Philosophy Department General Administrative Records

The series of Philosophy Department general administrative records fills twelve boxes and dates from 1959-1984. Records included in the series are budget statements, course planning materials, Evening Division and Summer Session materials relating to the department, faculty and staff materials, grade reports, lists of students majoring in philosophy, departmental meeting minutes, departmental memoranda, general correspondence, and quarterly reports.

The bulk of the budget materials are monthly statements. They contain information on salaries, wages, supplies, employee benefits, fellowships, scholarships, and tuition remissions. Correspondence relating to carrying out the budgetary process is also present.

Course planning materials are found throughout the series. Among these records are book lists and orders, course proposals, scheduling materials for course times, curriculum offerings, class lists, registration, and enrollment statistics. Computer printouts, related correspondence, and notes are included. Similar materials exist relating to the Evening Division and Summer Session courses offered by the Philosophy Department as well.

Faculty and staff materials include staff lists, salaries, staff expansion plans, faculty research, search committees, appointments to the department, promotions, and other job opportunity files are present. Some files relating to individuals on the faculty or under consideration for appointment are filed alphabetically by their surname.

Minutes from the Philosophy Department meetings (1962-1981) are found in the series under “meetings.” The amount of meetings are erratic over the years. Quarterly meetings are commonplace, but the Philosophy Department did conduct monthly meetings during a few years.

General correspondence (1963-1982) and departmental memoranda (1972-1981) document the work of the department chair. The general correspondence, which does include some letters from the faculty, documents writings submitted by the faculty for publication, fellowships and scholarships, events at Northwestern as well as within the Philosophy Department, and professional gatherings. The departmental memoranda were issued by the chairman and document departmental policies and procedures and address decisions reached during departmental meetings.

Quarterly reports (1961-1982) document the classes taught by the Philosophy Department. The reports provide information about enrollment size, course number and section, and the instructor of the course. Some of the most recent reports (1978-1982) also include the amount of hours per week and meetings per week for each course.

Miscellaneous materials include grade reports, majors in philosophy lists, lists of departmental committees, the departmental constitution, materials relating to professional philosophical organizations, and other subject files.

All materials in the series are arranged alphabetically according to folder title.