James A. Perkins papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 3-10-1022

Abstract

The papers of James A. Perkins consist of correspondence, reports, administrative management forms and records, drafts of speeches, correspondence, notes of telephone conversations, memoranda for the record, substantive inter-office notes and memos, commission reports, departmental reports to the President, tape recordings, transcripts, broadsides, a phonodisc, and letters received by the President's Office concerning the events on campus in the Spring of 1969

Dates

1963-1969.

Creator

Perkins, James Alfred, 1911-1998. (Person)

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

James A. Perkins was born on October11, 1911 in Philadelphia, and attended the Germantown Friends' School. He graduated with high honors in 1934 from Swarthmore College, and received a doctorate in political science from Princeton in 1937. He remained at Princeton until 1941, first as an instructor of political science, later as an assistant professor and assistant director of the School of Public and International Affairs. During World War II., Perkins served in the Office of Price Administration and the Foreign Economic Administration. From 1945 to 1950, he was vice president of Swarthmore College. In 1950 he joined the Carnegie Corporation as an executive associate, and in 1951 became vice president. From 1951 to 1963, Perkins served as vice president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. From 1963 to 1969, he served as the seventh president of Cornell University

Extent

46 cubic feet. (46 cubic feet.)

Additional Description

COLLECTION ARRANGEMENT

The records of the six years of the Perkins presidency are divided into three two-year series (1963-65, 1965-67, and 1967-69) and a fourth series spanning his presidency. The biannual periods are further divided into two groups: the first is derived from the organizational structure of Cornell University, following the hierarchy beginning with the Board of Trustees and continuing through the President's and Provost's Offices, the Offices of Vice Presidents and other administrative officials, the Cornell University Medical College, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, the Deans of the statutory and endowed colleges and schools, departments, committees, commissions, and boards within the university. The second group is alphabetically arranged, and includes individuals, organizations, and topics both inside and outside the university. The fourth series, 1963-69 (primarily 1967-69), is topically arranged, and includes letters to the Office of the President concerning the events of the Spring of 1969, files pertaining to the state of the university in 1967-69 and its relations with trustees and alumni, records concerning the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, the speeches of James A. Perkins, Presidential commission files and reports, annual reports to the president, transcripts, tape recordings, and other subjects

SERIES LIST

Series I. 1963-1965 Boxes 1-10

Series II. 1965-1967 Boxes 10-21

Series III. 1967-1969 Boxes 22-31

Series IV. 1963-1969 Boxes 31-44 Correspondence re Willard Straight Hall occupation and the events of Spring 1969/"Challenge to Governance" James A. Perkins' Speeches, Writings, Reports, Printed Material President's Committee to Study the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University President's Committee on Student Involvement in Decision Making (Morison Commission) Commission on Undergraduate Education Special University Commission of April, 1968 (Williams Commission) Tape Recordings Transcripts Phono Disc Broadsides

RELATED MATERIALS

Physical Description

Correspondence, administrative papers, and reports.

General

Contact Information:: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:: Phil McCray
Date completed:: October 1989
EAD encoding:: Peter M. Martinez, September 2003
Date modified:: Fredrika Loew, October 2018