1929-1936 (“Original Austin Scholars”)

The Records of the Austin Scholarship Program are organized into three subseries: historical/biographical materials, administrative files, and student-related files. Most of the material was collected and saved by James Worthy and reflects his strong commitment to preserving and documenting the history of the scholarship.

Historical/biographical materials span the years 1929 to 1988 and include announcements, clippings and blank application forms, biographical information about F.C. Austin, a presentation album given to Austin by the Northwestern University Board of Trustees commemorating his gift, information about the Austin Building, and correspondence regarding the book The Austin Scholarships: A History by James Worthy and Walter Scott.

General Administrative files contain correspondence, reports, committee documents, arrangements for events, fund-raising, and alumni affairs. Also included in this subseries are documents pertaining to the study plans and courses for the first group of Austin Scholars, financial records, and material on the 50th Anniversary celebration held in 1979, as well as two reunions held in the 1990s.

Student files are arranged chronologically and separated into two groups: the "original" Austin Scholars, 1929-1936, and those attending since the reinstatement of the scholarship in 1959. Student directories often contain personal notes from alumni and reflect the close-knit nature of the group of the first 40 Austin Scholars. Correspondence from this group of students includes letters of introduction written by students to other scholarship recipients as well as letters written thanking Mr. Austin for creating the scholarship and updating him on the progress of the program. There are also histories of the first Austin Scholars written that eventually were incorporated into the book on the history of the scholarship. There are students' academic records and applications from both time periods. Material from the later years consist mostly of alumni directory questionnaires.