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American Association of University Professors, Administrative Files of the Northwestern University Chapter

 Collection
Identifier: 4/6/1

  • Staff Only
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

The files of the Northwestern chapter consist of eight boxes of material which span approximately forty years, beginning in 1916 and ending in 1960. These materials reflect the problems, questions and activities of the NU chapter; they outline the organization, operation and management of one segment of the AAUP in its attempt to address the problems of the educational profession at the chapter, regional and national levels.

The collection falls into four major categories:

1) General correspondence, 1918-1960;

2) Northwestern University Chapter Administrative Files, 1916-1960;

3) National, Regional and Local Files pertinent to the Northwestern chapter's business and activities, 1916-1959; and

4) Controversies of Academic Freedom, that is, information regarding controversies in the educational profession, especially those concerning academic freedom, the profession's reactions and general pertinence of the controversies to the NU chapter's business and activities, 1935-1958.

The bulk of the correspondence is dated after 1950. All letters are arranged chronologically. Correspondence is sparse for some years, especially in the late 1940s, and nonexistent for 1919-1921, 1925, 1926, 1932, and 1937.

The correspondence covers a wide variety of subjects from mundane arrangements for local meetings, discussions of operating procedures and local elections, to discussions and activities concerning issues with more far-reaching implications. The most serious activities were fundraising for court cases dealing with academic dismissal and freedom and investigations of the financial status of the teaching profession.

The administrative category contains several smaller, distinct units. Although the material in most of the units is incomplete, it is arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within subjects. These subjects include such things as local chapter meeting announcements, chapter minutes and chapter membership and officer lists.

Various committee reports, resolutions and statements also form a significant part of these files. Many of these resolutions and statements were prepared in the late 1940s and early 1950s as reactions against the Illinois legislature's Broyles' Bills and national legislative attempts to restrict the intellectual freedom of teachers and scholars in all professions, but primarily in the educational profession. Included are statements presented by Franklin D. Scott, Brunson, MacChesney, Robert Strotz, and Frank Fetter to state government investigating committees at various intervals between 1949 and 1955 on behalf of the NU chapter of the AAUP.

Some of the items in the administrative category are dated ambiguously, but frequently the date can be derived from the context of the paper or announcement.

Only a small part of this collection consists of national, regional and local or Chicago-area materials that directly concern the proceedings of or formally reveal participation by the NU chapter. Such things as minutes, meeting announcements and chapter letters are incomplete and include only those materials that are pertinent to Northwestern.

Although the material included under controversies in the educational profession neither originated with the NU chapter nor contains many, if any, references to it, the material was used extensively by the chapter's Committee on Academic Freedom, as frequent references in correspondence, committee statements and chapter meeting agendas show. This category covers the years 1935 to 1959 with emphasis on the late 1940s and early 1950s. These materials could even form a small, independent, fairly complete reference collection since they are a well-rounded variety of sources such as news clippings, reports of all kinds from many groups, legal briefs, and American Civil Liberties Union newsletters and news analyses, all of which are related to the controversies over academic freedom.

From the disorderly condition of these papers before they were organized as a collection, it was obvious that the material was moved from office to office with each successive election of chapter officers. If this was the case, it is understandable that some material was lost or inadvertently thrown away. Nevertheless the collection contains useful and provocative information about a rather elusive organization of faculty at Northwestern.

Description of the Additions: The additions to the NU AAUP administrative records fill one box and span the years 1954 through 1972. The records consist of minutes, correspondence, and subject files. A bound volume of minutes, covering the dates 1954 to 1965, includes handwritten minutes for the earlier years and tipped-in typed or mimeographed minutes for the later years. Correspondence files contain letters or memos relating to meetings, letters exchanged with members of other chapters, copies of resolutions passed by the NU Chapter. An occasional letter relates to Chapter actions, such as the correspondence in Box 9, folder 6 (1964-65) from the Chicago Board of Education and Mayor Richard J. Daley responding to the Chapter's stand on a controversy about James Baldwin's Another Country. Among the topics covered in the subject files are membership forms and rosters, plans for an annual banquet, correspondence with other chapters on specific issues, various resolutions, and forms or findings from surveys initiated either by the National AAUP or by the NU chapter.

Dates

  • 1916-1960

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is stored off-site and requires two business days advance notice for retrieval. Please contact the McCormick Library at specialcollections@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3635 for more information or to schedule an appointment to view the collection.

Extent

9.00 Boxes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The files of the Northwestern chapter consist of eight boxes of material which span approximately forty years, beginning in 1916 and ending in 1960. These materials reflect the problems, questions and activities of the NU chapter; they outline the organization, operation and management of one segment of the AAUP in its attempt to address the problems of the educational profession at the chapter, regional and national levels.

Arrangement Note

The collection falls into four major categories: General correspondence, Northwestern University Chapter Administrative Files, National, Regional and Local Files pertinent to the Northwestern chapter's business and activities and Controversies of Academic Freedom. The bulk of the correspondence is dated after 1950. All letters are arranged chronologically. The administrative files are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within subjects.

