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

The records described herein represent a small fragment of the records created by the Office of Vice President of Rhode Island State College from 1940 to 1947. Many of the records that remained were removed from a basement storage area of the Administration Building and transferred to the University Archives in the summer of 1985. They were in no particular order when received by the Archives.

Because John Barlow and Harold Browning each held a number of other administrative positions simultaneously with the Office of Vice-President, the records contained in this group are not always clear as to office of origin. Nor is it always clear in which capacity Barlow and Browning were acting when they authored a particular document. In many instances, the stationery on which the document is typed carries the letterhead of one administrative office while the title of another office is appended to the signature. In addition, in many cases, Barlow and Browning took action in more than one capacity simultaneously. Consequently, while the bulk of the records reflect the activities of the Office of the Vice-President, materials from the offices of Dean of Men and Dean of the School of Science and Business are also represented in this record group.

The years 1940 through 1947 were crucial to the development of what is now the University of Rhode Island. The decade began with he firing of Raymond G. Bressler, the very popular president of Rhode Island State College, after a protracted and very public dispute with the newly installed Board of Trustees. Shortly after the decade ended, the institution achieved University status. In between, it experienced the inauguration of a new president, a world war which reduced its pre-war enrollment by seventy-five percent, and an enormous upsurge in applications immediately after the war. The Office of the Vice-President was intimately involved in the attempt to cope with all of these crises.

In November, 1941 Dr. Carl R. Wolldward assumed the presidency. A month later, Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States was plunged into a World War. Even the bucolic campus on Kingston Hill could not escape the effects of the war. The college radically altered its program to meet the changing circumstances of the war years. An accelerated year round program was instituted so that students could complete degree requirements in less than three years rather than the usual four. The Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) came to the campus in 1943, training over 600 men for specialized work in the military service. The Army Specialized Training Program Records (Record Group 118) located in the University Archives, contain records relating to this program.

Despite these responses, college enrollment dropped precipitously from a pre-war high of about 1200 in 1940 to less than 400 in 1944. Faculty were also lost in large numbers to the military and qualified replacements were difficult to obtain. The college survived the war-caused problems of low-enrollment and faculty shortages only to be inundated by a flood of returning veterans, ballooning enrollment to a 1940s high of over 3000 in 1946. With the aid of a special appropriation made available by the General Assembly, the College was able to obtain war surplus buildings, including Quonset huts, to serve as dormitories, dining halls, and classrooms. A "Quonset Village" appeared on the campus in early 1946 to house returning veterans and their families.

Tantalizing glimpses of all these crises and the college's response to them are available from the materials in this record group. Because of the large gaps in the collection and the myriad responsibilities held by Barlow and Browning, however the records of the Office of the Vice-President is far from complete for this period. Any researcher consulting these materials should also consult Records of the President's Office: Carl R. Woodward, 1941-1958 (Record Group 1) in the University of Rhode Island Archives. The Woodward records offer a more comprehensive and detailed account of the years in question.