Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, May 1786

Acting President Robert Davidson presents the annual report to the Board of Trustees on the current state of Dickinson College.
Acting President Robert Davidson presents the annual report to the Board of Trustees on the current state of Dickinson College.
The Women's Center Executive Committee writes President Samuel A. Banks and reports on the activities of the Women's Center during the 1984-85 academic year.
This report by an unknown author discusses and provides a summary of the key points in Senator Henry Clay's speech on the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
John L. Harding's (Class of 1849) report from Dickinson College in December 1848 includes details about his financial account, his grades, and a message from President Jesse T. Peck.
“An Assessment of the GPU Nuclear Corporation Organization and Senior Management and Its Competence to Operate TMI-1” by Admiral H. G. Rickover.
Spencer F. Baird (Class of 1840), the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, publishes "General Directions for Collection and Preserving Objects of Natural History" in 1848.
Treasury Secretary Roger Brooke Taney writes this report in response to a request from the United States Senate.
Spencer Fullerton Baird compiles a "List of the Birds of the United States (from Aububon), prefixed to which is a List of the Birds found near Carlisle, Pennsylvania" The document contains the type of bird, time when first shot, and "when known."
"Synopsis of the Birds of Pennsylvania" compiled by Spencer F. Baird from John James Audubon, Alexander Wilson, and Nuttal in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Includes sections on land and water birds.
Dickinson College President John P. Durbin sends Rev. John Rhodes a report on the conduct of Joseph Clubine Rhodes (Class of 1838).
Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush prepares a questionnaire on the manufacture of silk for Connecticut to be included in a manual mandated by the House of Representatives.
The papers of the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College, 1833-1879, include correspondence, reports, financial statements, printed materials, and legal documents, and have been arranged into thirteen series.
Series 1 – Membership contains correspondence regarding membership on the Board of Trustees, lists of members, and attendance records.
Series 2 – Reports to the Board of Trustees consists of reports by the college president on the overall status of the college as well as reports from the heads of the college departments.
Series 3 – General Business includes bound and loose copies of minutes of the trustees’ meetings, resolutions passed by the various trustee committees, and correspondence in which general business is conducted.
Series 4 – College Personnel includes materials dealing with the college presidents.
Series 5 – Physical Plant consists of deeds, mortgages, certificates, bills, and correspondence dealing with the construction of the campus buildings.
Series 6 – Financial Affairs contains reports of the treasurer, ledger books, student accounts, and other financial materials.
Series 7 – Scholarships contains hundreds of scholarship certificates as well as correspondence and reports related to the sale of scholarships to raise funds for the college.
Series 8 – Conferences consists of materials which pertain to the control of the college by the Baltimore and Philadelphia Conferences of the Methodist Church.
Series 9 – Honorary Degrees contains correspondence relating to the granting of honorary degrees to prominent individuals.
Series 10 – Publications contains printed materials produced for use by the general community such as lists of college rules and regulations.
Series 11 – Dickinson Preparatory School contains reports of the principal to the Board as well as such financial materials as the treasurer’s list of students.
Series 12 – Dickinson Commercial College includes ledger books used in conducting the business of the commercial department of the college.
Series 13 – Executive Committee contains two bound volumes of the minutes of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.
A fuller description of each series is given before each series inventory.
The papers of the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College, 1783-1833, include correspondence, reports, financial statements, printed materials, and legal documents, and have been arranged into seven series.
Series 1 – Membership contains correspondence regarding membership on the Board of Trustees, as well as a membership list, c1826.
Series 2 – Reports of the President consists of reports made to the Board by Presidents Nisbet, Davidson, and How.
Series 3 – General Business contains materials such as correspondence between trustees, mandamus to the faculty, and committee reports.
Series 4 – College Personnel includes correspondence to and from faculty members, including presidents.
Series 5 – Physical Plant contains land deeds and construction and service bills for the campus buildings.
Series 6 – Financial Affairs contains reports of the treasurer, subscription lists, and other financial materials.
Series 7– Publications contains printed materials such as college catalogues.
A fuller description of each series is given before each series inventory.
Thomas Emerson Bond, Sr., was a well-known Methodist Episcopal minister and author who served as a trustee of Dickinson College from 1833 until 1835. The collection includes correspondence to and from Bond dating mostly from 1840-1848, as well as journals and records of the Methodist ministry of John Wesley Bond from 1814-1818. Also included are documents of several Methodist Conferences.
James Buchanan was a graduate of Dickinson College, Class of 1809, who went on to become the fifteenth president of the United States. The majority of this collection is comprised of correspondence between Buchanan and his business and political associates; over four hundred letters penned by Buchanan are included in the collection. Drafts of speeches, printed pamphlets, and various memorabilia are also represented.
