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Archival description
Only top-level descriptions Grinnell College Libraries Special Collections
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RG-TR: Trustees of Iowa (Grinnell) College

  • US US-IaGG Archives/RG-TR
  • Collection

Consists of minutes of the Executive Committee of the Trustees, the Board of Trustees, the Finance Committee, and materials on the Fund for Excellence.

The cyclone of June 1882 destroyed the minutes of meetings of the Trustees of Iowa College. S. L. Herrick, Secretary of the Board, copied his records of meetings prior to that date.

RG-AL:  Alumni Office Records

  • US US-IaGG Archives/RG-AL
  • Collection

Historical Note: The office has had various names:

Public Relations Office 1962-1967 and 1985-2001;

College Relations Office 1970-85;

Information Services ?-1962 and 1967-1970;

Office of Communication and Events 2001-2005

Office of College and Alumni Relations 2005-

Office of Development and Alumni Relations 2015 (?)-

History & Background of the Office:
Perhaps the first donation to Grinnell College was in 1846 when J.J. Hill, one of the Iowa Band, made the gift of a silver dollar to challenge his colleagues to endow the College. Since that time, the College has been almost continually involved with fund-raising campaigns. In 1897 a Semi-Centennial Fund was established for enlarging the campus and for adding to the endowment. Four groups were targeted: alumni, trustees, faculty; citizens of Grinnell; Congregationalists of Iowa; and friends of education everywhere. Solicitations were sent out from the Semi-Centennial Committee.
In 1913 the Grinnell College Foundation was established to work with the Trustees of the College to manage and sell real estate, principally farm lands, given to the college under annuity plans. The Foundation financed men's and women's dormitories built in the second decade of the twentieth century. The College also had a number of endowment campaigns after the turn of the century. During the first half of the century, the College Treasurer and Business Officers were involved with development efforts, especially Louis V. Phelps (1915-49) and Charles Kaufman (1948-66). The fund-raising activities of the College were run by the administration, especially the President, and the Trustees for many years. In the late 1950s President Bowen hired the fund-raising counselling firm of Marts & Lundy to study the feasibility of raising substantial funds to meet the ongoing needs of the College. Then early in the 1960s, with the assistance of a matching grant from the Ford Foundation, the College hired its first, senior, fund-raising officer, John McFarland. From that time until 2005, development activities have been run from the Development Office. In 2005, the Development Office, the Alumni Office, and the Office of
Communications and Events were combined under one Vice-President for College and Alumni Relations.

Development Officers:
1963-65 John R. McFarland, Jr. Vice President for Development 1966-66 Russell W. Fridely Vice President for Planning and Development 1966-71 James O. Avison Director of Development 1971-73 James O. Avison Vice President for Resources Planning 1973-76 James O. Avison Vice President for Institutional Development 1976-80 David L. Murphy Vice President for Development 1980-82 Richard T. Jenkins Vice President for Development 1982-92 Thomas K. Marshall Vice President for Development 1992-93 Michael S. Bever Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations 1994-96 E. Kevin Cornell Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations 1996-2001 Angela Voos Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations 2001 - 2005 Todd A. Reding Vice President for Alumnit Relations and Development, 2005 - 2010 Mickey Munley, Vice President for College and Alumni Relations

Florence Stewart and Robert Kerr Papers 1917-1963 1937-1948

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.24
  • Collection

The collection contains an oral interview with Florence Kerr; photographs, personal correspondence (notably with President and Mrs. Roosevelt), and other items unrelated to her business life; correspondence and other materials relating to her defense activities in 1941; and materials from two productions of the Federal Theater Project.

The bulk of the collection contains correspondence, memos, and reports from her tenure with the Work Projects Administration and includes numerous WPA publications.  There are two photograph albums and ten scrapbooks of newspaper clippings regarding her WPA activities.

Also included is correspondence of her husband, Robert Y. Kerr.

