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Collection Overview

Title:
Office of the Vice President and Secretary Records
Repository:
Princeton University Archives
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/05741r702
Dates:
1853-2019 (mostly 1901-1985)
Size:
202 boxes, 1 folder, 12 items, 3533 digital files, and 1 websites
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Boxes 1-179; 60A; S-000052; S-000053; S-000054; S-000055; S-000056; S-000057; S-000058; S-000059; S-000060; S-000061; S-000062; S-000063; S-000064; S-000065; S-000066; S-000067; S-000068; S-000069; S-000070; S-000071; S-000072; S-000073
Language:
English

Abstract

This collection chronicles the administrative responsibilities and activities of the vice presidents and secretaries of the University. Included are correspondence, memoranda, and notes concerning committee activities. Also included are press releases, discussions pertaining to trustee matters, scholarship information, and biographical files on honorary degree recipients.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

This collection chronicles the administrative responsibilities and activities of the vice presidents and secretaries of the University. Included are correspondence, memoranda, and notes concerning committee activities. Also included are press releases, discussions pertaining to trustee matters, scholarship information, and biographical files on honorary degree recipients.

Arrangement

The collection has been broken into series: the first six are arranged by topic and the seventh consists of subseries arranged chronologically by each secretary's tenure.

At some point in the past, a clear effort was made to organize and preserve the records of the secretary by grouping the materials by topic. This structure has been preserved, but subseries have been created to provide improved access. Items in the folders are filed in reverse chronological order.

Series 8 through 11 consist of accessions received by the archives between 2003 and 2007. Series 12 through 23 are titled by topic. Overlap may exist between series--for instance, Series 23: Records Kept By the Office of the Vice President and Secretary During Tenure of President Shapiro (1969-2008) may overlap with records of individual secretaries of the university, such as Thomas Wright's files in Subseries 7E.

Collection Creator Biography:

Princeton University. Office of the Vice President and Secretary

"Princeton has developed so much in recent years," read the statement in the 27 October 1900 edition of the Princeton Alumni Weekly, "that, like many other American institutions of learning, a University Secretary is now required." This announcement reflected the administrative changes that had been deemed necessary to better manage the daily affairs of a rapidly expanding and developing institution. To date, six individuals have served as secretary: Charles McAlpin (1901-1917), Varnum Lansing Collins (1917-1936), Alexander Leitch (1936-1966), Jeremiah Finch (1966-1974), Thomas Wright, (1974-2004), and Robert K. Durkee (2004–). The secretary has charge of general correspondence of the University and is responsible for arranging Commencement and other convocations.

With the assistance of the registrar, the secretary is responsible for the preparation, and has custody of, all diplomas. In addition, the secretary has the custody of the University seal and affixes it to any documents requiring the signature of the secretary as an officer of the Corporation. The secretary also assists the clerk of the Board of Trustees in the performance of the clerk's duties and, in the absence or disability of the clerk, performs such duties of the clerk as the Board or the president may designate. The secretary also serves as the senior adviser to the president and oversees the official convocations of the University such as Commencement. The office also has administrative responsibility for the Council of the Princeton University Community.

Charles McAlpin, Princeton's first secretary, was a member of an old Mahopac, New York family connected prominently with the industrial and social development of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century. When he graduated from the prestigious Exeter Academy in 1884, McAlpin joined Princeton's class of 1888. As an undergraduate he was a member of the Ivy Club, joined the baseball team in his junior year, and was president of the Dramatic Association during his senior year. Throughout his life he continued his affiliation with Princeton affairs, serving as chair of class committees and, most notably, as University secretary from 1901-1917. Elected unanimously by the Board of Trustees to the post on 13 December 1900 for a yearly salary of $2,500, the Princeton Alumni Weekly noted that the job of secretary was to "coordinate the various departments, keep in touch with the outside world, and many other things which modern life and the modern methods of higher education require." In the same year, McAlpin received an honorary A.M. from Princeton. After his retirement in 1917, McAlpin devoted most of his time to charities, serving as trustee and director of many philanthropic institutions. In an alumni survey he noted that his favorite pastime was "collecting engraved portraits of Washington," and at the time of his death in 1942 he had amassed one of the best-known and most complete series of Washington prints and engravings in the country.

