Rhode Island School of Design. Board of Trustees records (01.01)

Historical note

Comprised of term trustees, honorary (nonvoting) trustees, the President, and the Alumni Association President and his/her immediate predecessor, the Board of Trustees directs the affairs of the Corporation. The Board elects all officers of the Board and the Executive Committee. The Board may create standing or ad hoc committees. The Board holds an annual meeting, at which the voting Trustees elect Trustees and Officers, and two additional meetings in the fall and winter.

Article III of the Rhode Island School of Design Association constitution, adopted April 30, 1877, created the Board of Directors comprised of 11 (1878: 15 and 1884: 15-20) members elected annually plus the President and Vice-President. The Board oversaw the "affairs of the Association and such other activities as usually attach to their offices"; elected other officers; and chose the Committees of Management and Finance. The Board held quarterly meetings January, April, July, and October during which the Board heard reports from the Treasurer and committees and discussed new and old business.

The 1893 By-Law revisions created a Board of 19-21 members including 9 ex-officio members: the Governor; the Mayor of Providence; the Commissioner of Public Schools; the Superintendent of Providence Schools; the Librarian of Providence Library; two members appointed by the State Board of Education; and 2 members appointed by the Brown University Trustees. The Board chose all Association officers and held its annual meeting in June not July. The Board of Directors became the Board of Trustees in 1901 when RISD appointed a Director responsible for day-to-day operations.

The 1907 By-law revisions provided that the Board "shall have the full control and direction of the property, business and affairs of the corporation." A 1959 revision added "organization and all other" affairs of the corporation. The Board rewrote the charge in 1987: "The affairs of the Corporation shall be directed by the Board... " The 1907 revisions gave the Board the authority to appoint a Director and Museum Curators and define their respective powers. The authority was transferred to the Executive Committee in 1929. The Board held meetings quarterly (1877-1947) and semiannually (1947-1987). The schedule of an annual meeting plus two seasonal meetings began in 1987.

All ex-officio members created in 1893 were abolished by 1980. Revisions in 1959 created Life, Term, Alumni, and Emeriti Trustees and 1970 revisions added 2 Faculty and 2 Student Trustees (abolished 1979). Life and Alumni Trustees were abolished in 1987 and Honorary Trustees replaced Emeriti Trustees in 1995. The size of the Board varied from 12-25 (1959) to 28-41 (1987) to the 1995 revisions (27-35). The current size of the Board is not specified.