I. Rutgers University Files,, 1795-1953

Summary: The "Original and Facsimile Documents" files are a rich source of material documenting the history of Rutgers. The oldest item it contains, from 1795, is John Neilson's letter to James Stevenson informing him of Queen's College's closure, stating the Trustees' wish to support the Grammar School, and offering Stevenson the position of teacher/director. Other early Rutgers documents include petitions addressed to the Legislature and General Assembly of New Jersey from the people of New Brunswick asking permission to hold lotteries to assist in the completion of the college dating from the early 1800s. Note that some material from this subseries may be found in Box 4, which contains oversize material.

This subseries also contains other documents that bring nineteenth-century Rutgers and New Brunswick to life. The letters of Rutgers student Isaac L. Kip Miller (Class of 1840) to his brothers Augustus C. and William A. Miller describe his time at Rutgers and beyond with humor and warmth (See "Miller Brothers: Correspondence" folder). Other letters, written by William I. Thompson (class of 1834) between 1831 and 1861 discuss Rutgers and life in New Brunswick (See "Thompson, William L.—Correspondence" folder). An untitled document in the folder labeled "Faculty, Reports, Accounts, Petitions" is an 1838 report of several students who were questioned about behaviors such as card playing, being intoxicated, and knowing "bad women."

Other files in this subseries include lists of Civil War veterans who graduated from Rutgers, correspondence of Rutgers Presidents Theodore Frelinghuysen and Philip Milledoler; business-related items such as an insurance policy between Rutgers and the American Insurance Company from 1903 (in Oversize Box 4); manuscripts of articles about Rutgers written by faculty, and a signed report of President Merrill E. Gates, upon his resignation. There are also files of faculty minutes, reports and papers, and a file of Trustees' documents including resolutions, bylaws, a petition, and correspondence. Also included in this subseries are photostat copies of two important documents: a letter in reference to the Athenian Society dated 1776 and a letter from George Washington dated 1781.

The "Subject Files" subseries primarily contains background information pertaining to various Rutgers people and subjects. It includes correspondence, clippings, transcriptions, and notes. There is background information relating to professors Robert Adrain and Joseph Nelson, former president John Henry Livingston, Henry Rutgers, and Dinah Van Bergh, the wife of Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, the first president of Queen's College. Some subjects of interest include the history of crew at Rutgers and an investigation into whether a race occurred between Harvard and Rutgers in the 1870s, secret societies (fraternities), and glee club. Events covered in other folders include the Cannon War between Rutgers and Princeton students in 1875 over ownership of a Civil War cannon, and the Ballantine Gymnasium Fire, which occurred in 1930. The "Eclipse of the Sun" folder contains an account of a trip by Rutgers students to South Carolina view an eclipse around the turn of the twentieth century, a photograph of this eclipse is also included in the folder.

Several folders contain notes, transcriptions, brochures and articles regarding building construction at Rutgers and there are also individual files on the Old Queen's Building (including a file on the source of the red sandstone used in its construction), the Library, and Neilson Field. Of particular interest is correspondence of Charles Miller dating between 1943 to 1956 regarding a fireplace crane that hung at Van Harlingen House, the building Queen's College students lived and studied at during the Revolutionary War when British troops were in New Brunswick (see folder "Old Crane at Van Harlingen House"). Miller's brother purchased the crane at an antiques store and offered it to Rutgers. The correspondence indicates that although the crane was given to Rutgers, and there was some discussion about where it should go, no one knew what had happened to it after its arrival.

Also included in this series is correspondence of former president Austin Scott. The Class of 1882 file includes correspondence of W. I. Chandler, Charles L. Edgar, and Frederick P. Hill, a Rutgers alumnus who as part Hill and Stout Architects, designed the Class of 1883 gates. The American Bank Note Company correspondence pertains to the engraving of diplomas. Lastly, there are a few folders on general Rutgers historical background, consisting of notes and clippings. Newspaper clippings span from the 1860s to the 1940s and include clippings from Christian Intelligencer, New Brunswick Fredonian, Targum, and other local newspapers. The articles often provide insight into life at Rutgers at different times.

As indicated by its title, the "Transcriptions" subseries contains typed and handwritten transcriptions. Included are transcriptions of the Brunswick Gazette newspaper regarding Trustees meetings, accounts of commencement (1789-1791); excerpts of minutes of the Board of Trustees (1782-1825); and Transactions of the Athenian Society (1776-1787). The file labeled "miscellaneous" contains a transcript of a New York Journal announcement about the coming opening of Queen's College in 1771, and transcriptions of letters by Dinah Van Bergh, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and Henry Rutgers. Some transcriptions can also be found with background information in the Subject Files and Notes subseries. The dates on the folders relate to the dates of the original items, but the transcriptions were most likely made in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The "Notes" subseries consists of handwritten and typed notes on notebook paper and index cards. Most of the notes relate to the history of Rutgers and were taken by Elizabeth Boyd, Rutgers president William H. S. Demarest, and William H. Benedict. The notes, which also include transcriptions and some original documents, detail topics such as societies and clubs at Rutgers, meetings of the trustees, and origins of Rutgers traditions and accounts of events at Rutgers. A few non-Rutgers related items are found within these folders, including an account of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and a journal written by Samuel Kirkland who was a missionary "to the Oneida Nation of Indians and others of the Six Nations." However, it is not always apparent why these were collected.

The "Ephemera" subseries includes a tuition bill from 1821; a matriculation ticket from 1826; lecture and concert announcements from the 1860s through the 1900s; library book return notices from the 1880s; and the sheet music to "Loyal Sons of Rutgers," the theme song of Ozzie Nelson, class of 1926.

The "Printed Material" subseries consists of catalogs, brochures, reports, addresses, and histories dated between 1826 and 1946. Most items are Rutgers publications, but some are outside publications with writings about Rutgers.