Bruce M. Bigelow files (OF.1CA.B1)

Biographical note

Bruce Macmillan Bigelow (1903-1954), Vice-President and Director of Admissions, was born in Norwood, Rhode Island, on August 27, 1903. After graduation from Brown in 1924, he became an assistant in the History Department. He was an instructor in history at M.I.T. from 1926 to 1928, and received his master’s degree from Harvard in 1927 and his Ph.D. from Brown in 1930. He was appointed instructor in history at Brown in 1930, assistant professor in 1935, associate professor in 1943, and professor in 1947. He became Associate Dean of the College in 1940, Dean of Students in 1943, and Vice-President of the University in 1945. He also became acting Director of Admissions in 1931 and Director of Admissions the next year. In these varied capacities, he traveled extensively, visiting secondary schools and Brown alumni clubs. He was largely responsible for the development of the "Identification and Criticism of Ideas" curriculum introduced in 1952. Bigelow died of a heart attack on December 27, 1954.