Mount Holyoke College
Archives and Special Collections

Archival Inventory

Trustees
Records, , 1836-

Record Group: RG 3.1

Agency History/Biographical note:
In 1835, the five male incorporators of the Seminary filed a petition to found a "permanent female seminary." This became law on February 11, 1836. The orginal board was made up of ten members. Prominent among the all-male members of the original Board were John Todd (President), Joseph Condit (Secretary) and Samuel Williston (Treasurer). The first female non-Principal/President member, Sarah Williston, was appointed to the Board in 1884. In 1888, the Trustees applied for and obtained permission to amend the charter to give Mount Holyoke collegiate status. Over the next five years the Seminary curriculum was phased out. This resulted in a temporary name change to Mount Holyoke Seminary and College between 1888 and 1893, when the name was officially changed to Mount Holyoke College. The Board of Trustees oversees the property, business and affairs of the College with particular emphasis on the financial stability of the institution.

Scope and Content:
The Records of the Board of Trustees of Mount Holyoke College date from 1836 and include: meeting minutes and agenda, by-laws and other policies, memos, correspondence, reports, financial data, work books, lists, press releases, clippings, and biographical sketches. The records deal with all aspects of the College's operation including financial decisions and planning, faculty compensation, buildings and grounds decisions and planning, litigation, the nomination and election of honorary degree candidates and members of the Board, curriculum, religous life, investment and property purchase decisions, student life and parietals, and general directions and planning associated with the development of the College as a whole. The records include files of most of the Trustee standing committees, including the Buildings and Grounds Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Executive Committee, the Finance Committee, the Proxy Committee, the Committee on Student Affairs, the Committee on Trustees, the Audit Committee, the Committee on Conference, the Development Committee and the Committee on Education. Other Committees represented in the records include the Committee on Religous Life, the Admissions Committee, the Study Committee on Trusteeship, the Review Committee of the Trustees, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Purposes of a Residential College, and the joint faculty Committee on Social Responsibility. Significant correspondents include Andrew W. Porter, A. Lyman Williston, Joseph A. Skinner, Emily Jessup, Julia M. Tolman and John M. Greene. Also includes a student paper by Carol Ann Drogus, class of 1981, titled: An analysis of divestiture.

Cite as: Board of Trustees, Records, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, MA.

Access Restrictions: Restricted to use by Members of the Board of Trustees for 50 years from date of record creation.

Series List