Origins and Governance Collection, 1834-present
General International Standard for Archival Description
Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections South Hadley, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Patricia J. Albright. 2007-08-10
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Origins and Governance Collection
Mount Holyoke College
Biographical History for: Origins and Governance Collection
Historical Note Mount Holyoke Female Seminary was established by educator Mary Lyon, who in 1832 began making plans for a school for the higher education of women that would own its own property and not be a for-profit venture. She enlisted the support of several clergymen and businessmen in and around Ipswich, Massachusetts, where she had been working as a teacher at Ipswich Female Seminary since 1828. Seven of these individuals - David Choate, Daniel Dana, Joseph Felt, George W. Heard, Edward Hitchcock, Asa Howland, and Theophilus Packard - formed a committee in September, 1834 that selected South Hadley, Massachusetts as the location for the school and worked to obtain a charter for the institution from the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that was granted on February 11, 1836. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary opened on November 7, 1837. The academic program expanded from three to four years in 1861/62 and students who completed the prescribed course of study received diplomas. In the late 1880s, in response to competition from degree-granting women's colleges, Mount Holyoke successfully petitioned the state legislature for a charter change that was granted on March 8, 1888. At that time, the name of the school changed to Mount Holyoke Seminary and College and the first degrees were awarded on June 27, 1889. The Seminary Program that did not lead to a degree was phased out and another change to the charter granted on January 31, 1893 marked the institution's transformation into Mount Holyoke College.
Scope and Contents of the Collection Materials in the Origins and Governance Collection date from 1834 to the present and are arranged in nine series: Committee of 1834 Records; Charters and Acts of Incorporation; Name Changes; Statutes; Heraldry; Collegiate Status; Policy Documents and Studies; Coeducation; and Self-Studies and Reports. A ledger notebook for the Committee of 1834 (1834-1835) contains minutes of meetings of a group of men who supported Mary Lyon's efforts to establish Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Charters and Acts of Incorporation (1836, 1868-1970) and Name Changes (1888, 1893, 1988) materials include copies of Mount Holyoke's original 1836 charter and documents reflecting the school's transition from a seminary to a degree-granting college. Statutes (circa 1841-1994) concern the duties of teachers, regulations governing student behavior, and parodies of Mount Holyoke's regulations known as the Blue Laws and Fire Laws. Heraldry materials (1838-2001) consist of historical sketches, articles, correspondence, drawings, photographs, and samples concerning Mount Holyoke's color, seal, and logos. A Collegiate Status certificate (1955) confirms the College's membership in the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Policy Documents and Studies consist of minutes, reports, studies, correspondence, and questionnaires documenting the work of the Mount Holyoke Committee of Four (originally formed as the Committee of Ten) from 1936-1938; a group of students who prepared A Working Paper on Education for Mount Holyoke College in 1969; the Fact-Finding Committee on Coeducation (1968-1970); the Danforth Workshop Committee (1972-1973); and the Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision-Making (1974-1976). There is also a Conference Report on Equal Opportunity for Women: University Affirmative Action Programs by Mount Holyoke professors Marjorie Childers and Penny Martin (later Gill) in December, 1972. Coeducation materials (1923-present) consist of articles, correspondence, speeches, questionnaires, studies, and reports concerning the advantages and disadvantages of coeducation and single-sex education, particularly for women. Self-Studies and Reports (1977-present) contains documents relating to accreditation reviews of Mount Holyoke College by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Institutions of Higher Education as well self-studies and reports prepared between 1989-2003 for strategic plans for Mount Holyoke in the 1990s, 2003, and 2010. Material from this collection is available in an online digital format.
Education--Philosophy.
lcsh
School colors--Massachusetts--South Hadley.
Single-sex schools--United States.
Coeducation--United States.
Accreditation (Education).
Universities and colleges--Planning.
Women--Education (Higher)--United States.
Women college students--Massachusetts--South Hadley.
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary--Inception.
Mount Holyoke College. Board of Trustees.
Mount Holyoke College--Administration.
Mount Holyoke College--Curricula.
Mount Holyoke College--Data processing.
Mount Holyoke College--Decision making.
Mount Holyoke College--Evaluation.
Mount Holyoke College--Faculty.
Mount Holyoke College--Finance.
Mount Holyoke College--Planning.
Mount Holyoke College--Presidents.
Mount Holyoke College--Records and correspondence.
Mount Holyoke College--Regulations.
Mount Holyoke College--Students.
Mount Holyoke College. Committee of Four.
lcnaf
Mount Holyoke College. Committee of Ten.
Mount Holyoke College. Fact-Finding Committee on Coeducation.
Mount Holyoke College. Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision-Making.
