USC founding documents and Board of Trustee minutes
Scope and Contents
The USC founding documents and Board of Trustee minutes consist of a ledger containing the by-laws of the University, adopted September 3, 1880, and minutes of the Board of Trustees meetings beginning on that date through November of 1885; these can be found in Box 1. Box 2 contains a bound volume of University of Southern Califonia newsletters, dated January 1881-December 1883, with a few issues missing. The newsletter was created to disseminate "first-class religious, moral, and educational matter...."; the funds generated from the subscription were to be used to fund "a library and apparatus for the University...." The records also consist of a typescript with a brief early history of the founding of the University, which indicates that the newsletter was published by Robert Maclay Widney at his own expense; contemporary copies of letters to Rufus von Kleinsmid and George Bovard from Widney; a broadside of the University's articles of incorporation; and a signed, by Widney, typescript of the address read at the laying of the first corner stone of the University in in 1880, the original of which is deposited in the corner stone. Also included is a 1956 letter to President Fagg regarding a piece of fabric from covering of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Box 3 houses the original ledgers for the minutes, which were rebound into a single volume (Box 1).
Dates
- Creation: 1880-1920, 1956
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1880-1895
Creator
- University of Southern California (Organization)
- Widney, R. M. (Robert Maclay), 1838-1929 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Extent
3 Boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The USC founding documents and Board of Trustee minutes consist of a ledger containing the by-laws of the University, adopted September 3, 1880, and minutes of the Board of Trustees meetings beginning on that date through November of 1885 (Box 1). Also included is a bound volume of University of Southern Califonia newsletters, dated January 1881-December 1883, with a few issues missing; a typescript with a brief early history of the founding of the University; contemporary copies of letters to Rufus von Kleinsmid and George Bovard from Widney; a broadside of the University's articles of incorporation; and a signed, by Widney, typescript of the address read at the laying of the first corner stone of the University in in 1880.
Subject
- University of Southern California -- History (Organization)
- Widney, R. M. (Robert Maclay), 1838-1929 -- Archives (Person)
- Title
- Finding aid for the USC founding documents and Board of Trustee minutes
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sue Luftschein
- Date
- 2019 July
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu