1930s, the University had become well established in the Foggy Bottom area, and the institution had become a true urban university. By the time Marvin retired in 1959, the University had spread out to more than six times its old area, and the faculty and enrollment had doubled. Endowments were four times bigger and physical properties had increased eighteen fold. President Marvin died April 27, 1969 in Washington, D.C. His widow Dorothy Betts Marvin (whom he married in 1917) gave a naming gift of $1.5 million for the Cloyd Heck Marvin Student Center in 1971.
The Marvin-era records of some administrative committees and councils may be found in the so-named subseries of records from the Elliott administration, where they were apparently maintained for historical information.
This series represents a remarkably complete view of the functions of the Marvin administration, when compared to those of his predecessors. The files appear to remain structured and organized as they were within the president's office during the period of their active use. The series consists primarily of correspondence, though publications and reports also appear, particularly in the Publications and Accreditation files subseries.
Additional details about the contents of each sub-series are provided at the sub-series levels, below.
The alphabetical correspondence files from Marvin's presidency were transferred to the library from the office of the president in April 1980.
Files are arranged alphabetically by either correspondent name or subject.
The alphabetical correspondence files contain incoming and outgoing correspondence from President Marvin. The correspondents are primarily external to the university, but the sub-series also includes memos to the faculty and administrators. The sub-series is not limited by topic and likely includes all issues relevant to his administration.
Arranged in reverse chronological order by date of event.
The special event files contain information about a selected number of events that Marvin participated in while president of the university. The files may include materials such as the text of speeches and comments given at the events, programs, and other planning documents and correspondence relating to the event.
Files in the Publications sub-series are arranged alphabetically by the subject of the publication.
The publications subseries comprises drafts and final versions of publications creted by Marvin's administration. Most of the publications are regulations, codes or reports on the functions of the university.
The accreditation files from Marvin's presidency were transferred to the library by the office of the president around 1980.
The accredidation files are arranged roughly alphabetically by either the accrediting agency (for exmample, Association of American Universities) or unit being accredited (for example, Law School).
The files in this subseries relate to various accreditations sought or maintained by either George Washington University or one of its component schools. The majority of the files relate to university accreditation by either the Association of American Universities, Association of American Women, or Middle States, but it also includes informaiton about the accreditation of the schools of engineering, law, pharmacy, and medicine and the departments of chemistry and library science. The files contain correspondence with the accrediting agencies, as well as studies and reports created as part of the accreditation process. The subseries also includes one file of information about the Association of University Women accreditation from the presidency of William Mather Lewis (1923-1927).
The organization file from Marvin's presidency was transferred to the library by the office of the president in July 1980.
The University Organization files are arranged alphabetically by the name of the university unit, with the exception of Student Activities and issues related to Rule 6 (the restriction against student group affiliations with national organizations), which appeaar at the end of the subseries.
The university organization files are roughly equivalent to the alphabetical correspondence files, except that they deal with correspondents internal, rather than primarily external, to the university. The materials in this series include internal correspondence and memoranda, reports, and background documents. Although these files were compiled and maintained during Marvin's administration, they occasionally include materials from earlier eras as well.
Contains one memo related to an automobile accident in which two students were killed.
The prizes and prize tea files were sent to the library by the office of the president in July 1980.
The files in this sub-series are arranged in three groups, the meaning of which was likely important at the time the files were active, but is largely irrelevant today. The first set of files were organized under the heading "Recommendations requested," the second under "Non-current," and the third was an alphabetically-arranged set. Within each set, files are arranged alphabetically by prize name.
The Prize and Prize Tea files comprise correspondence regarding the founding, administration, and awarding of various academic prizes at the university. The files are primarily from the Marvin administration, but some continue on into his successors' administrations. The sub-series also includes a file of excerpts from the Board of Trustees' minutes in which actions were taking regarding prizes.
The files in this sub-series are not arranged in any particular order.
The Miscellaneous sub-series consists of files about Marvin or his administration that were accumulated by university staff other than his office, likely historians, librarians, and archivists.
This series is open for use.
The Carroll files are arranged before the Colclough report, but beyond that the files are not arranged in any particular order.
Oswald Symister Colclough twice served as acting president of The George Washington University: from 1959 to 1961 and 1964 to 1965. He was also a professor of law and Dean of the Law School from 1949-1953, Dean of Facilities from 1953-64 and Provost from 1961-64, retiring from GW in 1964.
