Elizabeth R. Boyd Historical Collection on Rutgers University,

The original Rutgers University related documents in this collection were in possession of Rutgers University and were housed in the Rutgersensia section, which contained information on Rutgers. The documents became separated and came into the possession of Elizabeth R. Boyd, who worked in the Rutgers University Library in the 1930s through the 1950s and was the first curator of the Rutgersensia collection. Although the materials were originally housed in different collections, their collation into the Boyd collection has been maintained.

Rutgers University Archives regained possession of this collection when the University Archivist, Thomas J. Frusciano, was contacted in July 1994 by Harold B. Elsasser, a nephew of the Boyds. Elsasser, who is the Attorney-in-Fact for Mrs. Boyd and the Estate Administrator for Mr. Boyd had been clearing out Mrs. Boyd's house in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, when he discovered a large box of items that became the basis for this collection.

This is an "artificial" collection due to its consisting of materials that originated in other Rutgers collections. Many of the documents were removed from the Rutgersensia section and were temporarily stored with notes and transcriptions relating to them. Materials arrived in general disarray. Some items arrived in labeled folders and where possible the original folder headings were utilized, particularly in the Subject Files subseries. All documents were refoldered. Original order was disrupted because original nineteenth-century documents arrived interfiled with twentieth-century notes and transcriptions of the documents and they were segregated. Most of the folder labels were created to attempt to bring some order to the collection. Most folder headings are specific, but there are a few that are broad that contained disordered or miscellaneous papers. This finding aid contains descriptions of contents in folders. Although these are not exhaustive, they are intended to provide a high level of detail about the contents since the materials were often gathered from different sources.

Printed material and most of the ephemera were separated out and organized as separate subseries. Some of the ephemera can be located in the Subject Files subseries under specific subjects.

Upon arrival at Rutgers University Archives, Volume I of the Minutes of the Rutgers College Faculty was removed from the collection and placed with the other volumes of faculty minutes. The archival staff decided to maintain some of the collection in its artificial state rather than return each item into the collection to which it may have belonged. Along with the Minutes, publications were also separated for cataloging and inclusion in the Rutgers Publications section of the University Archives. Finally, photographs pertaining to Rutgers history were removed to the R-PHOTO collection in the University Archives.