Mount Holyoke College. College Planning Task Force.
Mount Holyoke College. Strategic Planning Task Force.
Mount Holyoke College. Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of the College.
Mount Holyoke College. Danforth Workshop Committee.
New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Commission on Institutions of Higher Education.
aat
series
Committee of 1834 1834-1835
Committee of Four Records document the activities of a group of men who supported Mary Lyon's efforts to establish Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. Serving on the committee were the David Choate, Daniel Dana, Joseph Felt, George W. Heard, Edward Hitchcock, Asa Howland, and Theophilus Packard. The records consist of a ledger notebook containing minutes of committee meetings from September 6, 1834-October 9, 1835. Issues discussed by committee members included the name and site of the Seminary as well as the process for obtaining a charter for the school from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts legislature.
Unrestricted.
Charters and Acts of Incorporation 1836, 1868-1970
Charters and Acts of Incorporation contains copies of the original charter for Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, granted on February 11, 1836 as well as reports and acts concerning charter amendments with regard to funding for the school and how much real estate Mount Holyoke could own. These materials include a summary of all changes to the charter from 1836-1968 and a newspaper article written in 1936 on occasion of one hundredth anniversary of the original charter.
Name Changes 1888-1988
Name Changes materials consist of acts passed by the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that amended the 1836 charter and changed the school's name from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary to Mount Holyoke Seminary and College (1888), then to Mount Holyoke College (1893). These name changes reflect the school's transformation from a seminary that granted diplomas for the completion of studies to graduates into a degree-granting college. The materials also include copies of newspaper editorials from 1888 concerning the proposed charter change and an invitation to a celebration at the College in 1988 commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the 1888 charter.
Statutes circa 1841-1994
Statutes (circa 1841-1994) contain copies of and information about Mount Holyoke's rules and regulations. A notebook known as the Book of Duties (1842-1846) outlines the responsibilities of teachers, procedures for examinations and the system of marking, the daily schedule, the activities to be completed by members of the Mount Holyoke community of particular days, and the regulations concerning the care of health, study hours, music lessons, fire prevention, vacations, walking and calisthenics exercises for students, and the requirement that all students regularly write compositions. Other regulations (circa 1841-1994) concern student behavior with regard to church attendance, exercise, visitors, off-campus activities, the care and furnishings of dormitory rooms, the use of library materials, smoking, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. There are also articles and letters (circa 1867-1968) relating to parodies of Mount Holyoke's regulations known as the Blue Laws and Fire Laws. These burlesques of actual rules were originally written by Mount Holyoke students in the mid-nineteenth century and have often been mistaken for the school's authentic rules.
Heraldry 1838-2001
Heraldry materials concern the color, seals, and logos used by Mount Holyoke from 1838-2001. These materials consist of articles and correspondence about the history of the seal and logo; drawings, sketches, and photographs of those devices, and ribbon samples in Mount Holyoke College Blue.
Collegiate Status 1955
Consists of a certificate issued by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1955 certifying that Mount Holyoke was admitted to membership in the Association in 1929.
Policy Documents and Studies 1936-1976
Policy Documents and Studies consist of records documenting the work of four committees and one working group at Mount Holyoke College from 1936-1938 and 1968-1976 and a conference report concerning affirmative action from 1972. The earliest of these groups, the Committee of Four, was initially established as the Committee of Ten in the spring of 1937 to study the inter-relationships among trustees, administrators, faculty, students, and alumnae in the aftermath of the divisive controversy over the selection of Roswell Gray Ham to succeed Mary Emma Woolley as President of Mount Holyoke College. Records for the committee date from 1936-1938 and consist of minutes, correspondence, and reports, including a examination of The Machinery of Control at Mount Holyoke College that was published in the November 1937 issue of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. In 1969, numerous Mount Holyoke students worked on a study of Mount Holyoke's educational philosophy and curriculum. The results of their work was issued as A Working Paper on Education for Mount Holyoke College, written by Janet Hall, Judy Harris, Jane Hickie, Susan Norton, and Merrill Wasserman with Susan Essock. Records of the Fact-Finding Committee on Coeducation (1968-1970) consist of correspondence, questionnaires, articles, press releases, and reports that concern the work of a group of trustees, faculty, administrators, and students that thoroughly examined Mount Holyoke's single-sex status. Activities of the Danforth Workshop Committee, comprised of Mount Holyoke faculty members who participated in seminar-workshop about women in higher education at Danforth Foundation Workshop on Liberal Arts Education in 1972, are documented by memoranda and a report (1972-1973). Records of the Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision-Making (1974-1976) which was established by the Board of Trustees to recommend ways to improve communication among trustees, students, faculty, and staff and allow students to more fully participate in the decision-making processes at the College, consist of minutes and agenda, correspondence, notes, articles, and a final report. The Conference Report on Equal Opportunity for Women: University Affirmative Action Programs by Mount Holyoke professors Marjorie Childers and Penny Martin (later Gill) from December, 1972 concerns discussions at a meeting sponsored by the Urban Research Cooperation.
