Board of Trustees Records
Scope and Content Note
The Arkansas State University Board of Trustees Records primarily consists of minutes and supporting documents from meetings held by the university’s board members. Supporting documents include resolutions adopted by the board, statements, estimates for building constructions and repairs, faculty and staff hires, resignations, and promotions, tuition fees, educational programs being offered, and correspondence.
While the collection contains predominantly general concerns of running a university, there are also several documents that show the evolution and struggles of the college from its inception, through the Second World War. Documents include PWA projects, correspondence to and from Hattie Caraway, the use of Arkansas State College as a military training facility, as well as a variety of other topics. There are also brief mentions of interned Japanese-Americans and the German prisoner of war camp located in Jonesboro.
Dates
- Creation: 1909-1999
Creator
- First District Agricultural School Board of Trustees (Creator, Organization)
- First District Agricultural and Mechanical College Board of Trustees (Creator, Organization)
- Arkansas State College Board of Trustees (Creator, Organization)
- Arkansas State University Board of Trustees (Creator, Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
This manuscript collection consists of physical materials. This collection has not been digitized. This collection is open for research use only in the Reading Room. It is not available for request through Interlibrary Loan. Please contact the archive via email (archives@astate.edu) at least a week in advance of your arrival to ensure the availability of the material.
Materials from the year 2002 to the present is available online from the Arkansas State University System website at
Historical Note
In 1906, Washington County Farmers’ Union passed a resolution endorsing the establishment of a single agricultural school in Arkansas. State Representative C. E. Bush introduced a measure for the school in 1907. It passed both state houses but was vetoed. A year later, the State Farmers’ Union asked for legislation to expand the establishment of a single agricultural school to four schools. The measure was introduced by State Representative J. J. Bellamy in January 1909. It passed the state house February 4th and then the state senate March 3rd. Governor George W. Donaghey signed Act 100 on April 1, 1909, establishing the agricultural schools.
Governor Donaghey appointed the first five trustees of the first district agricultural school on September 28, 1909: C. E. Bush, J. J. Bellamy, Dr. N. N. Hammett, J. B. Lewis, and Love Banks. One of their first responsibilities was to establish the location of the school. In 1910, the board decided to locate the school in Jonesboro. A committee was founded to help raise funds for the new school which included T. A. Turner, G. W. Culberhouse, H. M. Cooley, A. W. Hall, James E. Parr, Gordon Matthews, Will R. Stuck, Bert McCain, A. E. Lochart, C. F. Mullinix, and R. H. Meyer. At the same time, the trustees visited various agricultural schools. During one of these visits, Bush met Victor C. Kays, who became the first principal then president of the First District Agricultural School.
During the first few decades, Kays and the board of trustees worked on establishing and expanding the school. While the First District Agricultural School was originally established as an agricultural high school, it offered general education courses with college level textbooks. With the United States entering the First World War, the school attempted to secure a detachment of the Student Army Training Corp. Informed it needed to reorganize as a junior college to receive the detachment, the board began adding two-year courses in agriculture, home economics, and education.
The changes were formally recognized in 1925, leading to legislation changing the name of the school to First District Agricultural and Mechanical College (A & M College). The school continued to add courses and began offering four-year curriculums, leading the school to become Arkansas State College in 1932.
The Great Depression and the Second World War saw Kays and the board of trustees switch priorities from expanding the curriculum and school to keeping the school open and funded. Kays worked closely with U. S. Senator Hattie Caraway to attract federal funding and projects. They succeeded in receiving federal funding through some New Deal initiatives and worked with the military to establish training schools to keep enrollment numbers during the war.
While the board of trustees and the school would face issues like desegregation, student and faculty protests and demonstrations, the board focused less on micromanaging the daily operations of the school and more on the broader interests such as approving curriculum, construction and remodeling of buildings, tuition, and the overall operations of the school. One of these endeavors was the formation of graduate programs, leading the school to gain university status in 1967, becoming Arkansas State University. Over the next few decades Arkansas State University System incorporating smaller institutions and creating satellite campuses, leading to the creation of Arkansas State University System based in Little Rock. Today, the board of trustees continues to oversee the university system.
