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Guide to the Thomas Raymond McConnell Papers, 1934-1988
BANC MSS 89/3 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Thomas Raymond McConnell Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1934-1988
Collection Number: BANC MSS 89/3 c
Creator: McConnell, Thomas Raymond, 1901-
Extent:
Number of containers: 4 boxes, 5 cartons
Linear feet: ca. 8
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Papers reflect McConnell's career, containing correspondence, manuscript drafts, and published papers, as well as his notes
and working files. His work after coming to U.C. Berkeley in 1954 is well represented while coverage is weakest in his early
years in Iowa and Minnesota. Of note are files on "The Restudy of California's Needs in Higher Education," which provided
the basis for California's Master Plan for Higher Education. Contains records on development of the Center for the Study of
Higher Education, which later became affiliated with U.C Berkeley as the Center for Research and Development in Higher Education.
In addition to working drafts of books and articles, there are transcripts of interviews relating to higher education in Britain,
and with California administrators. Clippings files cover Berkeley social and academic politics, and include clippings on
Angela Davis' case against the Regents, People's Park, the School of Criminology, and experimental programs at Berkeley. Material
on the careers of David Gardner and Clark Kerr, and autobiographical essays and other biographical material also included.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research, with one exception:
In Carton 4, folder 49: pages 20-24 of McConnell's notes from interview have been sealed at the request of Dr. Clark Kerr, until his death.
In Carton 4, folder 49: pages 20-24 of McConnell's notes from interview have been sealed at the request of Dr. Clark Kerr, until his death.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.
Note
Copyright has been assigned to TBL as indicated in the paper version finding aid.
[Identification of item], Thomas Raymond McConnell Papers, BANC MSS 89/3 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
-
Title: Correspondence and papers relating to the restudy of the needs of California in higher education, 1950-1955,Identifier/Call Number: CU-434
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Title: [Collected reprints], 1939-1969,Identifier/Call Number: 308x M129 c
- Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of the Bancroft Library.
The Thomas Raymond McConnell papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Dr. McConnell via Dr. Ann Heiss in July 1988. They
were an addition to Dr. McConnell's earlier gift of materials relating to California's
Master Plan for Higher Education, which was received in 1969.
Born in Mediapolis, Iowa in 1901, Thomas Raymond McConnell received his B.A. in English in 1924 from Cornell College in Mount
Vernon, Iowa and his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 1933 from the University of Iowa. He taught at Cornell College from
1925 to 1932 and served as a Dean from 1932 to 1936. McConnell was a Professor of Educational Psychology and Higher Education
at the University of Minnesota from 1936 to 1950, receiving the L.L.D. in 1949. He served as Chancellor at the University
of Buffalo from 1950 to 1954, receiving a D.H.L. from Syracuse University in 1952. During this period, Dr. McConnell established
guidelines and articulated a philosophy for general education requirements and the value of a "liberal arts" education.
Dr. McConnell came to California in 1954 to serve as chief consultant for the
Restudy of the Needs of California in Higher Education, many parts of which formed the basis of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education in California. In 1956, he founded the
University's Center for the Study of Higher Education, which in 1965 under his chairmanship, became a national resource for
research and information as the Center for Research and Development in Higher Education.
Thomas R. McConnell served on presidential commissions under Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson. Among other appointments,
he was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, the Subcommittee on Master Planning
of the American Association of University Professors, the Subcommittee on Management and Financing of Colleges of the Committee
for Economic Development, and the International Council for Educational Development.
Throughout his long career as an educator, researcher, author, and university administrator, Dr. McConnell was concerned with
many issues in education, ranging from problems of academic leadership and the degree of faculty and student participation
in the governance of higher education to the question of access to higher education and the concept of the "elite" university.
The Papers of Thomas R. McConnell provide an overview of the greater part of his career as a professor, researcher, author,
and administrator. The collection dates from 1934 to 1988 and contains correspondence, manuscript drafts, and published papers,
as well as his notes and working files. The work Dr. McConnell did after coming to U.C. Berkeley in 1954 is the strength of
the collection, while coverage is weakest in material from his early years in Iowa and Minnesota. Original folder divisions
and titles have been retained for most of the collection, although some regrouping of the folders was done to create more
logical divisions of subject matter.
McConnell's extensive correspondence files, along with his publications and speeches, provide a solid overview of his scholarly
work. Of particular note are his files on
The Restudy of California's Needs in Higher Education, which provided the basis for the development of California's "Master Plan" for Higher Education. The collection also contains
records on the institutional and financial development of the Center for the Study of Higher Education founded by McConnell, which later became affiliated with U.C Berkeley as the Center for Research and Development in Higher Education. In addition to working drafts of books and articles, there are transcripts of interviews Dr. McConnell conducted with administrators
and civil servants in higher education in Britain, upon which he drew for his articles on British higher education. Interviews
with California administrators, used for comparison, are also included here.
McConnell's clippings files cover an interesting and turbulent time in Berkeley social and academic politics, and include
clippings on Angela Davis' case against the Regents, People's Park, the School of Criminology, and "experimental" programs at Berkeley. Material on
the careers of David Gardner and Clark Kerr, with whom McConnell maintained a long correspondence, can be found here as well as in Series 1: Correspondence.
Autobiographical essays, found near the end of Series 2: Scholarly Publications and Speeches, supplements the files on McConnell's
professional activities and the transcript of an interview done for the Carnegie Foundation. A written interview on the subject
of his years as Chancellor of the University of Buffalo provides autobiographical information on Dr. McConnell's early years.