III. Rutgers University Board of Trustees: Manuscript Minutes, Enclosures, and Subject Files,, 1925-1956

The records of the Rutgers University Board of Trustees are arranged in forty manuscript boxes and date from 1778 to 1956. The records include rough drafts of meeting minutes and materials enclosed with the minutes such as correspondence, financial records, committee reports, other types of reports and informative documents, and legal documents. During the period covered by this collection, the Board of Trustees had almost all of the responsibility for running the College. Items which appear routinely in the records include: considerations over land and buildings, lists of students recommended by the faculty for degrees, correspondence on honorary degrees, financial accounts (usually in April), materials on relations with the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church and, later, with the state of New Jersey, and personnel considerations.

The records have been arranged, as nearly as possible, in chronological order. Attempts were made to associate undated materials with dated materials on the same subject. Where no such association was possible, in the earlier records, the undated material has been placed at the back of the folder in the year of the other materials with which it appeared. In later years, when records had been foldered month-by-month, the unassociated materials have been placed with the meeting minutes for that month. Some records had also been identified by the secretary of the Board with letters or numbers corresponding to portions of the Trustees' minutes. Since this arrangement dates back to the time of the creation of the records, these documents have been placed in the order indicated by the numbers or letters regardless of date and have been placed, as a group, with the minutes which refer to them. Due to at least one earlier attempt at processing the collection, the earlier records - up to 1835 - had been in a somewhat confused state, partially divided by subject. The subject divisions have been maintained for this portion of the collection: the records have been placed in chronological order within each subject folder for approximate ten-year periods. The folder of rough minutes for the decade comes first, followed by the subject folders in alphabetical order. No previous attempts had been made to process the later records beyond placing them in folders by year and, later, by month: hence they are simply placed in chronological order irrespective of subject or type of document. The earliest records are rather sparse but the number of records grows for each year closer to 1956. Where ten years worth of earlier material takes up only one folder, later records require one or more folders for a single year. The collection is fairly complete for the years after 1800, with no major gaps.

Some of the more unusual matters dealt with by the Board include:

1792-1793:

Negotiations for a proposed merger with Princeton.

1811-1816:

Dealings with the Medical School in New York.

1819-1825:

Use of lotteries as a fund-raising technique.

1826:

Biographical folder on Joseph Nelson.

1847:

Controversy over "secret societies" (early fraternities).

1863:

Precedent set for presidential inaugurations at the inauguration of William H. Campbell.

1864:

Rutgers becomes a Land Grant college.

1872:

Discussion on whether or not to build dormitories. Advice sought from other colleges. Gives an informative picture of student life of the period.

1891-1893:

Revision of policies on scholarships.

1900:

Brief discussion and history of school colors

Edgar Shumway resignation case (special folder)

1912:

Corrections to 1911 minutes, discussion of faculty housing.

1913-1914:

Limitations placed on the number of clubs and fraternities allowed.

1915:

Development of a financial aid policy.

1918:

Negotiations on Women's College.

1924:

Proposal for athletic and military facilities.

1926:

Negotiations with the College of Pharmacy.

1926-1927:

Moore case.

1926-1928:

Discussions on the statue of William the Silent.

1929, June 7:

Rule adopted requiring students to have permission from the Board to establish student publications.

1931:

Decision to admit women to the Board for the purpose of facilitating the Board's relations with the College for Women.

1932:

First women elected to the Board; Game conservation (special folder).

1935:

Lienhard Bergel case

1938, October:

Proposed trip by the football team to Cuba for a sports exhibition. (historical value: conditions in Cuba, University relations with other countries, attitudes about collegiate sports.)

1939, January:

Report on history of the name "Rutgers" with proposal to return name to "Queen's College."

1952-1953:

Academic freedom cases: Heimlich, Finley, and Glasser. (special folder)