Dartmouth College Library
Collection Management & Development Program
Collection Development Policy
MANUSCRIPTS:
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
ALUMNI
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- COLLECTION AREA
- GENERAL PURPOSE
- DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PROGRAM
- GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES
- LANGUAGES
- GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
- TYPES OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE
- CREATION DATE
- REVISION DATE
- LC CLASS
- BIBLIOGRAPHER
Manuscripts: Alumni
In an institution of the age and stature of Dartmouth College,
there are many Alumni who have made a significant impact upon or
contribution to American society. It is one of the aims and purposes of the
Manuscript Collection of the College Library to gather, process, preserve
and make available to students and scholars the papers of those Alumni.
Because it is neither possible nor desirable to collect the papers of all
Alumni--there are some 43,000 living Alumni at this time--a determination must be made as to which papers will be of value to students and scholars in the future. The key definition must be those Alumni who have made a significant impact upon or contribution to
American society. For our purposes, this may be defined as changing the way society, or an important portion of society, thinks, believes, acts or
operates. It is thus the goal of the collection to identify and preserve those collections which fall within this definition. At the same time, is not the policy of the Library to acquire by purchase the papers of living Alumni of the College.
The collection supports the teaching and research activities of both students and faculty on all levels. Materials are available for students preparing assignments, papers and theses as well as for the teaching and research needs of the faculty. Use of the collection is broadly based; there is no one single constituency that is supported by the
materials. Materials are used by the faculties and students in the arts and sciences.
The collection is not defined by subject.
English is the primary language of the collection. However,
language is not a criterion for inclusion or exclusion.
There are no geographical boundaries. However, the vast majority of the collection is from within the United States.
The collection dates from the first commencement in 1771 to
the present.
All manuscripts, as defined in the general Manuscripts policy,
are collected. This would include correspondence; drafts and final copies of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; financial records; other personal papers; and any other unique materials that would assist in defining and delineating a person's life and accomplishments.
The most important source of material on Alumni will be found in the Archives of the College. Here are housed class records, Alumni files
and, in many cases, published works of Alumni.
It is to be understood that many bodies of papers of Alumni could reside under the aegis of either the Archivist or the Curator of Manuscripts. A determination of jurisdiction is made on a case-by-case basis. The custom is that a significant portion of the collection must treat College life in order to become a part of the collections supervised by the Archivist of the College.
Dartmouth Alumni are often found in the forefront of their fields and, as a result, are of interest to many repositories. It is not surprising, then, that their papers may be found in institutions throughout the world.
June, 1982
March, 1989 (PC)
January, 1987 (PC)
Philip N. Cronenwett
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Last updated September 27, 1996 by: CMDC@Dartmouth.Edu (mjs)