Florence Stewart Kerr (Class of 1912)

Sen Katayama Master's Thesis and Collection of Correspondence 1895-1898 1895

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.111
  • Collection

This collection consists of seven handwritten letters from Sen Katayama to L.F. Parker (one with its original envelope), written from 1895-1898, the manuscript copy of Katayama's Master's thesis, and one photocopy of the thesis. Additionally, the collection includes two small notes believed to be from L.F. Parker.

Katayama, Sen (Class of 1892)

RG-CH: Chaplain's Office 1960-2009

  • US US-IaGG Archives/RG-CH
  • Collection

The bulk of the materials are from Dennis Haas' tenure as chaplain with a few records from Roger Lee Eldridge's time. The files are generally in alphabetical order and contain chapel bulletins, budgets, and programs/speakers; files of college committees on which Haas served; files of liaison committees between the town and the college; numerous records of the Inner-City work study/seminar project from 1965-71; and historical information about Herrick Chapel and the people who used it.

In addition to attending to the religious needs of the college students, Grinnell College chaplains have been intimately and actively involved with social issues. Included in the collection are materials relating to Black students on the Grinnell campus, conscientious objectors and men seeking to avoid the draft, and an off-campus student coffeehouse. The Inner-City project may be an early example of Grinnell students caring for people less privileged than they and attempting to both learn about them and to assist them, much as students of the 1990s have participated in the I Have a Dream and the Alternative Break programs.

Grinnell College has had an active chapel program since the college began. In more modern times there was a dean of the chapel who functioned as chaplain. Winston L. King, also a professor of philosophy and religion, served from 1949-1962 and Howard Burkle, a professor of religion, was acting dean from 1958-60. In October 1963 Roger Lee Eldridge was installed as the first college chaplain, and he was succeeded in 1966 by Dennis Haas who served in that capacity until 1996. Both Eldridge and Haas were professors of religious studies. Deanna Shorb became chaplain upon Haas' retirement. Currently the Chaplain's Office is within the Office of Student Affairs; earlier in Mr. Haas' tenure it was independent and the chaplain reported to the president

Jimmy Ley Papers 1922-1981 1940-1945

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.162
  • Collection

This collection is organized into four series: Biographical, Correspondence, Military, and Photographs.

Series 1: Biographical (1924-1981)

The Biographical series includes personal items including Ley’s birth certificate, framed high school basketball letter, and Catechism bible, as well as a handwritten copy of a poem composed by his mother for his funeral service. The series also includes an extensive scrapbook including photos, personal and educational documents, and newspaper clippings from early childhood until after his death.

Series 2: Correspondence (1939-1946)

The Correspondence series consists of three sub-series: letters written by Jimmy Ley, letters written to Ley and returned to his parents, and letters written to his parents after his disappearance. Ley’s letters are almost exclusively addressed to his parents and date from between just before he first attended Grinnell College in the fall of 1939 until his disappearance in February 1944. Ley’s letters are organized chronologically and divided into folders by location, mostly military camps where Ley was stationed. Mostly written by the families of other missing men in Ley’s flight crew, the letters to Jimmy’s parents after his death date from between November 1944 and August 1945 and are arranged alphabetically by sender’s last name.

Series 3: Military (unkown-1948)

The Military series consists of Ley’s official certificates and awards, bomb squadron yearbook, air force patch, and framed medals (Distinguished Flying Cross, 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, and Purple Heart).

Series 4: Photographs (unknown-1945)

The Photographs series includes fifteen unframed photographs, a portrait in a display folder, a framed photo collage documenting the medals Ley earned, a large framed portrait displayed at Ley’s funeral, and a large framed artistic collage of Ley’s plane and flight crew.

Ley, James

Wes Davies Papers 1990-1995

  • US US-IaGG MS/MS 01.86
  • Collection

Included are “memories of a Freshman Year”, a reminiscence given at the class of 1940’s 50th reunion dinner on June 2, 1990, as well a “Moments in a Grinnell Experience” given at the Class of 1940’s 55th reunion dinner on June 2, 1995. These typed speeches include photographs of comical sketches of the Grinnell experience as drawn by Wes Davies. In an oversize drawer marked “Moments in a Grinnell Experience”, there are drafts of the sketches, full-sized sketches, and copies of the reminiscences.

Davies, Wes

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