Historical Materials Collection

Collection

Call Number: UA136

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Scope and Contents

This collection contains materials including artifacts, ephemera, memorabilia, ledgers, loose photographic prints, and audio and visual material relating to Tufts history for which no provenance can be assigned.

The Audio Lab series contains lectures, panels, conferences, and performances at Tufts circa 1960-2000. Notable speakers include Ralph Nader, F. Lee Bailey, Robert Klein, Maya Angelou, Noam Chomsky, George McGovern, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Coretta Scott King, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Stokely Carmichael, William F. Buckley, Margaret Mead, Muhammed Ali, Jane Fonda, Joe Biden, Norman Mailer, Isaac Asimov, P.J. O'Rourke, Jimmy Carter, Haruki Murakami, Margaret Thatcher, and many other prominent social and political figures.

Dates

1819 -- 2012

Creator

Tufts College

Language of Materials

English

Access

University records are closed for 20 years from the date of their creation. Records older than 20 years that do not pertain to student education, staff and faculty employment and Board of Trustees records are open for research. This collection may require review before it is available for use. Please contact DCA for further details.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Please see “Reproductions and Use” on the Digital Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permission to publish. Copyright to all materials created by Tufts University employees in the course of their work is held by the Trustees of Tufts University.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into six series: Artifacts and ephemera; Photographs; Books; Audio Lab materials; University audiovisual materials; and Unprocessed accessions.

Extent

175.46 Linear Feet (188 boxes and 49 oversize folders)

7 Volumes

6 Artifact(s)

1503 Digital Object(s)

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Since 1955, Tufts University has continued to expand its horizons. In 1964, in one of Wessell's final acts as president, Tufts opened the Experimental College. The Ex-College, which allows students to take classes not normally found in the curriculum, has remained one of Tufts' most popular programs.

In 1977, Tufts established a five-year joint degree program with the New England Conservatory of Music. Soon after, in 1979, a similar program began with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Also in 1979, the Tufts Center for European Studies in Talloires, France, was established in an 11th Century priory. The Tufts European Center began operation soon after.

In late 1979, Tufts made another important addition. In October, the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine opened at its original Boston campus. In 1980, the Grafton campus, built on the site of a state mental hospital, officially opened its doors.

The last two major additions to Tufts University took place in 1980 and 1981. In 1980, the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, established with a large grant from the Sackler family, opened its doors on the Boston campus of the Tufts School of Medicine. In 1981, at the Medford Campus, Tufts celebrated the opening of the School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The school was the first of its kind in the nation.

Since Tufts College was officially established in 1852, it has continued to grow and expand in new directions. From its beginnings as a small liberal arts college through its expansion into a full-scale university, Tufts has maintained a strong academic tradition and a community feel.

Custodial History

The materials in this collection have minimal provenance documentation. Digital Collections and Archives staff move objects from this collection into other more appropriate collections when provenance is positively identified.

Processing Information

The Audio Lab materials series was re-processed in the Fall of 2014 by Tim Walsh, archives assistant, with supervision by Erin Faulder, Archivist for Digital Collections, using documentation from the original transfer. Accruals from fiscal years 2017-2019 were processed by Leah Edelman. Materials were placed in archival boxes if the original housing was damaged, and loose materials were placed in folders where needed. Received order was maintained. File or item-level inventories were created, and series-level descriptions and the finding aid were updated at the time of processing.