Method of Acquisition

The bulk of these records was deposited in the University Archives at an unknown date prior to 1974. One folder of additional material (spanning the years 1959-1962) was donated to the University Archives by Professor Richard Leopold on October 25, 1988, as Accession # 88-251. The additions, 1954-1972, were separated from the Lawrence Evans Papers, transferred to the University Archives by Kathy Daniels of the English Department on March 31, 2003 as Accession # 03-51. Evans was Secretary of the NU AAUP during the 1969-70 academic year.

Separated Materials

A few duplicate items were discarded from the addition.

Other Descriptive Information

NU Chapter Officers, 1915 to 1973: The list of chapter officers is incomplete. Where two names appear under the office of president, one member undertook the re¬sponsibilities of the office when the other stepped down. The NU chapter did not institute the office of vice-president until 1931-1932. A question mark beside a name denotes uncertainty regarding who held the office at a particular time.

Year President Vice-President Secretary-Treasurer 1915-1916 1916-1917 Henry Crew R.C. Flickinger 1917-1918 W.A. Locy O.F. Long 1918-1919 A.C.L. Brown F.B. Snyder 1919-1920 A.C.L. Brown F.B. Snyder 1920-1921 D.R. Curtiss/J.H. Wigmore R.G. Martin 1921-1922 F.S. Deibler R.G. Martin 1922-1923 H.S. Philbrick E.I. Schaub C.L. Grose 1923-1924 R.S. Crane E.J. Moulton 1924-1925 F.C. Eiselen T.D. Eliot 1925-1926 J.T. Hatfield F.I. Fuller 1926-1927 A.C. Ivy W.V. Evans 1927-1928 K.W. Colegrove K.K. Smith 1928-1929 F.B. Snyder A.J. Todd 1929-1930 A.I. Kendall F.E. Clark 1930-1931 D.R. Curtiss/A.P. Hatton V. Curtis 1931-1932 Fred Clark L.E. Fuller Franklin Fearing 1932-1933 1933-1934 James W. Bell E.L. Highbarger K.K. Smith 1934-1935 E.J. Moulton Alpheus W. Smith 1935-1936 A.J. Todd Charles H. Behre Jas. R. Hawkinson 1936-1937 Delton T. Howard Chas. A.R. Wardwell J. Monroe Hughes 1937-1938 Clarence T. Simon John W. Spargo J. Monroe Hughes 1938-1939 John W. Spargo T.M. Campbell S.A. Harrrin 1939-1940 T.M. Campbell C.L. Gross William Jaffe 1940-1941 Clyde L. Grose Charles H. Behre William Jaffe 1941-1942 William Jaffe John C. Teevan Jas. H. McBurney 1942-1943 Jas. H. McBurney 1943-1944 Eldridge T. McSwain Howard Berolzheimer 1944-1945 Harold C. Havighurst Howard Berolzheimer 1945-1946 Curtis MacDougall Melville Herskovits Howard Berolzheimer ? 1946-1947 Melville J. Herskovits W. Balamuth 1947-1948 W. Balamuth ? 1948-1949 Arthur H. Nethercot George J. Cady S. McMullen 1949-1950 George Cady Brunson MacChesney B. MacChesney J.H. Hagstrum 1950-1951 S. McMullen Franklin Scott J.H. Hagstrum 1951-1952 Franklin Scott F.W. Fetter W.C. Bradford 1952-1953 F.W. Fetter H. Williamson v .C. Bradford 1953-1954 H. Williamson Ernest J. Wrage B.B. Howard 1954-1955 Ernest Samuels W. Pedrick T.C. Holyoke 1955-1956 1956-1957 Ray Billington Karl de Schweinitz 1957-1958 Robert Strotz Bion Howard Walter Rideout 1958-1959 Alex Rosenberg (Treas) R.D. Mayo (Sec’y) 1960-1961 D.R. Forbush George G. Lamb 1961-1962 Franklyn S. Haiman 1962-1963 George I. Blanksten 1963-1964 Clarence L. Ver Steeg Gilbert Whitaker, Jr. (Treas) Lester W. Milbrath (Sec’y) 1964-1965 Philip DeLacy 1965-1966 Ali Bulent Cambel Jean Hagstrum Eugene Webb (Treasurer) Daniel Zelinsky (Secretary) 1967-1968 William Earle A. Louis Allred Hugh G. Petrie (Secretary) Richard W. Barsness (Treas) 1968-1969 A. Louis Allred (Exec Coun. Henry Veatch) Larry Evans Don Lev (Treasurer) Hugh Petrie (Secretary) 1969-1970 John Maloney Lawrence Evans (Secretary) 1970-1971 Marvin B. Lewis Henry B. Veatch Richard W. Barsness (Treas) Elizabeth Yamashita (Sec’y) 1971-1972 Henry B. Veatch Richard W. Barsness (Treas) Elizabeth Yamashita (Sec’y) 1972-1973 R.P. Boas

Processing Information

Katherine H. Giese, March 24, 1976. Additions processed by Janet Olson, June 2005. Scanned and Reformatted by Zoe Streicker-Howard, June 2005.

Title
Guide to the American Association of University Professors, Administrative Files of the Northwestern University Chapter
Author
Katherine H. Giese
Date
12/03/1977
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Library Details

Part of the Northwestern University Archives Repository

Contact:
Deering Library, Level 3
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Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635