Rutgers College Office of the President (William H.S. Demarest)

The bulk of the records of the Office of the President during the tenure of William Henry Steele Demarest (1905-1925) reside in Series I: Subject Files, with the remainder of the files comprising Series II: Name Files. This series documents all aspects of the Demarest Presidency, including the issues that were unique to his presidency as well as the issues common to any university president.

Rutgers experienced unprecedented growth during the Demarest Presidency, which is well represented in this series. As noted in the administrative history, this expansion took on many forms, such as the expansion of existing colleges and programs, the edition of new colleges and programs, new facilities, and expanded enrollment. These files may be found throughout Series I and include folders such as: "Agriculture Department and Experiment Station", "Buildings & Grounds", "Engineering Building", "Ford Domitory: Construction", and "New Jersey College for Women" to name just a few. The "Bequests" and "Property Improvements & Acquisitions" files also relate to the growth of, and improvements to the institution's physical property.

A university cannot grow without increased funding, so during his presidency Demarest tirelessly pursued ways to fund the expansion of Rutgers. The "Carnegie Foundation" and "General Education Board" files demonstrate the difficulties faced by the institution in securing funds from external funding sources, while the "Endowment", "Endowment Campaign", "Endowment Committee", and "Fund Raising and Gifts" files relate to Rutgers sponsored funding initiatives.

Although the growth of Rutgers and the pursuit of funding are important issue during the Demarest presidency, the relations between Rutgers and the State of New Jersey supercedes both in importance. Because expansion relies on funding and funding from the state was frequently dependant on the relationship between Rutgers and the State, neither issue can be fully understood without investigating this relationship. Dr. Demarest's presidency can be viewed as turning point in the history of the institution. Although Demarest hoped to maintain the duality of Rutgers as a state institution and a small liberal arts college, it is during his tenure that Rutgers begins to move towards the former and away from the latter. This is evidenced by the fact that the General Synod of the Reformed Church, at Demarest's urging, rescinded the quota mandating that "two-thirds of the Trustees had to be communicants of the Reformed Church" in 1909. (McCormick p. 154-5) This is reflected in the "Reformed Church" files.

By removing this quota, Demarest hoped to increase federal and state support of Rutgers. The "Smith-Hughs Act" files provide insight into some of the issues that were at play regarding the status of Rutgers as a private or public institution. One of these files, entitled "Smith-Hughs Act: Objection to Rutgers Receiving Federal Funds" demonstrates the problems that created by this duality of status. McCormick tells us that "President Demarest took the leading role in dealing with Governors and legislators, always confining his requests to what he felt assured could be obtained but constantly pressing the state authorities to give to Rutgers recognition and support comparable to that bestowed on state colleges elsewhere." (p.153) This is revealed by the numerous files related to the state, state departments, boards, and commissions, as well as state representatives. Examples include "State: Relations, Budgets, Appointments", "State Appropriations", "State Legislature: Requests for Funds" and "State Relations with Rutgers: Minkler, Frederick C." in Series I, as well as folders in Series II that relate to individual trustees and legislators.

In addition to expanding and improving Rutgers, Dr. Demarest was busy interacting with various communities of people of interest to the university. The Subject Files reveal that the Rutgers alumni were quite important to the Demarest presidency. Boxes 2 and 3 contain more than 20 files related to the alumni of Rutgers and various alumni clubs and associations. In addition there are several files related to specific graduating classes ("Class of 1868", "Class of 1883") and "Class Reunions".

Demarest was also collegial with many individuals and associations external to Rutgers. The Subject Files include files such as " Agricultural College Association", "Association of Land Grant Colleges" and many more, filed according to the name of the association. The Name Series includes communications with individuals from other academic institutions, which complement general files in the Subject Files series such as "Communications with other Colleges".

Demarest's Subject Files also reveal the more predictable responsibilities of a university president. In addition to files for each of Rutgers' colleges and academic departments are files related to "Athletics", fraternities (filed alphabetically by fraternity name), "Commencement", "Honorary Degrees", and "Rhodes Scholarships".

Because World War I occurred during the Demarest presidency, the war and related subjects are found throughout the Subject Files. These include files such as: "Memorial Service", "Military Department", "Military Science", "National Defense", "R.O.T.C.", "Student Army Training Corps", and "War Department".

The Subject Files series reveals that Dr. Demarest was more involved in the day to day operation of Rutgers than are the more recent presidents. Whether this is a result of the times or the size of the institution during his tenure remains to be seen, but certain files make this claim indisputable. It was not uncommon for Demarest to communicate directly with students and perspective students, their families, faculty, alumni, and job applicants as evidenced by files such as: "Application for Position", "Candidates for Positions", "Communications with the Faculty", "Trustees" and "Undergraduates: letters to Undergraduates and Parents". The Name Series also includes many files of correspondance with individual faculty members, individuals requesting positions at Rutgers, or admitance to Rutgers for themselves or others.

The second series, Series II Name Files, augments the Subject Files. Although the contents of these folders often relate to the folders in Series I, each file tends to be more general in subject.

The third series, Series III Newsclippings, also augments the Subject files. These clippings relate to Dr. Demarest and his speaking engagements, as well as subjects related to the university as a whole.