Guide to the Rhode Island School of Design. Board of Trustees Executive Committee records , 1880-2007

Series I. Executive Committee minutes
The fifteen volumes contain the official minutes of the monthly meetings of the RISD Executive Committee (Board of Management, 1877-1901). Minutes record the activities and decisions of the Committee. The records may contain agendas, reports presented by administrators, budget reports and salary lists (post-1946), weekly expense lists, lists of graduating students, and correspondence. The minutes are hand written through May 11, 1925 and typed after that date. Volume 1, 1877-1885, is missing.

Secretaries Howard Hoppin, 1887-1930, and William H. Edwards, 1937-1968, dominate the records. During the Edwards era, the minutes are nearly conversational in tone providing a detailed record of the Committee's discussions. Agenda were no longer included after 1968 December 9. The minutes include few, if any, supporting records circa 1970-1988. The 1984 May 1 minutes are the last signed by the committee secretary.

Beginning 1989, the minutes may again include supporting documents such as reports, other committee minutes, and administrative material. In 1992 the minutes are consistently accompanied by supporting material pertaining to the individual meetings. In 1995 Chair Barnet Fain reorganized the supporting material into an agenda notebook for each meeting. The Archives maintains notebooks holding just the minutes and agendas, 1992-2007, in order to facilitate the use of the records. The minutes with all supporting material comprise a new series, Agenda Notebooks, 1995-2007.

Volumes

• 1885 September 12 - 1896 December 1
• 1897 January 1 - 1903 December 7
• 1904 January 22 - 1913 November 6
• 1913 December 9 - 1920 December 13
• 1921 January 10 - 1929 June 10
• 1929 September 9 - 1941 December 9
• 1942 January 13 - 1946 June 11
• 1946 October 8 - 1958 August 11
• 1958 October 14 - 1966 January 4
• 1966 February 1 - 1970 August 11
• 1970 September 8 - 1976 May 3
• 1976 June 29 - 1987 May 20
• 1987 June 16 - 1994 December 21
• 1992 September 16 - 1997 June 26
• 1997 September 17 - 2007 November 16

Series II. Executive Committee reports
The Executive Committee reports served to communicate information to the Board of Directors/Trustees. The reports for 1880-1901 were written by the Board of Management Secretary and include reports by the Headmaster (1893-1901). The Committee Secretary and the RISD Director wrote separate reports, 1901-1909, when the Director assumed responsibility for writing a single report to the Board (1909-1929). The Educational Director/Executive Vice-President wrote the reports, 1929-1946, and the President issued the reports from 1947 until 1968. The Committee discontinued the reports in 1968 because the reports duplicated the material in the Committee minutes.

The reports were issued in coordination with the Board of Directors/Trustees meetings on a yearly and quarterly schedule until 1947 when the Board switched to semiannual meetings. The reports may include information on Committee decisions and recommendations, student registration numbers, diploma recipients, scholarships, instructors, student prizes, gifts to the School, exhibits, building projects, and activities of the faculty and students. Pre-1900 files include reports to the State Board of Education and a report on the Department of Decorative Design and Woodcarving, 1898-1901.

See also the Reports of Executive Vice-President Royal Bailey Farnum, 1930-1943.

The quarterly and semiannual reports are arranged chronologically.

Series III. Executive Committee Chairman's records
Elected to the Board of Management on 1877 April 30, Helen Metcalf served as Chairman until her death on 1895 March 1. The bulk of Metcalf’s work for Rhode Island School of Design is documented by Committee minutes and reports prepared by the Committee Secretary. The four files contain letters sent to Metcalf and a report by Metcalf. William J. Charlton wrote on 1891 September 9 requesting, unsuccessfully, a position as an Instructor of Practical Design. The files contain a written report on Prussian Industrial Art School Director Dr. O. Jessen’s system for teaching Industrial Art education presented by Metcalf to the Board of Directors on 1886 June 9. Two letters dated 1887 August 25 from RISD Instructor Warren S. Locke (1887-1908) present his comments on Jessen’s system and his request to recruit students at an August fair. He includes comments on former RISD Instructor Gardner C. Anthony. Rhode Island Commissioner of Public Schools William B. Stockwell wrote on 1889 January 7 that he the Governor would recommend an additional appropriation of $500 for state scholarships.

Alphabetical

Series IV. Executive Committee Secretary's records
The records for Howard Hoppin, Executive Committee Secretary, 1887-1930, contain primarily correspondence sent to Hoppin regarding administrative affairs. Correspondents include Headmaster Warren S. Locke regarding his employment and resignation, 1887-1908; Directors E. B. Homer and Huger Elliott; the Architecture, Jewelry, and Textile Visiting Committees, 1906-1916; and President William C. Poland regarding Henry H. Clark as successor to Theodore Pond, Head of Decorative Design, 1902. The records contain correspondence from faculty and staff regarding appointments, 1888-1916, including Theodore H. Pond regarding his appointment as lecturer and head of Decorative Design, 1894-1901. Other records include a small pox vaccination notice (undated); reports, pamphlets, clippings, and correspondence for the NY Institute for Artists Artisans, 1888; and a faculty recommendation from William R. Ware of Columbia University School of Architecture, 1901.

Arranged alphabetically.

Series V. Executive Committee Motions
Kept in three-ring binders (6 x 9.5"), the records consist of typed lists of all motions presented at Executive Committee meetings, 1913-1933. Apparently Director L. Earle Rowe, who signed each list as “correct” from 1913 to 1926, began the series. The lists record the action taken on each motion: voted, no action taken, tabled. Marginal notations in red ink serve as reference points. The records may include written notes and lists of instructors (with salaries), or graduating seniors.

Arranged chronologically by academic year

Series VI. Executive Committee Agenda Notebooks
The Agenda Notebooks contain records collected for each Executive Committee meeting, 1995-2007. In 1995 Chair Barnet Fain organized the meeting records into notebooks with records keyed to specific agenda items. The records may include agendas, meeting minutes, committee reports, financial reports, by-law amendments, memorandums, brochures, trustee nominations, remarks by officers, and building plans. The records may document presentations to the Board by faculty, students, staff, alumni, or consultants.

Chronological by meeting.

Volumes

• 1995 January 18 - 1996 June 19
• 1996 March 20 - 1997 March 19
• 1997 June 26 - 1999 September 15
• 2000 March 15 - 2001 September 21
• 2002 March 11 - 2006 June 14
• 2006 October 26 - 2007 November 16