Coeducation 1923-present
These materials date from 1923 the present and consist of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, press releases, announcements, speeches, questionnaires, correspondence, studies and reports concerning the advantages and disadvantages of coed and single sex education. Many of the articles concern colleges for women. There is also a collection of Selected News Clips May-August, 1994 compiled by the Women's College Coalition that concern women's colleges, single-sex education, and the plight of girls in the classroom.
Self-Studies and Reports 1977-present
Self-Studies and Reports contain documents relating to accreditation reviews of Mount Holyoke College by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. (NEASC) and to three strategic plans prepared by the College from 1989-2003. Review materials consist of detailed self-studies that describe the curriculum, finances, student services, use of computers and telecommunications, and facilities at Mount Holyoke and reports by the NEASC recommending various improvements. Drafts and reports relating to the strategic plans document the work of the Strategic Planning Task Force (1989-1993) on a plan for Mount Holyoke College in the 1990s, the College Planning Task Force (1996-1997) on The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003, and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of the College (2000-2003) on The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2010. A Supplement to the Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003 from August 1997 consists of another detailed self-study that the College prepared for the NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education.
Materials relating to accreditation reviews of Mount Holyoke College by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Institutions of Higher Education are restricted to use of the office/department of origin for 25 years from the date of records creation. All other materials in the series are unrestricted.
Ledger notebook containing minutes of meetings September 6, 1834-October 9, 1835
Charter 1836
Reports, acts, summaries of charter changes, newspaper article about the original charter 1868-1970
Acts and invitation 1888, 1988
Acts 1893
Regulations circa 1841-1920
Regulations circa 1920-1994
Information on rules 1846-1969
Book of Duties 1842-1846
Blue Laws and Fire Laws circa 1867-1934
Articles regarding Blue Laws and Fire Laws 1927-1961
Correspondence regarding Blue Laws and Fire Laws 1927-1968
Color 1893-1941
Logo 1967-2001
Seal: articles and correspondence 1937-2000
Seal: drawings and photographs 1838-1993
Certificate 1955
Committee of Four 1936-May 1937
Committee of Four July-September 1937
Committee of Four October 1937-1938
Working Paper on Education for Mount Holyoke College (2 copies, shelved in FOLIO) 1969
Fact-Finding Committee on Coeducation 1968-September 1969
Fact-Finding Committee on Coeducation October 1969-1970
Fact-Finding Committee on Coeducation: final report 1970
Danforth Workshop Committee 1972-1973
Report, Equal Opportunity for Women conference December, 1972
Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision Making: correspondence and working papers November 1974-May 1975
Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision Making: correspondence and working papers May 1975-March 1976
Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision Making: constituent comments 1975
Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision Making: meeting agenda and minutes 1975
Ad Hoc Committee on Communications and Decision Making: final report October 1975
Articles, reports, etc. circa 1927-1970
Articles, reports, etc. 1971
Articles, reports, etc. 1972-1979
Articles, reports, etc. 1980-1984
Articles, reports, etc. 1985-1989
Articles, reports, etc. 1990-1994
Articles, reports, etc. 1995-present
New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) review: report of Evaluation Committee 1977-1978
New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) review: working papers 1977
New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) review: working paper 1977
New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) review: report 1977
New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) review: report by an Evaluation Team 1987
New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC) review: self-study 1987
Mount Holyoke in the 1990s: Strategic Planning Task Force Reports March 1989
Mount Holyoke in the 1990s: A Strategic Plan and Draft October 1989
Mount Holyoke in the 1990s: results of Strategic Planning Task Force Reports March 1993
The Plan for Mount Holyoke College 2003: working draft September 1996
The Plan for Mount Holyoke College 2003: draft February 6, 1997
The Plan for Mount Holyoke College 2003 April 24, 1997
The Plan for Mount Holyoke College 2003 May 10, 1997
Supplement to the Plan for Mount Holyoke College 2003: self-study prepared for the NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education August 1997
Progress report on The Plan for 2003 Fall 2000
Plan for Mount Holyoke 2010: first public draft September 25, 2002
Plan for Mount Holyoke 2010: second public draft February 10, 2003
Plan for Mount Holyoke 2010: third public draft April 15, 2003
Plan for Mount Holyoke 2010final version May 3, 2003
Self-study prepared for evaluation for reaccreditation by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education New England Association of Schools and Colleges July 2007