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Records of the University's Board of Trustees which have been in existence for at least fifty years are available for scholarly research with the permission of the University Archivist. Access to records which have been in existence for less than fifty years shall be granted only by special permission, in writing, from the Board of Trustees.
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[Identification of item], Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Papers, University Archives, Duke University.
The Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Papers were received by the University Archives as a transfer in 1983.
Processed by Jessica Wood, February 2007
Encoded by Molly Bragg, May 2011
Accessions were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans was born in 1920, and attended Duke University, graduating in 1939. She became a philanthropist and supporter of the arts, a trustee of Duke University and of the Duke Endowment, as well as vice-chairperson of the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.
This collection contains printed matter, photographs, clippings, speeches and other memorabilia relating to Semans' time as a Duke University trustee, her affiliation with the British American Festival of 1984, and other Duke-related activities and events.
Box 1 contains reports, programs, addresses and printed ephemera pertaining to matters and events at Duke University. These materials reflect Semans' activities as a university trustee as well as her support for the arts at Duke. These papers also include the transcript of a discussion on race relations at Duke and the takeover of the Allen Building from 1969, as well as minutes from the University Center Committee, the report of the Special Committee on the Functions and Organization of the Board of Trustees, and a summary report of the B.N. Duke Leadership Program.
This box also includes reports on fund raising at Duke and several reports that address salary levels and other issues faced by Duke faculty women and Semans' speech (with slides) given at the 100th Celebration of Duke Memorial United Methodist Church in 1986.
Box 2 holds a scrapbook containing clippings, correspondence and color snapshots relating to the 1984 North Carolina British-American Festival. There is also a a cassette tape of a recorded interview with Ian Hamilton, who composed "Raleigh's Dream" for the festival.
Oversize folders contain a newsletter from the Duke Class of 1939, Robert Ward's musical score for Music for a Great Occasion for Terry Sanford's inauguration, as well as chapel architectural drawings.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
Files pretaining to Semans' activities with the Board of Trustees are restricted for 50 years from date of origin. Other administrative files including committee records are restricted for 25 years from the date of origin. Publicly distributed material is not restricted.