Materials Concerning President Alexander Meiklejohn, 1923-1948

2 archves boxes (1 linear ft.)

Abstract:

Materials generated by the Board of Trustees of Amherst College relative to the presidency (1912-1924) and resignation of Alexander Meiklejohn.

Terms of Access and Use:

Restrictions on access:

The collection was opened for research use by the Amherst College Trustees in 1982. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.

Restrictions on use:

Requests for permission to publish material from the Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Amherst, MA

Historical Note

Alexander Meiklejohn was an educator, innovator, philosopher, and advocate for liberal social reform and first-amendment freedoms; he served as president of Amherst College, 1912-1923. Born in England in 1872, he was brought to the United States in 1880 at the age of eight, educated in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and graduated from Brown University in 1893. He took his M.A. at Brown and in 1897, received his doctorate in philosophy from Cornell University. He taught philosophy and metaphysics at Brown and was dean from 1901 to 1912. He became president of Amherst College in 1912 and served until 1924. His resignation from the presidency came about because of increasingly contentious relations with the faculty and because of the Trustees' concerns about the continuing poor management of his personal finances. After Amherst, Meiklejohn went to the University of Wisconsin to teach philosophy and while there, established an experimental college. In 1938, he joined the School of Social Studies in San Francisco, where he was involved in the area of adult education. Meiklejohn was welcomed back to Amherst College on several occasions. He was selected by President John F. Kennedy to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented by Lyndon B. Johnson shortly after Kennedy's death. Alexander Meiklejohn died in 1964 at the age of 92.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Materials generated by the Board of Trustees of Amherst College relative to the presidency (1912-1924) and resignation of Alexander Meiklejohn.

This collection is organized into three series:

Printed Reports of Trustee Committees
Files of Individual Members of the Board
Records Regarding Access to Trustee Materials Concerning Meiklejohn

Information on Use

Terms of Access and Use

Restrictions on access:

The collection was opened for research use by the Amherst College Trustees in 1982. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.

Restrictions on use:

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in Amherst College Trustees Material Concerning President Alexander Meiklejohn [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

History of the Collection

Additional Information

Contact Information

Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

Robert Frost Library
PO Box 5000
Amherst, MA 01002-5000

Phone: (413) 542-2299
Fax: (413) 542-2692

Email Reference Form: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/askus
URL: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives

Language

English

Bibliography

Wilson, Douglas C. "The Story in the Meiklejohn Files." Amherst, Fall 1982 and Spring 1983. [Also reprinted in Wilson, Passages of Time: Narratives in the History of Amherst College, pp. 100-135. Amherst College Press, 2007.

Contents List

Series 1: Printed Reports of Trustee Committees
Series 1, PRINTED REPORTS OF TRUSTEE COMMITTEES, consists of reports issued by three different College committees charged with investigating various aspects of the Meiklejohn presidency: "Rugg" Committee: Special Committee of the Board of Trustees of Amherst College to Confer with the President. Appointed May 28, 1921. Members were Arthur P. Rugg, Chairman; Arthur L. Gillett; Dwight W. Morrow; George A. Plimpton. The purpose of the committee was to confer with President Meiklejohn with reference to the financial relations between the College and President Meiklejohn personally. "Rounds" Committee: Special Committee, appointed June 3, 1922, Pursuant to a Vote of the Executive Committee of the Trustees. Members were Arthur C. Rounds, Chairman; Stanley King; Edward T. Esty. This committee was appointed to report to the Executive Committee of the Board as to the existing powers of the Board, the President and the faculty with respect to appointments, promotions and dismissals of members of the faculty, educational policy and curricular requirements of the College, and administration of the College in general. The committee was also to report on current and past practice in these matters and make recommendations regarding procedure to be adopted for the future. "Plimpton" Committee: Special Committee of the Board of Trustees of Amherst College, appointed May 26, 1923. Members were George A. Plimpton, Chairman; Edward T. Esty; Arthur L. Gillett; Stanley King; Dwight W. Morrow. Committee was appointed, after the Rugg and Rounds reports had been presented to the Board, to secure a definite expression of opinion from the faculty as to the advisability of President Meiklejohn continuing as chief administrator of the College.
Rugg Report, 1923 Mar 2 (Proof); 1923 May 26 (Proof); President Meiklejohn's comment, 1923 Mar 9 and Supplemental Statement of the Rugg Committee, 1923 May 23	1923 Mar-May	Box 1: folder 1

