Origins and governance collection
Scope and Contents
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.
Dates
- 1834-
Conditions Governing Access
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 by the office/department of origin for 25 years from the date of records creation. All other materials in the collection are unrestricted.
Conditions Governing Use
Use of the collection is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.)
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.
Extent
3.13 Linear Feet (9 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Origins and Governance Collection brings together materials concerning the creation and administration of Mount Holyoke College, an institution for the higher education of women that was founded by Mary Lyon, granted a charter as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, and opened in 1837. Materials date from 1834 to the present and include a ledger notebook, charters, acts, regulations, minutes, planning documents, publications, speeches, questionnaires, drawings, and photographs.
Processing Information
Processed by Patricia J. Albright, 2007-present. Peter Carini assisted with the arrangement and description of these materials from 1997-1999.
- Accreditation (Education) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Coeducation -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Education -- Philosophy Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Administration Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Curricula Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Data processing Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Decision making Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Evaluation Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Faculty Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Finance Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Planning Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Presidents Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke College -- Records and correspondence Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Regulations Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College -- Students Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Mount Holyoke College Record Groups Subject Source: Local sources
- Mount Holyoke Female Seminary -- Inception Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- School colors -- Massachusetts -- South Hadley Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Single-sex schools -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Universities and colleges -- Planning Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women -- Education (Higher) -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women college students -- Massachusetts -- South Hadley Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- charters Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- comprehensive plans Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- corporation records Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- legislative acts Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- logos Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- minutes (administrative records) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- notebooks Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- plans (reports) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- questionnaires Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- reports Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- seals (artifacts) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- speeches (documents) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Origins and Governance Collection, 1834-present
- Subtitle
- Finding Aid
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Patricia J. Albright.
- Date
- 2007
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections Repository
50 College Street
8 Dwight Hall
South Hadley MA 01075-6425 USA
413-538-3079
archives@mtholyoke.edu
