Records of the Vice President: Barlow/Browning Papers (Rec.Gr. 3.1)

Series 1. Subject Series
The Subject Files consists of the general administrative records of the Office of the Vice-President and contains correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, reports, administrative letters, office diaries and various other files maintained as part of the office operation. The office diaries were kept by the Vice President's secretary, Anna C. Caswell from 1937-1961. The records relate to such concerns as air raid wardens, the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), a cut system for classes, the Scholarship/Scholastic Standing Committee, and the then newly instituted Teacher Training Program.

Among the more interesting subjects is the Army Specialized Training Program which offered training for specialized service in the military to nearly 800 inductees in 1943 and 1944. Other war related materials of interest can be found in folders labeled "Air Raid Warden" and "Dim-outs on Campus". Also of interest are the folders labeled "Dances". The material contained in the latter folders demonstrates clearly the close interest the administration showed in the social, as well as academic, life of its students. The Administration, including the President's Office assumed its role of in loco parentis very seriously. Finally, the Scholarship/Scholastic Standing Committee folders containing academic warning letters, demonstrate the difficulty students encountered in concentrating on their studies with a world war raging beyond the peaceful confines of Kingston.

These files are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically by date within folders.

Series 2. Correspondence Series
Series II, Correspondence, consists of correspondence between Vice-Presidents Barlow and Browning and other administrators and faculty at Rhode Island State College. Items of interest in this series include correspondence with the Director of Admissions James Eastwood, Controller Stanley Gairloch, and President Carl Woodward. The correspondence with Gairloch in particular reveals the financial restraints under which the college operated during the war years and the strain placed on financial resources by the massive influx of students in the immediate post-war years. The Eastwood correspondence gives some indication of the difficulties the college encountered in recruiting a sufficient number of students to remain open during the war years and in coping with the flood of applicants immediately after the war. Woodward's correspondence reveals the manner in which policy decisions were made by the Administration. The technique of decision by committee appears to have been very popular with Woodward. The bulk of the correspondence is with faculty members of concerns such mundane matters as class schedules, student grades, and some leaves of absence made necessary by the war. The series is arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent and chronologically by date within folders.