UR 4.10 College of Information Science and Technology records, 1892-2002, 16.33 cubic feet
Includes records of:
College of Information Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Graduate School of Library Science
School of Library Science
Library School
Library Department
What is now the College of Information Science and Technology (previously the Library and Reading Room, 1892-1914; School of Library Science, 1922-1954, Graduate School of Library Science, 1954-1978; School of Library and Information Science, 1978-1984; College of Information Studies, 1984-1995) was founded in 1892 when the Drexel Institute opened its doors. This collection spans the entire history of the college, but the bulk of the material is administrative records (reports, faculty and staff meeting minutes, personnel files, grants, curriculum, etc.) dating mostly from the 1950s through the 1990s. The collection also includes some student records; materials about specific deans, directors, and alumni; a series relating to the Rush Building; publications; publicity materials; photographs; and programs and memorabilia. Some of the files contain letters by Guy Garrison, retired dean of the college, who was responsible for transferring the collection to the archives.
UR 6.13 Civil and Architectural Engineering senior design project reports, 2002, 2 cubic feet
This is a collection of final reports submitted by students in CAE 493, the final course of a three-course senior project sequence in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering. The reports simulate engineering design proposals for construction projects, such as the construction of a new dormitory for Drexel, a new passenger rail line between the Philadelphia Airport and the Delaware River waterfront, and the renovation of a bridge on highway I-95.
This collection is unprocessed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.
UR 6.9 Commencement collection, 1894-2005, 3.33 cubic feet
Drexel celebrated its first school-wide commencement in 1894. The collection includes programs, invitations, correspondence, speeches, and rosters related to commencement ceremonies at Drexel University and its predescessor institutions. Records are arranged chronologically by date.
This collection is partially processed. A preliminary inventory list is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.
UR 4.3 Dean of the College of Engineering records, 1954-1969, 6 cubic feet
LeRoy A. Brothers was dean of the College of Engineering from 1958 to 1970. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, he studied civil engineering at North Carolina State College and joined Drexel’s faculty as a professor of civil engineering in 1927. He left Drexel in 1942 to serve in the U. S. Air Force, and in 1944 he became chief of operations analysis for the war in south and east Asia. He left Drexel altogether in 1945, and in 1946 he became Assistant for Operations at the U. S. Air Force headquarters in Washington. After returning to Drexel as dean in 1958, he served briefly as acting dean of faculty in 1961 and 1962. The bulk of the records in the collection are files on academic departments and committees documenting the administration of the College of Engineering and Science from 1961 to 1965. One box of material consists entirely of records of the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEA) Engineering College Administrative Council (ECAC) Committee for the Analysis of Engineering Enrollment.
This collection is partially processed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information. Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist. See the university archives’ policy on access to records for further information.
UR 4.7 College of Engineering records, 1937-1979, 6.33 cubic feet
Three of the Drexel Institute’s original eleven departments taught programs that would eventually become part of Drexel’s early School of Engineering: the scientific department, the technical department, and the mechanic arts program. In 1914, President Hollis Godfrey consolidated these departments into the School of Engineering, which was the first school at Drexel permitted to grant a four-year degree (in 1915), first to implement a cooperative education program (in 1919), and, later, first to extend the cooperative course from four years to five (in 1925). In 1945, it became the College of Engineering. The college offered its first graduate degrees in 1953. It was briefly consolidated with the College of Science from 1964 to 1968, when it again became the College of Engineering. The collection consists largely of annual reports submitted by the dean of the college to the president of Drexel, as well as manuscripts of annual reports. It also includes the outgoing correspondence of college administrators and faculty members from 1967 to 1973, faculty and department head meeting minutes from 1937 to 1968, records on individual departments within the college, and other reports.
This collection is unprocessed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information. Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist. See the university archives’ policy on access to records for further information.
UR 4.11 College of Business and Administration records, 1934, 1966-1989, 1 cubic foot
The College of Business and Administration was established as the Business Department when the Drexel Insitute of Art, Science, and Industry. The school was renamed the School of Business Administration in 1922 (later the College of Business Administration in 1945) and began granting bachelor’s degrees in 1923. The MBA program was established in 1949. The college was first accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 1966 (for its undergraduate program) and in 1976 (for its MBA). A PhD program was launched in 1980. The bulk of this collection consists of the 1966 application for AACSB accreditation and reports prepared for reaccreditation in 1986. It also includes an earlier AACSB application, annual reports from the dean to Drexel’s president from 1978 to 1981; a strategic plan from the 1980s; a report on the founding of the PhD program; and MBA and PhD curricular materials.
This collection is partially processed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information. Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist. See the university archives’ policy on access to records for further information.
UR 3.3 Office of Continuing Professional Education records, 1970, 1975-1990, 1 cubic foot
The collection consists chiefly of course catalogs and promotional brochures for classes and special programs offered through the Office of Continuing Professional Education in 1970 and from 1975 to 1986. It also contains a few administrative records and a publication called “Prospectus for Professional Development” published by the Office of Continuing Professional Education from 1977 until 1979.
This collection is unprocessed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.