The Edwin K. Charles collection consists of the various papers, government documents, newsletters, transcripts, and publications collected by Charles in the years following the accident at Three Mile Island. Edwin K. Charles, a resident of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, became heavily involved with the public-awareness group, Three Mile Island Alert, directly following the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979. Over the years, he collected various materials concerning the legal struggles between the NRC, GPU, and Three Mile Island Alert.
Robert Laurenson Dashiell (1825-1880) was born in Salisbury, Md. He attended Dickinson College, graduating in 1846. He received a Divinity degree from Wesleyan University in 1866. In 1868 he became president of Dickinson College and retained that post until 1872. During his tenure as president, the college underwent the "Rebellion of 1870," in which the members of the junior and sophomore classes took part in a celebration of the 15th amendment. The faculty gave severe penalties for those absent from classes and the students, in protest, withdrew "themselves from all duties until the Faculty and Students come to an understanding." The students were suspended but the faculty, faced with disaster, withdrew the suspensions on May 17, 1870. The collection consists of a bound notebook of essays, class lectures, and monthly grade and treasurer's accounts from Dashiell's student days at Dickinson College; two letters; a report to the Methodist Conference; a printed circular describing the "Reception of Dr. Dashiell, President-Elect of Dickinson"; and a printed circular revoking the suspension of the junior and sophomore classes at Dickinson. The essays in the student notebook include Dashiell's addresses to the Union Philosophical Society in 1845 and 1846, his commencement oration, extensive notes from Professor Allen's Natural Sciences course, and monthly reports from Oct. 24, 1843 through June 30, 1846.
The records contained in the President Robert Laurenson Dashiell record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, no personal papers or papers pertaining to Dashiell’s time as a student are included in this record group. For records concerning Dashiell’s interactions with students, please refer to RG 5/1. The Dashiell records are arranged into two series: General Business, and Personnel.
The Bevery Hess collection consists of the various papers, newspaper clippings, books, audiotapes and photographs collected by Hess during her most active period of involvement with local anti-nuclear groups. Bevery Hess was a resident of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania prior to the accident at Three Mile Island, Unit 2. After the accident, Beverly Hess became heavily involved in the local anti-nuclear movement. She was a founding member of the Susquehanna Valley Alliance and the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC). An appendix is included, which lists the books belonging to the Beverly Hess collection.
This international society was founded in Europe in 1961 and a North American chapter followed ten years later. Dedicated to the study of civilizations, the ISCSC holds annual meetings, usually in an American university setting, in which papers are read, books are discussed, and theories are shared by the members. The society newsletter and its Comparative Civilizations Bulletin/Review are extensions of these meetings. The collection has been on deposit since 1987. The collection consists of society business, personal and societal correspondence, publications, and manuscripts.
The Jane Lee collection consists of the various papers, court dockets, government documents, and newspaper clippings collected by Lee in the years following the accident at Three Mile Island. Jane Lee, a farmer from Etters, Pennsylvania, became active in various public-awareness groups such as Three Mile Island Alert following the accident at the Three Mile Island Nucler Station on March 28, 1979. Over the years she dedicated a considerable amount of time and energy to the fight against the restart of Three Mile Island.
Lonna Malmsheimer collection consists of assorted newspaper articles, transcripts of interviews and audiotapes collected during her work with various other Dickinson College professors and students concerning the public reaction to the Three Mile Island accident on March 28, 1979.
This collection primarily provides evidence of the personal and public life of Frank E. Masland Jr., environmentalist, preservationist, explorer, entrepreneur, author, and community leader. Also found in this collection is correspondence from prominent twentieth-century figures such as leaders of the National Park Service, journalists, politicians throughout the world, and American presidents. Information on Dickinson College is featured prominently throughout this collection through the close association of Masland with the institution during most of his life. This collection offers information on a number of social, political, economic, and historic topics through the eyes of a man who witnessed nearly the entire twentieth century. Some of these broader topics include the industrialization of the United States, south central Pennsylvania community, the rise of environmentalism, reactions to communism, the rise of the New Left, and twentieth-century exploration. The processing of this collection was made possible by a grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The John H. Murdoch collection consists of various papers, newspaper clippings, audiotapes, and photographs collected by Murdoch during his involvement with Three Mile Island Alert. John Murdoch was a long-time resident of Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County and became involved in emergency communications and the activities of Three Mile Island Alert, the public-awareness group, following the accident at Three Mile Island on March 28, 1979. Throughout the decade after the accident, Murdoch devoted much of his time and energy to the fight against the restart of Three Mile Island.