Rounds Report (3 copies) signed by members of the committee	1923 May 25	Box 1: folder 2

Rounds Report, Schedules A,B,C,D,E (2 copies)		Box 1: folder 3

Plimpton Report dated 1923 Oct 20 - 2nd revision	1923 Oct 19	Box 1: folder 4

Plimpton Report (3 copies) signed on p. 25 by members of the committee	1924 May 20	Box 1: folder 5

Plimpton Committee - confidential memoranda (2 copies) - "Data used in drafting the report of the Plimpton Committee, but not incorporated in the report itself in order to avoid making the report too long"	1924 Apr 25	Box 1: folder 6

Series 2: Files of Individual Members of the Board
Series 2, FILES OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, consists of both contemporary and subsequent papers related to the aforementioned committees, all held by individual Trustees. These include minutes and notes on work of the Plimpton Committee kept by F. S. Allis (AC 1893), Secretary, and much later retrospective material (1947-1948) generated by Stanley King.
King, Stanley. "President Meiklejohn's Resignation." Typescript, 16 pp., plus 2 carbon copies	Ca. 1948	Box 2: folder 7

King, Stanley. "President Meiklejohn's Resignation." Typescript (draft, annotated), 36 pp.	Ca. 1948	Box 2: folder 7

King, Stanley, to Paul D. Weathers, Amherst, Mass.: TLS acknowledging receipt of confidential Trustee documents to be used in preparing manuscript dealing with President Meiklejohn's resignation	1947 Sep 10	Box 2: folder 7

Allis, Frederick. "Excerpts from Memorandum written in 1923 or 1924." Typescript, 8pp., n.d., plus 2 carbon copies. (Memorandum summarizes President Meiklejohn's administration.)	Ca. 1923-1924	Box 2: folder 8

King, Stanley, to Edward T. Esty and Paul D. Weathers regarding F. S. Allis files on President Meiklejohn (3 letters)	1941 Nov-Dec	Box 2: folder 8

Faculty statements to Plimpton Committee concerning President Meiklejohn (file of F. S. Allis, Secretary)		Box 2: folder 9

Typescript copies of notes by members of Plimpton Committee during interviews with faculty members (file of F. S. Allis, Secretary)		Box 2: folder 9

Minutes and correspondence of Plimpton Committee (file of F. S. Allis, Secretary)	1923 May-Jun	Box 2: folder 10

Series 3: Records Regarding Access to Trustee Materials Concerning Meiklejohn
Series 3, RECORDS REGARDING ACCESS TO TRUSTEE MATERIALS CONCERNING MEIKLEJOHN, consists of envelopes originally used to seal the Trustee materials when their access was restricted. The envelopes served as a record of who had examined the contents.
Original wrappings for various materials contained in Folders 1-8, annotated by those who examined them			Box 2: folder 11

Sign-out sheet for materials previously stored in Treasurer's vault but now incorporated into this collection			Box 2: folder 11

Search Terms

The following terms represent persons, organizations, and topics documented in this collection. Use these headings to search for additional materials on this web site, in the Five College Library Catalog, or in other library catalogs and databases.

Subjects

Amherst College. Trustees
Meiklejohn, Alexander, 1872-1964.

Contributors

Allis, Frederick S.(Frederick Scouller),1913-
Plimpton, George A. (George Arthur), 1855-1936.
Rounds, Arthur C.
Rugg, Arthur Prentice, 1862-1938.

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