University of California (System). Office of the President. Records: Alphabetical Files, 1885-1913

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Summary

Creators:
University of California (System). Office of the President
Extent:
Number of containers: 63 boxes

Background

Scope and content:

Series 1 of the Records of the Office of the President consist of alphabetical files covering the period 1885-1913. It is at the beginning of this period that the office assumed some independent action, separate from the Board of Regents, whose records cover the period between the founding of the University in 1868 and 1885 (Regents' records (CU-1) held by University Archives continue beyond this date, however). It is not until the presidency of Benjamin Ide Wheeler in 1899 that the files assume greater importance, although even then the Regents still assumed a much more active role in the day-to-day operations of the University.

The files are mainly alphabetical by name of correspondent, even for those faculty who may have been acting as the chair of a department. While the names of administrative divisions of the University may be represented, only during one period are there files under department names. To use the files effectively, one must know the names of the relevant persons involved.

The files are organized alphabetically within a year or a chronological period, thus there are several alphabets in this series. Even when some years might be grouped, 1905-1909 for example, there are different alphabets for "faculty" correspondence and for general correspondence, which also includes University related subject files. One such period even has a separate alphabet for "administrative" correspondence, and there is one period in which department names were used, overlapping in date the general files on either side. A paper alphabetical index covering the entire series is available.

The date arrangement is as follows:

Box 1:
1886-90
Box 2:
1893-1900
Box 3-5:
1899-1900
Box 6:
1899-1902 (Mainly department names)
Box 6-9:
1901
Box 9-13:
1902
Box 13-16:
1903
Box 17-20:
1904
Box 20-37:
1905-09
Box 38-51:
1909-11
Box 52-57:
1912
Box 58-63:
1913
Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, University Archives, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
(510) 642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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