Guide to the Thomas F. Banchoff papers, 1935-2012

(bulk 1963-1997)

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2016

Collection Overview

Title:	Thomas F. Banchoff papers
Date range:	1935-2012, (bulk 1963-1997)
Creator:	Banchoff, Thomas
Extent:	23.5 Linear feet
Abstract:	The Thomas F. Banchoff papers (1935-2012, bulk 1963-1997) contain administrative, research, and teaching materials relating to Professor Banchoff's tenure as a professor of mathematics at Brown University. Included are correspondence, lecture and research notes, manuscripts, course syllabi and exams, and records of various faculty and university committees of which he was a member. The papers also include records from Professor Banchoff's term as acting Dean of Student Affairs at Brown (1971-1972) that reflect the racial and political campus issues of the time.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	OF.1UF.2015.003

Scope & content

The Thomas F. Banchoff papers represents Banchoff’s work as a mathematics professor and as acting Dean of Student Affairs at Brown University and covers primarily the years from 1963 through 1997. Most of the teaching material consists of professional correspondence; lecture notes, syllabi, and exams; research and review articles; and general notes. Material from his year as acting Dean of Student Affairs includes records of the newly created Transitional Year Program (now the Third World Transition Program) (Box 6, folders 25-29; Box 7, folders 1-5), correspondence and notes about contemporary campus issues such as the ROTC program, the campus strike of 1970, the Afro-American Society, and anti-Vietnam War actions. Also included in the papers are records of various faculty and university committees that Professor Banchoff served on, notably the 1968/1969 Committee of January 7 (Box 7, folders 14-18), which explored the role of the faculty in university governance, and the 1997 Strategic Task Force on Information Resources and Services (SPTFIRS) (Box 9, folders 4-9).

The papers are arranged into eight series:

Series 1. Correspondence (1963-2000): this series contains a chronological arrangement of mostly professional and collegial correspondence with editors and fellow mathematicians (see also Series 5 - Box 4, folders 30-31; Box 5, folder 1 - for more publisher correspondence).

Series 2. Personal (1963-2012): here is a small collection of personal notes and clippings, most notably documents relating to Banchoff’s membership in the Society for Religion in Higher Education, later the Society for Values in Higher Education (Box 1, folders 14-16).

Series 3. Teaching (1950-2012; bulk 1960-1997): this series includes Banchoff’s curriculum vitae and several articles he wrote about his teaching career and philosophy (Box 1, folder 19); materials supporting his nomination for several teaching awards (Box 1, folders 20-24); various conference and seminar notes; and lecture notes and syllabi for numerous undergraduate classes taught at both Brown University and UCLA (Box 2, folders 10-16; Box 3, folders 1-15). Also included in this series is a considerable amount of restricted material in the form of student recommendations and evaluations (Restricted until 2085) and student coursework (Restricted until 2055).

Series 4. Mathematics: administrative and conferences (1935-1997; bulk 1967-1997): this series comprises mostly Brown University Mathematics Department documents and notices (Box 3, folders 16-17), as well as material from several mathematics conferences (Box 6, folders 3-6).

Series 5. Mathematics: publications and research notes (1960-2003): this series includes research notes and articles on various geometry topics (Box 4, folders 7-24); handwritten and typescript manuscripts (Box 4, folders 25-28); and book and article reviews undertaken for various publishers (Box 4, folders 30-31; Box 5, folder 1).

Series 6. Dean of Student Affairs (1963-1998): most of the material in this series dates from the 1971/1972 academic year when Banchoff was acting Dean of Student Affairs. It includes notes and correspondence about various campus events, such as the acquisition of Churchill House for the Afro-American Society and the 1970 campus strike, and administrative records. Material relating to the founding of the Transitional Year Program (also referred to as the Transitional Summer Program) is in Box 6, folders 25-29, and Box 7, folders 1-5; this program prepared students from disadvantaged backgrounds for life and work at Brown.

Series 7. Faculty: administrative and committees (1966-2008): this series contains agendas and minutes of faculty meetings (Box 7, folder 7), as well as faculty publications and notices. Also included are records of the Faculty Club (Box 7, folder 9) and of Brown’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (Box 7, folder 13). Professor Banchoff served on many committees, including the Ad Hoc Committee on Elementary, Introductory, and Modes of Thought Courses (Box 7, folders 10-11) and the Committee of January 7 (Box 7, folders 14-18). Miscellaneous committee materials and student academic advisory material are also included.

Series 8. Brown University general (1968-2008): this series contains meetings notes from a number of university committees investigating governance (Box 8, folders 5-7), counseling (Box 8, folders 8-13), educational policy (Box 8, folders 14-19), and housing (Box 8, folders 20-25). There are also strategic planning task force documents for 1996/1997 (Box 9, folder 4-9) and the Institutional Self-Study report for 1998.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

• Brown University--Administration.
• Brown University--Faculty--Archives.
• Brown University--Faculty--Correspondence.
• Brown University. Department of Mathematics.

