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Registrar’s Office, Records
, 1905-2002
; Bulk Dates 1925-1970
Carnegie Mellon University Archives, Official University Records
Eight boxes (Boxes 1A-6); 7.5 linear feet ,
The Office of the Registrar has existed at Carnegie Mellon University since the first students entered evening classes in 1905. The first Registrar was Arthur Tarbell, who held the position until 1918. In a 1917 memorandum, Tarbell described the duties of his Office as:
In the same memorandum, Tarbell proposed that his office also become the central office for academic records. This change required the Recording Clerks to be moved from their divisional offices to a central office, concentrating all student recording keeping activities in the Office of the Registrar. In 1918, Allan Bright took over Tarbell’s position as Registrar. To the previous duties of the Office, he added membership to a number of high-level administrative and academic committees including the Educational Senate, Executive Board, and Entrance Committee, as well as Secretary of Administrative Council. Through his involvement in these groups, the Registrar’s Office was involved in establishing operating procedures and making policy decisions for the University.
As the University grew, the duties of the Registrar became more streamlined to enrollment and student record keeping. Earl K. Collins was Registrar from 1940-1952. He was followed by William L. Rogers, who held the position until 1978. During Rogers’ tenure, the Registrar’s Office moved from the Division of Student Personnel and Welfare to the Division of Student Affairs, which was organized to coordinate the administrative functions of the increasing number of non-academic student activities. The Office was moved again in 1968 to the Office of the Vice President for Administration and Planning. It was also under Rogers that a computer system for statistics and grade keeping was introduced.
Harry Whitehead was Registrar from 1978-1982. He was succeeded by Richard Rainsberger.
The Records of the Registrar’s Office are housed in eight boxes and arranged into eight series. Series have been designated for annual reports, final examination schedules, honor rolls, miscellaneous, Official Registration books, registration statistics, schedules of classes, and oversized materials. These records are mostly student statistics and lists produced by the Office but also include correspondence, articles, booklets, and sample forms. The series reflect significant collections of five distinct types of information collected and made available by the Registrar’s Office. Together, these series provide a broad view of the student body and class schedules since the first class of students in 1905. In some instances, the records can also provide details about individual students, such as the Honor Roll lists and Official Registration books.
The annual reports are housed in one half-foot box and arranged chronologically by academic year. All academic years from 1913-1966 are represented in this series, and many have two copies. The reports contain a short narrative followed by a dozen or more tables and charts based on student enrollment. Many of the tables and charts are the same or similar to those in the Registration Statistics series (series six).
The final examination schedules are housed in one box and arranged chronologically by academic year. The final examination schedules include information about the date, location, and duration of each exam, as well as the number and year of the students taking it. Fall and Spring semester examination schedules are available for day, evening, and graduate classes.
The honor roll series is housed in one box and is arranged chronologically by academic year. The roll is composed of students who received a grade point average of 3.15 or higher in a particular semester. For each year, the name of the student and their department are given. For certain years, the number of times each student had previously been on the roll is listed, as well as their grade point average for that semester.
The miscellaneous series is housed in two boxes and arranged alphabetically by folder title. This series includes academic calendars, correspondence, manuals, reports, brochures, and sample forms. The majority of this series is correspondence about office duties, correction of individual student records, curriculum, entrance examinations, tuition rates and refunds, school policies, and comparisons with other similar schools. Two folders of ‘sample student forms’ included in this series include payment receipts, schedule cards, registration cards, grade report forms, registration procedure letters, class coupons, fee slips, and IBM cards for student information and grades. Student forms for Iver Herbert Lundgren, Mark L. Seibert, and Anna Catherine Skoog are included in these folders. The majority of the ‘sample office documents’ are form letters sent to students or documents used within the office to conduct its business.
The Official Registration books are housed in two boxes and are arranged chronologically. The books contain alphabetical listings of students by last name and also include the students’ home towns and Pittsburgh addresses. For each year, students are listed by day courses, evening courses, and individual schools. The books also contain short summaries of the year’s registration and the geographical distribution of the students. The book labeled ‘1918-1919 War Courses’ contains lists of the students registered for the special war courses offered by Carnegie Institute of Technology at that time.
The registration statistics series is housed in three boxes and is arranged chronologically by academic year. (One academic year = fall semester, spring semester and summer session.) However, there are many statistics in this series that compare registration across a number of years. These statistics are filed in the year in which they were compiled. This series contains a wide variety of data about enrollment and student performance. Although statistics are available from 1905, the amount of data collected about students increases steadily, particularly in the 1950s. Aggregated statistics about the students are most common in this series, but some information on individual students can be found. Most academic years contain statistics on the number of applications, admitted students, and enrolled students broken down by class, sex, month, department, or part-time, day, or evening students. Other common statistics include: tuition charges, student withdrawals or eliminations, grades, faculty, number of graduates, high schools attended by freshmen, comparisons to other technical schools, geographic distribution of students. This series also contains miscellaneous newspaper articles, reports, and correspondence, which are usually connected with particular statistics gathered by the Office.
The schedules of classes are housed in one box and are arranged chronologically by academic year. These schedules provide information on tuition rates, registration procedures, and academic calendars as well as giving the time, location, and name of the instructor for each course at the University. Undergraduate, graduate, and Margaret Morrison courses are included in these schedules.
The oversized materials are housed in one folder located in the ninth drawer of the map case on the second floor of Hunt Library. The materials are arranged into five categories: curriculum, grades, miscellaneous, registration, and tuition charges. This series contains oversize charts and graphs depicting statistical information in each of the four categories. The miscellaneous materials are posters announcing the time and location of entrance examinations, an academic calendar, and an undated blueprint of the Registrar’s Office. Of particular interest are a group of papers that contain information about individual tuition charges and student fees for each student enrolled in the 1923-1924 academic year.
These materials were received in three accessions from Iver Herbert Lundgren, Mark L. Seibert, and perhaps Anna Catherine Skoog.
None.
One folder of oversized materials have been separated and stored in the Hunt Library second floor map case in drawer 9. A list of the materials can be found in series seven.
Cassandra Nespor
| Contact Us | Site Map | CommentsJuly 19, 2007 -- http://www.library.cmu.edu/Research/Archives/UnivArchives/Registrar.html
Jennie Benford,University/Heinz Archivist, jbenford@andrew.cmu.edu © 2007 Carnegie Mellon Libraries |