Colclough was born in Monroetown, Pennsylvania on November 18, 1898. He died January 26, 1981 in Chevy Chase. Maryland. Following graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1920, he attended GW's Law School and received an LL.B. in 1935, receiving the John Bell Larner Medal for the highest grades in the bachelor of laws program. While at the Naval Academy, Colclough served with the Atlantic Fleet in World War I. In 1945 he was promoted to rear admiral and in November of that year he was confirmed by the Senate as Judge Advocate General of the Navy. During World War II he commanded submarines for the North Pacific Fleet, later serving as commanding officer of the battleship North Carolina. He retired from active military service in 1950 with the rank of vice admiral.
Admiral Colclough was active in professional and public service roles in the law, defense policy, education and government throughout his academic, legal and military careers. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference on Law of the Sea in 1958 and 1960, Chairman of the White House Disarmament Task Force on Navy Inspection, 1955-1958, and Director of the Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Research Institute at GW, among other positions. In 1961 GW awarded him an honorary degree as Doctor of Science.
Thomas Henry Carroll, George Washington University's thirteenth president, served from 1961 to 1964. Carroll was a specialist in economics and business administration, and served seven years as Vice President of the Ford Foundation before assuming the Presidency of the University. He was born May 12, 1914 in San Francisco, and earned a B.S. degree from the University of California (1934). Dr. Carroll earned M.B.A. (1936) and Doctor of Commercial Science (1939) degrees from Harvard University. From 1939-1942 he was a faculty member and assistant dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, the latter at the age of twenty-six.
After serving in World War II, he was dean of the University of North Carolina's School of Business Administration from 1950-1954. Dr. Carroll began work with the Ford Foundation in 1946, when he agreed to serve on an advisory committee on policy and programs. He later became director of economic development and administration before taking over as vice president of the Foundation in 1954. President John F. Kennedy spoke at his inauguration, receiving an honorary degree from the alma mater of his wife Jacqueline, class of 1951. In his remarks President Kennedy said, "My wife beat me to this honor by eight or nine years. It took her two years to get a degree, and it took me two minutes; but in any case, we are both grateful."
Before his sudden death July 27, 1964, President Carroll had overseen the beginning of work on the new wing of the University Hospital and the University's participation in a new consortium of local universities to strengthen graduate studies. He emphasized the centrality of the liberal arts in the curriculum of the University and recommended the merger of the Junior College with Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. He gave increased emphasis to international affairs and established the Institute for Sino-Soviet Studies. He inaugurated a music program and provided new teaching facilities for the fine arts. During his tenure, the University increased the annual operating budget from $18 million to $25 million, invested $5 million in the acquisition of additional land and buildings, and student enrollment increased 17%, from 9,595 to 11,246.
Since the Carroll and Colclough administrations were so brief, the majority of their records appear to have been subsumed into the files of the Elliott administration that came after.
Some Colclough records related to his work for the U.S. Navy as a delegate to the International Law of the Sea conference from 1957-1960 are located in MS2132.
The materials presented here as the records of the Colclough and Carroll administrations are, in fact, a fairly random assortment of files and materials that appear to be from those administrations but the route by which they came to be in the archives is no longer clear. Instead, it appears that the bulk of the records generated by these relatively brief administrations were subsumed into the records of their successor, President Elliott.
This series contains files related to student prizes, Colcough's 1960 report to the Board of Trustees, and a recording of Carroll speaking to a student group in 1963, as well as some general material collected about Carroll.
Formerly ACC#700
The contents of this series are closed for 50 years from the date of creation. Permission to use restricted materials may be obtained from the office of the president; please contact email@example.com to facilitate permission.
This series is arranged in 14 sub-series: 3 sub-series of alphabetical correspondence files, 4 sub-series of university organizational files, 4 sub-series of files about the faculty senate, administrative committees and other university-wide groups, 1 sub-series of event files, 1 sub-series related to Middle States accreditation processes, and 1 sub-series of miscellaneous materials.
Lloyd H. Elliott was President of The George Washington University from 1965 to 1988. Dr. Elliott became University President during the turbulent years of the Vietnam Era and the student protests. By the end of his tenure Dr. Elliott had brought to the University financial stability and continued growth through academic development and his many building programs.