Subject Topics

• College administrators
• College teachers--United States--20th century
• Geometry, Differential
• Hyperspace--Study and teaching
• Mathematics--Computer-assisted instruction
• Mathematics--Study and teaching
• Student affairs administrators
• Topology
• Universities and colleges--Administration
• Universities and colleges--Curricula
• Universities and colleges--Faculty

Occupations

• Administrators
• Mathematicians
• Professors

Document Types

• Administrative records
• Agendas (administrative records)
• Awards
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Correspondence
• Examinations (Documents)
• Financial records
• Instructional materials
• Lecture notes
• Letters (Correspondence)
• Letters of recommendation
• Manuscripts (document genre)
• Notes
• Office files
• Photographs
• Research notes
• Reviews (document genre)
• Syllabi

Subject Topics

• Education

Arrangement

• Series 1. Correspondence (1963-2000): personal and professional correspondence
• Series 2. Personal (1963-2012): notes, financial receipts, spiritual organizations, photographs
• Series 3. Teaching (1950-2012): awards, lecture notes and syllabi, student recommendations and classwork [RESTRICTED]
• Series 4. Mathematics: administrative and conferences (1935-1997): Department of Mathematics memos and notices, conference agendas and notes
• Series 5. Mathematics: publications and research (1960-2003): manuscripts, notes, offprints, and published articles
• Series 6. Dean of Student Affairs (1963-1998): administrative records, memos, committee records
• Series 7. Faculty (1966-2008): administrative records, memos, committee records
• Series 8. Brown University (1968-2008): committee records, university publications and notices

Biographical note

Thomas Francis Banchoff was born on April 7, 1938, in Trenton, New Jersey. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame in 1960, his master’s degree and then his doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley in 1962 and 1964. After teaching for two years at Harvard (1964/1966) and accepting a research appointment at the University of Amsterdam (1966/1967), he began his tenure at Brown University as assistant professor of Mathematics in 1967, rising to full professor in 1973. In addition to his teaching and research at Brown, Professor Banchoff has held visiting professorships at Yale, UCLA, and the University of Notre Dame.

His fields of specialization are differential geometry and topology. His monographic publications include: Beyond the Third Dimension (1990), Cusps of Gauss Mappings (1982), Linear Algebra through Geometry (1983), and Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces (2010). He has published numerous conference papers and articles in such journals as The Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society and the Journal of Differential Geometry. His teaching and research in these fields have explored ongoing innovations in the computer visualization of patterns and relationships, especially in his work with the fourth dimension. To this end, he and his colleague Charles Strauss formed their own production company, which released short films such as Flying through the Torus (1979) and The Hypercube: Projections and Slicing (1979). In 1975, the Washington Post featured a photograph of Banchoff holding a hypercube model in front of Salvador Dalí’s 1954 painting “Corpus Hypercubus”; this began a friendship between Dalí and Banchoff that grew out of their mutual fascination with the fourth dimension.

One of Banchoff's favorite books, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott, was made into a movie in 2007, and he served as a consultant for the movie. Banchoff wrote the introduction for the movie edition of the book, published in 2008. His research on the life of Flatland author Edwin A. Abbott comprises its own collection: Thomas Banchoff collection of materials relating to Edwin Abbott Abbott, Ms.2011.016, Brown University.

Professor Banchoff has received numerous teaching awards, among them the Brown University Teaching Excellence Award (1993), the Northeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America Award for Distinguished Teaching of Mathematics (1995), and Rhode Island Professor of the Year Award (1997). He has served as an associate editor of Mathematics Magazine (1978-1981), associate editor of the American Mathematical Monthly (1982-1985), and president of the Mathematical Association of America (1999/2000). He has participated in many faculty and university committees dealing with such issues as the faculty role in university governance, student housing, and information resources and services.

In addition to teaching at Brown, Banchoff served as Acting Dean of Student Affairs during the 1971/1972 academic year, a time of significant organizational and social change on campus. As dean he oversaw the creation of the Transitional Year Program (which became the present Third World Transition Program in 1975).

As of July 2014, Thomas Banchoff is an emeritus professor at Brown, after 47 years of teaching. He continues to teach geometry, topology, and calculus courses at institutions such as Baylor University and Carnegie Mellon University.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, with the exception of several boxes of student recommendations and coursework, which are restricted until 2085. The collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Thomas F. Banchoff papers, OF.1UF.2015.003, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Donated by Thomas Banchoff on 15 January 2015 and on August 22, 2016.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Deborah Peterson.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2016-12-07
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material:

Thomas Banchoff Collection of Materials Relating to Edwin Abbott, Ms. 2011.0016, Brown University Library Records related to Thomas Banchoff's presidency of the Mathematical Association of America (1999-2000) are with the Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC. Papers related to Thomas Banchoff's research in mathematics and Banchoff-Strauss Productions records are at the Archives of American Mathematics, Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Thomas Banchoff papers on the fourth dimension (Ms.2015.001), Brown University Library

Inventory

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