Princeton's next secretary, Varnum Lansing Collins, would leave an indelible mark not only on the office itself, but also on the way the history of the University was preserved. Born in Hong Kong, Collins obtained his education in Paris and London before coming to Princeton as a member of the class of 1892. As an undergraduate, he was editor of The Nassau Literary Magazine, president of the Cliosophic Society, leader of the Glee Club, and a member of the Triangle Club. After receiving an Honorary A.M. from Princeton in 1895, Collins worked in the University Library as a reference librarian until he joined the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages in 1906. He was made full professor six years later and assumed the position of clerk of the faculty—a position he held until 1935. Collins also served as the secretary of the Graduate Council from 1917 until 1927 and was an instrumental figure during the years that the Council successfully conducted its $2,000,000 campaign for faculty salaries. In 1917 he became University secretary and served in this pivotal role for nineteen years. When ill health forced Collins to retire in 1936, the Board accepted his resignation "with regret" and named him Historiographer to Princeton University. Collins had long been recognized as the foremost authority on Princeton history, and authored a number of books on the subject, notably a biography of President John Witherspoon, a history of Princeton, and a guide to the town and the University. His love and knowledge of Princeton led to the grassroots development of the University Archives. Named editor of the General Catalogue/Biographical Catalogue in 1906, he compiled files on alumni and on possible, doubtful, and fraudulent "alumni" that have been gold mines for researchers ever since. As secretary he began what is now known as the Historical Subject File (HSF), an enormously valuable (and still growing) cache of Princeton history, lore, and trivia.

Filling Collins's shoes was not an easy prospect, and the Board passed the baton of service to Alexander Leitch. As a Princeton undergraduate, Leitch was a member of the lacrosse squad, a member of the Terrace Club, and served on the staff of The Daily Princetonian for three years. Leitch enjoyed a long period of service to Princeton that began immediately after graduation in 1924. He served for one year as the director of the Bureau of Student Appointments and Student Employment, before being appointed director of the newly created Department of Public Information. He became one of the right-hand men of University President John G. Hibben, and in 1928 was appointed assistant to the president, a post he continued to hold under Edward Duffield, acting president in 1932-33, and President Harold Dodds. As secretary he oversaw a wide range of administrative responsibilities, including supervising official correspondence and publications, providing essential services for the University's Board of Trustees, and arranging Commencements and special convocations. The staging of the dedication of the Woodrow Wilson School building, at which President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke, topped off his final year at Princeton. Upon his retirement at age 65, Leitch began working on what would become A Princeton Companion, an assemblage of 400 alphabetically arranged articles on Princeton life and tradition. Of the work, Leitch remarked that while "older people sometimes write their memoirs to analyze the past and philosophize about it," he was writing not his own memoir, but Princeton's. "Writing them has been a good way of enriching myself because I'm borrowing from a great institution."

Princeton's fourth secretary was not an alumnus, but he had strong ties to the University. Jeremiah Finch, who graduated from Cornell with a B.A. in 1931 and a Ph.D. in 1936, had been a member of Princeton's faculty in the Department of English since 1936 and had held the office of Dean of the College from 1955 until 1961. As Dean, Finch was responsible for undergraduate programs of study as well as the administration of various services and offices concerned with the academic development of undergraduates. Finch was a former chair of both the Committee on Examinations and Standing and the University Council on Athletics. As executive secretary of the Princeton Program for Servicemen, Finch was also very involved with the readjustment to university life of more than 1000 undergraduates whose studies had been interrupted by war service. As University secretary, Finch became one of the six officers of the Corporation, and had oversight over all publications and the general correspondence of the University.

