MenuPreliminary Inventory of the Alumni Affairs Records, 1851 - 2005
Abstract
The Office of Alumni Affairs at Duke University administers the Duke Alumni Association, a nonprofit organization serving over 120,000 alumni and former students of Duke University, in addition to thousands of parents and friends of the university. Records contain class files, administrative materials, fundraising materials, alumni publications records, subject files, photographs, video and sound recordings, and an index to Duke students who served in World War II. Materials include reunion information, correspondence, reports, programs, clippings, and printed matter.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Alumni Affairs Records, 1851 - 2005.
- Creator
- Duke University. Office of Alumni Affairs.
- Extent
- 30 Linear Feet, , 30000 Items
- Repository
- University Archives, Duke University
- Location
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult University Archives, Duke University.
- Language
- English.
Collection Overview
Records contain class files, administrative materials, fundraising materials, alumni publications records, subject files, photographs, video and sound recordings, and an index to Duke students who served in World War II. Materials include reunion information, correspondence, reports, programs, clippings, and printed matter.
Administrative Information
Collections are on the move for the renovation of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »
Access Restrictions
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
For a period of twenty-five years from the origin of the material, permission in writing from the office of origin and the University Archivist is required for use. After twenty-five years, records that have been processed may be consulted with the permission of the University Archivist.
Portions of these materials are restricted by donor request.
Unprocessed materials are closed pending processing.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Contents of the Collection
Browse List of Series
Collapse All
Expand AllMissing Class of 1964, 1970, 1980, and 1981.
Historical Note
Since 1838, Duke University has had two locations and five name changes, but one of its oldest components has been an active alumni association. The Trinity College Alumni Association was founded in 1858 by President Braxton Craven, with forty-one alumni on record. In the 1890s, when the proposal to relocate Trinity College to Durham was announced, opposition to the plan was widespread among alumni. The Alumni Association, however, listened to the arguments for relocation with an open mind and decided to put the interests of "a greater Trinity" above personal considerations. In 1891, a year before the move, the College's charter was amended to require that one-third of its trustees be alumni of the College. This tenet remains a requirement of the University's bylaws today, twenty-seven of Duke's thirty-seven trustees are alumni, and five are past presidents of the Alumni Association.
Within a decade of the move to Durham, both men and women enrolled in dramatically increasing numbers from the North, the South, the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and abroad (especially Japan). Today's Duke Alumni Association represents more than 110,000 members from every state in the USA and more than seventy countries.
Just as the pool of alumni has dramatically grown and changed over the last 150 years, so has the role of the Alumni Association. From an association intended to foster friendships and maintain an ongoing affiliation between alumni and the university, the Alumni Association now also provides educational and travel opportunities, along with many university and community services. It disseminates information about university activities and issues to alumni and friends of the university, and produces its own sources of revenue to help support its programs.
These changing roles are expressions of an ongoing review by Alumni Association leadership and members of the alumni community. They illustrate the Alumni Association's ability to recognize the university's continually changing needs and its own opportunities to contribute to the Duke community.
[Historical note from http://dukealumni.com]
Subject Headings
Related Material
- Trinity College Alumni Association Records (University Archives, Duke University)
- Alumni Collections (University Archives, Duke University)
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Alumni Affairs Records, University Archives, Duke University.
Provenance
The Alumni Affairs Records were received by the University Archives as a transfer in 1948-2002.
Processing Information
This collection is partially unprocessed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
Encoded by Jill Katte, February 2005
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.