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Alfred Atkinson Correspondence Files, 1914-1940

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Montana State College. Office of the President.
Title
Alfred Atkinson Correspondence Files
Dates
1914-1940 (inclusive)
Quantity
14.4 linear feet
Collection Number
MSU.00001, Accession 00001 (accession)
Summary
The Alfred Atkinson Correspondence Files consist of Montana State College (MSU) President Alfred Atkinson's correspondence for the period 1919 to July 1937. Files may contain enclosures including reports, legal and legislative documents, brochures, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and announcements, and other materials related to that correspondence. Major subjects include faculty and faculty issues including tenure, appointments, financial and occupational problems, and organizations; students' lives and conditions on campus, their finances, student-related problems, and organizations; the alumni including Alumni Association, Collegian, and occupations pursued; the University System, Montana Legislature, citizenship statements required of all employees of MSC by House Bill #474 of the Montana State Legislature in 1935; the Federal Government including appropriations; Depression programs including the National Youth Administration, Works Progress Administration, Civil Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration and other work relief programs; agricultural and land use agencies including the U.S.D.A.; State, regional and national agricultural organizations and their programs including the Montana Association (Montanans Incorporated), Farm Bureau, Farm Foundation and Farmers Union; schools of Montana and associated programs including High School Week, Future Farmers of America and basketball tournaments; other educational institutions and higher education programs. There are extensive files on instructional programs and problems, planning during the Depression, and financing the University System and its institutions.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
Collection materials are in English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
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Biographical Note

Alfred Atkinson, the 4th president of Montana State College, was born in Seaforth, Ontario, Canada and graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College, received his B.S. at Iowa State College in 1904 and his M.S. at Cornell in 1912. He arrived at MSC in 1904, as an instructor in agronomy and a member of the Experiment Station staff, was appointed a professor of agronomy in 1905, and was appointed to the presidency in 1919. He was president for 18 years which encompassed many changes at the college, as well as in the state and the nation. Of these changes and challenges finances, the Depression, instructional programs including improving the engineering departments, and projects in the agricultural community are addressed extensively. He also served as Federal Food Administrator for Montana, 1919-1921, during the Hoover administration. In 1937, he left to become President of the University of Arizona. He served in that capacity for 10 years. He died May 16, 1958 in Arizona at the age of 78.

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Content Description

Correspondence files of President Alfred Atkinson's Administration at Montana State College (MSU) include all correspondence for the period 1919 to July 1937 with the exception of material from the following files that were missing: College correspondence 1927/28, 1928/29 and 1928/30; general correspondence 1928/29, 1929/30, and 1930/31; and annual reports of administrative and educational departments which were removed at some time prior to 1989. Files may contain enclosures including reports, legal and legislative documents, brochures, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and announcements related to that correspondence. The collection has been arranged into 13 series and accompanying sub-series in the original order when received from the president's office by the archives department of the library. There is an original inventory and index in the accession file. An updated index with file citations containing all subjects, individuals, and locations mentioned is included in the finding aid. Major correspondents and/or subjects are: the Chancellor's Office and State Board of Education; Land Grant College Association; Academic and Administrative departments and divisions of MSU including Experiment Stations and Extension Service; faculty and faculty issues including tenure, appointments, financial and occupational problems, and organizations; students' lives and conditions on campus, their finances, student-related problems, and organizations; the alumni including Alumni Association, Collegian, and occupations pursued; the University System, Governors of Montana, Montana Legislature, citizenship statements required of all employees of MSC by House Bill #474 of the Montana State Legislature in 1935; the Federal Government including: appropriations; Depression programs including the National Youth Administration, Works Progress Administration, Civil Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration and other work relief programs; agricultural and land use agencies including the U.S.D.A.; State, regional, and national agricultural organizations and their programs including the Montana Association (Montanans Incorporated), Farm Bureau, Farm Foundation, and Farmers Union; schools of Montana and associated programs including High School Week, Future Farmers of America, and basketball tournaments; other educational institutions and higher education programs; Alfred Atkinson's correspondence with or about noted Montanans and educators including E. L. Currier, W. M. Cobleigh, E. C. Elliott, F. B. Linfield, R. R. Renne, A. M. Ryon, and M. L. Wilson. There are extensive files on instructional programs and problems, planning during the Depression, and financing the University System and its institutions. Two names of the institution are present: College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts and Montana State College (which Atkinson preferred). Within the educational units, they are called divisions at some points and colleges at others, reflecting the developing infrastructure of the institution.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1: Montana University System, 1914-1937 (starts with collections subject index)

Series 2: Montana State College (MSC), General Files, 1919-1938

Series 3: Administration: Operations and Problems, 1918-1937

Sub-series 1: Finance and Budget, 1918-1937

Sub-series 2: Physical Plant - Buildings, Campus, and Services, 1919-1937

Sub-series 3: Publications, Publicity, and Public Relations, 1920-1937

sub-series 4: U.S. Work Relief Programs on Campus, 1933-1937

Series 4: Faculty, 1919-1937

Series 5: Students, 1919-1937

Series 6: Alumni, 1921-1937

Series 7: Academic Divisions, Colleges, and Departments, 1914-1940

Sub-series 1: Division of Agriculture and Associated Departments, 1914-1937

Sub-series 2: Division of Engineering and Associated Departments, 1919-1937

Sub-series 3: General Division, 1931-1937

Sub-series 4: Division of Household and Industrial Arts and Associated Departments, 1920-1937

Sub-series 5: Division of Science and Associated Departments, 1919-1937

Sub-series 6: General Education Departments, 1919-1937

Series 8: Activities in Instruction and Associated Problems, 1919-1937

Series 9: Research, 1926-1936

Series 10: Conferences and Conventions Held on Campus, 1916-1937

Series 11: Correspondence Related to non-University System schools and institutions, 1919-1936

Series 12: Correspondence Related to National, State, and Regional Problems, 1919-1940

Series 13: Miscellaneous Personal Correspondence and Papers of President Atkinson, 1919-1937

Sub-series 1: Correspondence Related to Montanans and Ex-Montanans

Sub-series 2: Miscellaneous Alfred Atkinson Correspondence and Associated Papers, 1919-1936

Sub-series 3: Alfred Atkinson - M.L. Wilson Correspondence and Related Wilson Materials, 1919-1937

Acquisition Information

Correspondence files of President Alfred Atkinson sent to the library archives were assigned accession number 00001 on January 29, 1973.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 May 14

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Personal Names

Corporate Names

Geographical Names

Kim Allen Scott, 2009. Updated by Heather Mulliner, 2022.
2022

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