Thomas H. Wright succeeded Finch as secretary in 1974. Wright, who majored in the Special Program in the Humanities, received his A.B. from Princeton in 1962, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. After a year at Cambridge University as a Keasbey Scholar, he attended Harvard Law School and then went into private practice with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington and Burling. He then served for three years as assistant general counsel to the Ford Foundation in New York before joining the Princeton administration as General Counsel in 1972. In 1990, after serving as both secretary and general counsel, he gave up the responsibilities of the latter and was promoted to the position of vice president and secretary. In this capacity he served as a senior adviser to the president, provided administrative support for the Board of Trustees, and oversaw the official convocations of the University such as Commencement. His office also had administrative responsibility for the Council of the Princeton University Community. In addition, Wright also has supervised the offices of the general counsel and the vice president for campus life. The Board of Trustees designated Wright as vice president and secretary emeritus upon his retirement.

Robert K. Durkee, Princeton University's vice president for public affairs, succeeded Wright in the office of vice president and secretary and served from 2004 to 2019. Durkee, a member of Princeton's class of 1969, joined the University administration in the spring of 1972 as assistant to the president and, after a year on leave to serve as executive assistant to the president of the Washington, D.C.-based Association of American Universities, was appointed vice president for public affairs in 1978. In this capacity he oversaw the offices of the Alumni Association, Communications, Community and Regional Affairs, Government Affairs, and Public Affairs. Durkee served as a close adviser to Princeton presidents William G. Bowen, Harold Shapiro, Shirley Tilghman, and Christopher L. Eisgruber. He also served on and staffed several trustee committees and worked closely with the Board for more than 30 years.

Hilary Parker was appointed Vice President and Secretary in 2019.

Collection History

Acquisition:

Compiled by the Office of the Secretary and transferred to the University Archives from 1969 through 2019.

Appraisal

Appraisal was conducted in accordance with Princeton University Archives policies and procedures.

Processing Information

Collection processed by Susan Hamson, August 2003. Additional updates made by library staff through 2018.

Series 14 through 22 comprise both digital and paper records. In the interest of clarity, some folder titles of these records have been changed. When duplicate files in these records were detected, they were deleted.

In Series 23, some folder titles were altered to provide clarity. Subseries 7F: Robert Durkee (AR.2019.016) was added in December, 2021 by Phoebe Nobles.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Materials generated by the office of the secretary are closed for 30 years from the date of their creation. Some records relating to personnel or students are closed for longer periods of time.

Series 12: President Eisgruber Installation Ceremony Records and Series 13: Public Website are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. The Trustees of Princeton University hold copyright to all materials generated by Princeton University employees in the course of their work. For instances beyond Fair Use, if copyright is held by Princeton University, researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of materials from the Princeton University Archives.

For instances beyond Fair Use where the copyright is not held by the University, while permission from the Library is not required, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Office of the Vice President and Secretary Records; Princeton University Archives, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/05741r702
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Boxes 1-179; 60A; S-000052; S-000053; S-000054; S-000055; S-000056; S-000057; S-000058; S-000059; S-000060; S-000061; S-000062; S-000063; S-000064; S-000065; S-000066; S-000067; S-000068; S-000069; S-000070; S-000071; S-000072; S-000073

Find More

Other Finding Aids

Full text searching of this collection's archived website is available through the Archive-It interface.

Separated Materials

A King James Bible (late 20th century edition) was separated from Series 23 at the time of accessioning.

Subject Terms:
COMMITTEES.
Endowments -- United States.
Scholarships -- New Jersey.
Scholarships -- United States.
Universities and colleges -- United States -- Administration -- History.
Genre Terms:
Correspondence
Memoranda.
Reports.
Web sites.
Names:
Princeton University
Collins, Varnum Lansing, 1870-1936
Finch, Jeremiah Stanton (1910-2005)
Leitch, Alexander, 1900-