As Dr. Elliott considered libraries to be the backbone of any campus, his proudest achievement was the building of the three libraries currently at the campus: the Melvin Gelman Library, the Jacob Burns Law Library, and the Paul Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library. In addition to the library projects, the Academic Center, (comprised of Smith, Rome and Phillips Halls), Funger Hall and the National Law Center's Theodore N. Lerner Hall were completed. In 1970 Dr. Elliott opened the Cloyd Heck Marvin Student Center, which had been a high priority because of the great need for additional space for student activities. 1973 was a landmark year for the University. GW's medical training program was moved from 13th and H Streets, N.W. to the Walter G. Ross Hall. With the relocation of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the University was for the first time located in one central area. The Charles E. Smith Center for Physical Education and Athletics, which replaced the old "Tin Tabernacle" gymnasium, was dedicated in 1975.
During his tenure, Dr. Elliott began the Educational Opportunity Program and created the new faculty rank of "University Professor." He increased the number of endowed professorships from three to twenty, and is also credited with the tremendous growth in the University's endowment -- from $8 million in 1965 to $200 million in 1988.
In the Elliott records we see a continuation and expansion of the filing structures established during the Marvin administration: alphabetical files, University organizational files, special event files, as well as several additional types of files.
While the records in this series were primarily organized and used during the Elliott administration, they also include some historical records from his predecessors, including Presidents Marvin and Carroll, and acting President Colclough.
This series includes documentation of all of the major challenges and issues of Elliott's administration, including significant shifts that occurred in student life, the relationship of the university to its students, changes in faculty representation and structure, and the development of a truly modern university administration.
More detailed descriptions of the types of records found in this series can be found in the sub-series level descriptions, below.
This set of alphabetical files was transferred by the office of the president in 1992. Formerly accession #165.
This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by topic or correspondent last name. The files remain in the structure and order in which they were received in the archives.
This sub-series is a set of files containing primarily correspondence, arranged alphabetically by subject or correspondent. The alphabetical files are differentiated from the organizational files because their correspondents or subjects are external-facing to the university, or are not easily tied to a single administrative or academic unit. While some subjects or correspondents received their own named file, others were grouped together in files labeled only with a letter of the alphabet. As in earalier alphabetical files, this set includes a file of memoranda issued to administrative and academic staff.
This particular set of Elliott's alphabetical files is notable because it includes correspondence that took place during the administrations of his two predecessors, Colclough and Carroll. This set of files was retired from active use around 1974.
This set of alphabetical files was received from the office of the president in 1999. Formerly accession #768
This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by topic or correspondent last name. The files remain in the structure and order in which they were received in the archives.
This sub-series is a set of files containing primarily correspondence, arranged alphabetically by subject or correspondent. The alphabetical files are differentiated from the organizational files because their correspondents or subjects are external-facing to the university, or are not easily tied to a single administrative or academic unit. While some subjects or correspondents received their own named file, others were grouped together in files labeled only with a letter of the alphabet.
Subjects include the sesquicentennial, University historian, Reagan assassination attempt, University Marshal, sponsored research, regulations regarding student organizations, ceremonies and convocations, building dedications, standing committees, burial grounds owned by GW, and experimental programs. These files were retired from active use around 1982.
This set of alphabetical files was received from the office of the president in 1999. Formerly accession #768.
This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by topic or correspondent last name. The files remain in the structure and order in which they were received in the archives.
This sub-series is a set of files containing primarily correspondence, arranged alphabetically by subject or correspondent. The alphabetical files are differentiated from the organizational files because their correspondents or subjects are external-facing to the university, or are not easily tied to a single administrative or academic unit. While some subjects or correspondents received their own named file, others were grouped together in files labeled only with a letter of the alphabet.
Subjects include the sesquicentennial, University historian, Reagan assassination attempt, University Marshal, sponsored research, regulations regarding student organizations, ceremonies and convocations, building dedications, standing committees, burial grounds owned by GW, and experimental programs. These files were retired from active use around 1988.
These records were transferred to the archives by the office of the president in October 1991. Formerly ACC# 165.
This sub-series is arranged by university unit and thereunder by topic.
This sub-series is a set of "University organization" files, which are files of correspondence and other materials organized by the university unit to which they relate. University organization files are differentiated from the alphabetical correspondence files in that they pertain exclusively to correspondents and subejcts internal to the university.
Although these files date primarily from the Elliott presidency, they include some materials from the administrations of his predecessors, Colclough and Carroll. These files were retired from active use around 1974.