Extent
11.4583 Linear Feet (This collection consists of 656 folders in 28 document boxes.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Arkansas State University was founded on April 1, 1909 when Governor George W. Donaghey signed Act 100 into law, establishing four district agricultural schools. As part of the act, Governor Donaghey appointed the first board of trustees to the school where they established the location of the school in Jonesboro and hired V. C. Kays as the school’s first principal then president. The first few decades saw the board establish and expand the school, changing it from an agricultural high school to a four-year college and then eventually a university, offering graduate and doctoral programs. This collection consists of minutes and supporting documents detailing the meetings and responsibilities held by the board of trustees.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in chronologically and kept in its original order. Minutes with no supporting documents were placed in a single folder based on their calendar year. Minutes with supporting documents were placed in their own folders.
Addendums to this collection are arranged...
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Minutes and most supporting documents from 1909 to 1977 were originally bound in twenty-six volumes and part of the Arkansas Collection. These were recently unbound for preservation and accessibility. Supporting documents for meeting from 1931 to 1944 along with meetings from 1978 to 1989 were transferred to Archives & Special Collections. Two half-sized banker’s boxes of minutes from 1990 to 1999 were transferred to Archives & Special Collections by Pam Kail on January 19, 2017.
Minutes and supporting documents from 2000 to 2020 were transferred to Archives & Special Collections by Pam Kail on October 17, 2023.
Accruals
Further additions to this collection are expected.
Processing Information
This collection was originally processed by Matthew Mayton and completed in July 2023. An addendum to this collection was added in July 2024.
Subject
- Arkansas State College (Organization)
- Arkansas State University (Organization)
- Arkansas State University System (Organization)
- First District Agricultural School (Organization)
- First District Agricultural and Mechanical College (Organization)
- United States. National Youth Administration (Organization)
- United States. Public Works Administration (Organization)
- United States. Works Progress Administration (Organization)
- Ashcraft, L. R. (Person)
- Baker, J. C. (Person)
- Banks, W. L. (Person)
- Beebe, Mike (Person)
- Bellamy, J. J. (Person)
- Blackford, A. (Person)
- Block,, M. F. (Maurice F.) (Person)
- Bookout, Jerry P. (Person)
- Bush, C. E. (Person)
- Caraway, Hattie Wyatt, 1878-1950 (Person)
- Cooley, H. M. (Person)
- Danner, W. S. (Person)
- Davis, Pearle (Person)
- Edens, W. J., Dr. (Person)
- Eldridge, H. E. (Person)
- Hammett, O. N., Dr. (Person)
- Kays, Victor Cicero, 1882-1966 (Person)
- Kays, V. H. (Person)
- Leggitt, I. C. (Person)
- Lewis, J. B. (Person)
- Mack, W. L (Person)
- McMath, Sid (Person)
- Miller, John Elvis, 1888-1981 (Person)
- Phillips, Russell (Person)
- Potts, Robert L. (Person)
- Pritchard, Ross, Dr. (Person)
- Reng, Carl R., Dr. (Person)
- Rogers, D. T. (Dudley T.) (Person)
- Smith, Eugene W., Dr. (Person)
- Smith, J. H. (Person)
- Stuck, William R. (Person)
- Thompson, Horace (Person)
- Thornton, Ray, 1928- (Person)
- Welch, Charles L. (Person)
- Whillock, Carl S. (Person)
- Whittaker, R. (Person)
- Wilson, R. E. Lee (Person)
- Wilson, R. E. Lee, Jr. (Person)
- Wyatt, James Leslie (Person)
- Young, Joe Clay (Person)
Genre / Form
- Contracts
- Corporate minutes
- Correspondence
- Estimates
- Financial statements
- Memorandums
- Minutes
- Resolutions
- Scholarships
- Statements
Occupation
- College teachers -- Housing
- College teachers -- Tenure
- Employees -- Dismissal of
- Employees -- Resignation
Temporal
Topical
- Allocating Funds
- Building -- Estimates
- Building fees
- Buildings -- Repair and reconstruction
- College administrators
- College department heads
- College presidents
- College trustees
- Depressions -- 1929
- Employee selection
- Faculty (Education)
- Faculty housing
- Fees
- Funds and scholarships
- Hire
- Mascots
- Retirement
- Roads -- Maintenance and repair
- School board members
- Secretaries
- Trusts and trustees
- Tuition
- Universities and colleges -- Administration
Uniform Title
- Title
- Arkansas State University Board of Trustees Records
- Subtitle
- 1909-2020
- Author
- Matthew Mayton
- Date
- July 21, 2023; Revised July 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- March 12, 2023: Added "Arkansas State University Faculty Senate Records" and a brief description to the Related Materials note.
Repository Details
Part of the Archives & Special Collections at A-State Repository