UR 1.7 James Creese administration records, 1945-1963, 19.33 cubic feet
James Creese (1896-1966) served as president of the Drexel Institute of Technology from 1945 to 1963. He presided over unprecedented growth in the department of engineering and was known as an outspoken opponent of the loyalty oaths instituted during the 1950s. This collection consists of subject files compiled by President Creese on individuals associated with Drexel University, academic departments and administrative committees, national committees or organizations, and subjects or issues of interest.
PC 12 Clubs and organizations photographs, 1935-2000, 1.66 cubic feet
This collection consists of a series of files containing photographs of members of Drexel University clubs and organizations. Photos date as early as 1935 and as late as 2000; many are undated. The bulk of the photos are black-and-white or color prints, but files also contain a few negatives and contact sheets. Many photographs transferred from the Lexerd office have job number, page number, page position and other yearbook related information attached. Some photographs transferred from the Office of University Relations have captions or annotations associated with them, providing dates and additional information about the subject of the photograph.
Although the provenance of the photographs is not known, it is believed that most were originally transferred to the University Archives from the Office of University Relations and the Lexerd office. Archives staff have also occasionally added photos to this collection as they are found among unrelated records or accessioned.
Some additional photographs of members of clubs and organizations are filed with events photographs in PC 8, Events photographs.
PC 1 Virginia Carter Castleman collection, 1898-1899, 19 items
Virginia Carter Castleman (1864-1937) graduated from Drexel’s Library School in 1899. This collection of nineteen photographs shows many aspects of student life at Drexel in 1898-1899 . It includes exterior and interior shots of Drexel’s main building and student boarding houses, a photo of Drexel president James MacAlister at his desk, and art students painting in a studio. Included with the collection is a folder of research notes compiled in 2005.
MC 38 George W. Childs Scrapbooks, 1836-1874, 5 volumes
Volume 1 (1813-1867) begins with newspaper clippings about the 1836 “Philadelphia Public Ledger” and its owners Swain, Abell, and Simmons. There are also clippings from this time period regarding Childs’ own businesses, Childs and Peterson Publishers (announcements and reviews of books published and letters from authors and readers) and Childs Booksellers (advertisements). Volume 2 (1851-1866) contains additional information on the Philadelphia Public Ledger’s original owners, as well as a photograph of its original location on Chestnut Street. Also included are excerpts from Casper Sauder Jr.’s series on the history of Chestnut Street and its proprietors. Volume 3 (1867-1874) begins with announcements and advertisements for books published by Childs and Peterson, including “Bouvier’s Law Dictionary” and the “Dictionary of English Literature”. Volume 4 (1871-1874), the last scrapbook in the collection, contains newspaper clippings focused primarily on Childs’ social and philanthropic activities. This volume includes letters from Mayor Daniel Fox, George S. Phillips and David Stewart as well as letters from many prominent Philadelphians on such topics as gifts to the poor and to local hospitals, assistance for Horticultural Hall, the Edgar Allen Poe gravesite, and for the zoological society which Childs supported with A.J. Drexel.
MC 39 George W. Childs obituary notices scrapbooks, 1894-1895, 4 volumes
This collection is made up of 4 volumes of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings surrounding the death, funeral, and will of George W. Childs, as well as many commemorative biographical articles that ran in the weeks following his death. There are two sets of two volumes each. The sets are nearly identical, containing essentially the same articles, but arranged differently. “Volume I of the Obituary Notices of Geo W. Childs” contains clippings primarily from New York newspapers, including the New York Times, Press, Daily News, Evening Telegram, Recorder and Herald. This volume also features clippings from newspapers in Philadelphia, including the Inquirer, Bulletin, and Telegraph. Volume II features similar clippings from more distant cities, including Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago, Richmond, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Boston, San Francisco, London, Berlin, and Paris. The scrapbooks were donated to the library of the Drexel Institute by James Paul, Jr., the husband of A.J. Drexel’s daughter, Frances Katherine. Paul was a close friend of the Childs family and was one of the executors of Childs’ will, and may be responsible for the assembly of the scrapbooks.
George W. Childs (1829-1894) was the founder and editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, a noted philanthropist, and a longtime friend of Anthony J. Drexel. He was influential in encouraging Drexel to establish a school for the education of men and women, and he served on the institute’s board of trustees from the school’s founding until his death. The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks containing clippings published on the event of Childs’s death and shortly after it. The rest of the collection consists of publications about Childs, memorial addresses in his honor, and some correspondence, including a letter signed by President Grover Cleveland from 1891. Most of the material is from the 1890s, but a few later articles and letters about Childs were found with the collection.
This collection is partially processed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.
UR 10.4 Office of Community Affairs records, 1973-1992, 7 cubic feet
This collection consists primarily of subject files related to neighborhood redevelopment organizations, community groups, and institutions with which the Office of Community Affairs was involved. Also included are files on the various projects and activities sponsored or supported by Drexel through the Office of Community Affairs, administrative files collected from other Drexel offices and departments, and subject files related to prominent West Philadelphia community leaders such as Herman Wrice and Chakah Fattah. Included are office reports, newspaper clippings, brochures, police reports, catalogues, photographs, press releases, fliers, correspondence, and the notes of Frances Davis.
Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist. See the University Archives’ policy on access to records for further information.
