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Vertical File Collection

 Collection
Call Number: UA073

Scope and Contents

The vertical files contain correspondence, news clippings, alumni information forms, transcripts, curriculum vitae, correspondence, publications, and photographs relating to alumni, faculty, staff, and honorary degree recipients.

Files of faculty and staff often contain correspondence with the president and upper administration of Tufts that was most likely removed from the presidential papers collections.

Dates

  • 1695 -- 2012

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Access

This collection contains some restricted material. Restrictions related to specific material are listed in the detailed contents list. 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 26 series for each letter of the alphabet.

Extent

91.08 Linear Feet (32 file drawers)

16 Digital Object(s)

Biographical / Historical

Russell Elliott Miller was a Professor of History, University Historian and Archivist of Tufts University, and author of "Light on the Hill, A History of Tufts College from 1852 to 1952" and the second volume "Light on the Hill, A History of Tufts University since 1952." He was born in Bloomington, Minnesota, on April 25, 1916, to one of the last pioneer families in the Minnesota prairie. His mother spoke Dakota Sioux, which she had learned as a child. He received a B.A. in Education in 1937 and an M.A. in political science in 1939, both from the University of Florida at Gainesville. From 1942 to 1946, he served in the Army Air Corps as an enlisted man, rising to the rank of technical sergeant. Initially with personnel and classification, he was finally assigned to the historical section (intelligence) at the headquarters of the troop carrier command. In 1948 he earned a Master of Arts in history from Princeton University and came to Tufts that same year.





In 1952 he received a PhD from Princeton, and in 1964 Tufts appointed him Professor of History and University Historian and archivist. He taught courses ranging from the history of western civilization to the history of the American frontier. In 1966, he published "Light on the Hill, A History of Tufts College from 1852 to 1952." That year he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Tufts Alumni Association and became an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1975 he became the Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American History and chaired the Department of History from then until 1980. He was voted Emeritus Professor of English and American History in 1981 and received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1983. In 1986, he completed the second volume of Tufts history, "Light on the Hill II, A History of Tufts University since 1952."

Custodial History

The vertical file collection is an artificial collection of files containing information on alumni, faculty, administrators, staff, and donors to Tufts. Many of the files are from the Office of Development Research, but files were also created by Russell Miller while preparing his two volume history of Tufts.

Until 2001, the files of recently deceased Tufts people were interfiled into the vertical files. No files have been interfiled since 2001, and from this point on the files are cataloged in the collection of the Office of Development Research, the office of origin for all newer files.

Processing status

This collection is processed.

Repository Details

Part of the Tufts Archival Research Center Repository

Contact:
35 Professors Row
Tisch Library Building
Tufts University
Medford Massachusetts 02155 United States
617-627-3737