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Finding Aid
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Records of the State University of Iowa Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research. Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department. Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials. Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement. Acquisition and Processing Information: These materials were transferred to the University Archives at various times, mainly during 1931-35. Guide posted to the Internet October 2006; finding aid completed December 2008. Photographs: None |
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Scope and Contents
The Records of the State University of Iowa Board of Trustees and Board of Regents, 1847-1909, consist of seven series: Building Committee, Executive Committee, Reports, Office of the Secretary, Minutes, Record Books, and Indexes. William J. Haddock served as secretary to the regents from 1865 until 1902, a tenure that is largely reflected in this collection.
Historical Note
On February 25, 1847, the First General Assembly of the State of Iowa established the State University of Iowa at Iowa City. The law provided for a 15-member Board of Trustees. With little initial financial support, the Board's early business was confined to land selection for the new institution. By 1855, the first year of classes, however, the Board became fully engaged in the business of managing a small but growing public university. In 1870 the Board of Trustees was reorganized as the Board of Regents.
The State University of Iowa Board of Trustees and Board of Regents records, 1847-1909, document oversight activity of the University's governing boards prior to the state's reorganization of its Regents institutions in 1909. Prior to that time, each of Iowa's public institutions of higher learning was governed locally by an autonomous board, independent of other institutions. Establishment of the Iowa State Board of Education in 1909 (later re-named the Iowa State Board of Regents in 1954) brought a coordinated, state level of authority to the institutions at Iowa City, Ames, and Cedar Falls.
Related Materials
Fogdall, Vergil S. "History of the State University of Iowa: The Governing Boards, 1847-1947." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1947.
Mahan, Bruce E. "University of Iowa." The Palimpsest LII, 2: p. 33-129. (February 1971). Des Moines: State Historical Society of Iowa.
Manuscript File Collection on Early University History (RG 01.01.01)
Records of the Iowa State Board of Education and Board of Regents, 1909-1981 (RG 04.02)
Springer, John. "William J. Haddock." Iowa Alumnus 3 (March 1906).
Box Contents List
Box 1
Series I: Building Committee
Trustees and Regents Building Committee (fragile), June 1, 1858 -- July 17, 1885
[See also: Series II: Executive Committee, Minutes of the Executive Committee, June 14, 1878 -- May 8, 1886 volume, for additional Building Committee minutes, July 15, 1879 -- December 15, 1879]
Box 2
Series II: Executive Committee
Minutes of the Executive Committee, September 24, 1863 -- April 1, 1868
----. June 24, 1868 -- April 21, 1877
Box 3
----. June 14, 1878 -- May 8, 1886
----. August 5, 1886 -- February 23, 1893
Box 4
----. March 29, 1893 -- February 24, 1899
----. March 29, 1899 -- April 9, 1903
Memoranda of Report Prepared by Order of the Chairman of the Executive Committee, [n.d.; 1897?]
Executive Committee's and Secretary's Reports, 1896, 1898
Box 5
Series III: Reports
Report of the Regents, 1870 -- 1886
----. 1887 -- 1905
----. Twenty-Fifth Report of the Board of Regents, 1905 -- 1906
----. Twenty-Sixth Report of the Board of Regents, 1908
Business Docket of the Board of Regents : Committees and Memoranda, July 1882
Box 6
Series IV: Office of the Secretary
Contracts, 1878 -- 1898 (fire-damaged; fragile)
Box 7
Meeting notes draft book, June 21, 1886 -- March 6, 1889
Correspondence of the Secretary, August 16, 1886 -- July 11, 1898 [spine reads 1886 -- 1891]
Box 8
Board of Regents correspondence, 1903 -- 1905
----. 1906
----. 1907
----. 1908 -- 1909
Board of Regents meetings, 1908 -- 1910
Search for new president, 1904
Abernathy, Alonzo
Allen, J.H.
Babb, W.I.
Boyd, W.R.
Carroll, B.F.
Clark, Charles A.
Cummins, Albert
Hanley, T.B.
Healy, Thomas D.
Holbrook, P.K.
Lane, Joe R.
Lauder, J.W.
Pickett, C.E.
Proudfoot and Bird, architects
Seerley, John J.
Tisdale, W.D.
Treynor, V.L.
Turner, Dan
Wright, Carroll
Box 9
Library fire recovery (fire-damaged; fragile), June 1898
Response to student petition protesting Dr. L.W. Littig, August 16, 1898
Resolution passed upon death of President Schaeffer (fire-damaged; fragile), September 1898
Statement Showing the List of Unsold Lands Belonging to the State University of Iowa as Reported by the Former Treasurer, Lovell Swisher, [n.d., 1898?]
Various documents: Telephone exchange contract, board roll call lists, appropriation bill; 1896 -- 1898
Meeting notes draft book (fire-damaged; fragile), March 29, 1898 -- September 27, 1898
----. January 26, 1899 -- October 3, 1902
Box 10
Correspondence of William J. McChesney, November 14, 1902 -- June 17, 1904
Oversized Box 1
Series V: Minutes
Board of Trustees, Record Book A, July 15, 1847 -- Board of Regents, March 2, 1876
Oversized Box 2
Board of Regents, Record Book B, June 15, 1876 -- April 26, 1894
Oversized Box 3
----. Record Book C, June 12, 1894 -- October 3, 1902
Oversized Box 4
Series VI: Records
Record of the Board of Regents and Executive and Building Committees, Record Book D, March 29, 1898 -- June 26, 1900
----. Record Book E, July 18, 1900 -- October 24, 1902; includes index to the Records of the Board of Regents, Record Books A-E, July 15, 1847 -- October 3, 1902
----. April 8, 1903 -- June 14, 1905; includes index
----. July 21, 1905 -- June 16, 1908; includes index
----. July 1, 1908 -- June 16, 1909; includes index
Oversized Box 5
Series VII: Indexes
1847 -- 1897
Supplemental index, 1876 -- 1894