The subjects include Commission on Governance, Faculty Assembly, commencements and convocations, athletics such as football, Admissions Office, Computer Center, College of General Studies, Law Center, groundbreaking of the law library and the Patent and Trademark Institute, registrar records, sponsored research, medical affairs, Medical Center, Black Students Union, Marvin Center, fund-raising campaigns, student protests and demonstrations, Faculty Senate, Smith Center, and University Historian. There are many files for various committees such as University Bookstore Committee, Student Publications Committee, and Academic Policy Committee. Of particular note are the University Marshall files, which include programs that list graduates from various commencements.
This set of organizational files was received from the office of the president in 1999. Formerly accession #768.
This sub-series is arranged by university unit and thereunder by topic.
This sub-series is a set of organizational files, which are files of correspondence and other materials organized by the university unit to which they relate. University organizational files are differentiated from the alphabetical correspondence files in that they pertain exclusively to correspondents and subjects internal to the university.
This set of files appears to have been used most heavily around the period 1973-1977, although they include documents both before and after that period.
Subjects include the sesquicentennial, University historian, Reagan assassination attempt, University Marshal, sponsored research, regulations regarding student organizations, ceremonies and convocations, building dedications, standing committees, burial grounds owned by GW, and experimental programs.
This set of organizational files was received from the office of the president in 1992. Formerly accession #165.
This sub-series is arranged by university unit and thereunder by topic.
This sub-series is a set of "organization" files, which are files of correspondence and other materials organized by the university unit to which they relate. University organization files are differentiated from the alphabetical correspondence files in that they pertain exclusively to correspondents and subjects internal to the university.
The bulk of these files date from around 1976 to 1985, although they contain material from both before and after that period.
The subjects include Commission on Governance, Faculty Assembly, commencements and convocations, athletics such as football, Admissions Office, Computer Center, College of General Studies, Law Center, groundbreaking of the law library and the Patent and Trademark Institute, registrar records, sponsored research, medical affairs, Medical Center, Black Students Union, Marvin Center, fund-raising campaigns, student protests and demonstrations, Faculty Senate, Smith Center, and University Historian. There are many files for various committees such as University Bookstore Committee, Student Publications Committee, and Academic Policy Committee. Of particular note are the University Marshall files, which include programs that list graduates from various commencements.
This set of organizational files was received from the office of the president in 1999. Formerly accession # 768.
This sub-series is arranged by university unit and thereunder by topic.
This sub-series is a set of "organizational" files, which are files of correspondence and other materials organized by the university unit to which they relate. University organizational files are differentiated from the alphabetical correspondence files in that they pertain exclusively to correspondents and subjects internal to the university.
The bulk of these files date from 1986-1989, although they include some materials from before that period as well.
Subjects include the sesquicentennial, University historian, Reagan assassination attempt, University Marshal, sponsored research, regulations regarding student organizations, ceremonies and convocations, building dedications, standing committees, burial grounds owned by GW, and experimental programs.
The minutes from the faculty assembly and schools and colleges were sent to the library by the office of the president around 1980.
Files in this sub-series are arranged alphabetically by the name of the university unit whose members were meeting.
This sub-series comprises minutes and other materials from meetings of the university faculty senate, meetings of the faculty of the various schools and colleges, and meetings of the Graduate Council.
This set of files were received from the office of the president in 1992. Formerly ACC# 165.
This sub-series does not appear to be arranged in any particular order.
This sub-series comprises meeting minutes, reports, and other materials related to the GW faculty senate.
This set of committee and council files were received from the office of the president in 1992. Formerly accession #165.
The files in this sub-series are arranged alphabetically by committee or council name (the Special Committee on James Monroe Bicentennial, for example, is under "M").
This sub-series comprises files of materials generated by and about various university-wide administrative committees and councils. They include correspondence, reports, and other administrative materials. The majority of the materials date from 1960-1972, although they include some records from both before and after that period.
The administrative committees, boards and task forces files were transferred to the library by the office of the president in 1999. Formerly accession #768.
This sub-series is arranged with standing committees first, followed by special, temporary, or ad-hoc groups.
This sub-series comprises files of materials generated by and about various university-wide committees, boards and task forces. They include correspondence, reports, and other administrative materials. The majority of the materials date from 1973-1988, although they include some records from both before that period.