Charles R. Longsworth Papers

Charles R. Longsworth, first employee and second president of Hampshire College, worked as assitant to the President of Amherst College from 1960 to 1965. In 1965 he became involved in the planning for the new college which had just become possible through the pledge of six million dollars by Amherst alumns Horold F. Johnson. Longsworth was appointed to chairman of the Hampshire College Educational Trust and charged with the purchase of land in South Amherst on which to build the college. He also conducted the search for a prsident of the new college which resulted in the appointment of Franklin Patterson. Longsworth was appointed to vice president, and the two men proceeded with the process of making the new college a reality.

Longsworth was intimatley involved in the planning of Hampshire College and had particular responsibility for the architectural design of the campus. He wrote "The Making of a College" with Franklin Patterson, and participated in many of the planning committees formed as the nucleus of a faculty, admisistration and staff began to assemble.

In 1971, with the departure of Franklin Patterson, Longsworth was appointed to President of Hampshire College. During his tenure as President, many of the ideas on which Hmapshire was founded were put into practice, tested and revised, and policies formulated under which the college functions today.

Charles R. Longsworth left Hampshire College in 1977 to become President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia.