Subscription lists, records of payment, 1879 - 1884

The Records of the Executive Committee of the Northwestern University Board of Trustees in this series comprise one half-size box and span the period 1853-1892. The Records deal primarily with fiscal matters and do not reflect the full range of Committee concerns during the period. Included are lists of subscriptions to the university, bonds issued to raise funds, and stock certificates.

The university's principal financial resource throughout the nineteenth century was its holdings in real estate; the bulk of the series consists of correspondence, notes and Committee minutes concerned with the administration of the university's real estate. The series includes information on the donation of land to the university, the sale and lease of property, and a variety of conflicts with individuals and the town of Evanston over the uses of and rights to various pieces of real estate.

Of interest is one folder pertaining to the incorporation of the Evanston College for Ladies. The bulk of the material concerns the negotiations for the use, by the Evanston College for Ladies, of a piece of land donated by the university to the town for use as a park. The College was absorbed by the University in 1873 and the land again became part of Northwestern University.