Fred Dow Fagg, Jr. (1896-1981) Papers

The Fred Dow Fagg, Jr., Papers are arranged in 58 sections. The first section includes biographical material and the others are based upon the manner in which administrative records were maintained in the Vice-President's office. The largest amounts of material can be found in the sections for Administration, Business Office (many items related to the budgets for 1939-46), College of Liberal Arts, Faculty, Graduate School, Medical School, Navy, Schools of Commerce, Education, and Law, Student Affairs, Student Financial Aid, Technological Institute (especially the Institute's relationships to the rest of the University), University College, and World War II.

The materials, consisting primarily of routine correspondence and reports, are arranged chronologically by day within folders. Among the more important items in this series are: a detailed report (July 31, 1945) from W.L. Valentine, chairman of the Psychology Department, on the recent growth and current needs of the Department (Box 4, Folder 1); problems resulting from the failure to secure accreditation for the Division of Social Work (Box 4, Folder 4, and Box 12, Folder 13); a 20-page report (May 19,1947) from Dean Charles W. Freeman on the needs of the Dental School (Box 5, Folder 1); "Dean's Report to the Graduate Faculty" (January 23, 1942), by the recently-appointed Dean, T. Moody Campbell (Box 6, Folder 6); and a folder of correspondence and reports related to the work of the Chicago Association of Commerce's Aviation Committee, 1946-47 (Box 7, Folder 12).

When Fagg became Vice-President and Dean of Faculties, the second man to hold this position, he moved into an office where the guidelines had already been aggressively set by the initial incumbent, Franklyn Bliss Snyder. Fagg continued to be responsible for the educational activities of the University and especially for the development of the educational budget and its presentation to the President. However, based on the materials in this series, Fagg did not use his position to control the appointments and promotions of faculty members with the same meticulous care and positiveness that had been maintained by Vice-President Snyder. The Vice-President and Business Manager, Harry Wells, who had been the first man appointed to that position, continued to exercise control over the non-academic areas and daily financial activities of the University.

The Fagg papers present a partial picture of a man with major abilities in educational administration, aviation, commerce, and law. Little of a personal nature is contained in this series. Much of the material pertains to the daily work of a competent second-in-command at a private university amidst the strain of wartime.