Harvard Libraries: Radcliffe Archives

Radcliffe Archives

Website:	http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles/archives/
Hours:	Monday-Friday 9:30am to 4:30pm. Open most Wednesdays evenings until 8:00pm when Harvard College classes are in session.

Phone Numbers:

	(617) 495-8662
Fax	(617) 496-8340

Email Addresses:

radarch@radcliffe.edu

Address:

Radcliffe Archives
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Harvard University
10 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Access Policy:

The Radcliffe Archives, part of the Schlesinger Library, will be undergoing major renovations for much of 2004. While most of the Archives' holdings are on site, advance notice is required to access archival materials. A temporary reading room, located in Agassiz House, Radcliffe Yard, is open by appointment only, Tuesday through Thursday, 9:30am to 4:30pm. For more information, or to schedule an appointment, please see the Archives' web site: http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schles/archives/ or e-mail radarch@radcliffe.edu

Extent of Collections:

Archival material: 3,560 linear ft. (est.)
Alumnae special collections: 200 linear ft. (est.)
Photographs: 28,500 (est.)

Dates:

1855 to present, chiefly after 1879

Holdings Description:

The Radcliffe Archives contains the records (through 1999) created by the offices and officers of the former Radcliffe College in the course of their official activities and includes the governing boards, presidents, research centers, academic programs, and administrative departments. The archives also include records of students and student life, collections of alumnae papers and publications, personal papers of presidents and administrators, college-related publications, student periodicals, and audiovisual material. The records of offices, programs, and research centers since 1999 that now constitute the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study are housed in the Harvard University Archives.

The records include: presidents Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, LeBaron Russell Briggs, Ada Louise Comstock, Wilbur Kitchener Jordan, Mary Ingraham Bunting, Matina Souretis Horner, and Linda S. Wilson and deans: Agnes Irwin, Mary Coes, and Bernice Brown Cronkhite. Student records include: Radcliffe Choral Society, Radcliffe Union of Students, Radcliffe Athletic Association, and the Idler Club. Records of current programs include: the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Henry A. Murray Research Center, Bunting Fellowship Program, Radcliffe Public Policy Center, and Radcliffe Educational Programs.

Subjects documented are campus life and issues; the history of women's higher education; aspects of the employment of women at Harvard; women donors to the university; faculty and presidents' wives; and Radcliffe's relations with Harvard. Alumnae special collections document student life and include: diaries, correspondence, lecture notes, essays, and scrapbooks. Other formats include: undergraduate honors theses to 1971; more than photographs, videotapes, motion pictures, and audiotapes documenting student life, Radcliffe property, and Cambridge environs; also included are architectural drawings and building plans, drawings, sketches, and paintings. Biographical files maintained on more than 20,000 alumnae include questionnaires, clippings, correspondence, and book reviews.

History:

The nucleus of the college archives was formed by Arthur Gilman, one of the founders of Radcliffe, who assembled records of the early years of the college. Librarians later maintained files of college publications, student periodicals, and articles about the college, and alumnae historians collected documents and wrote a history of the college every six years. The formal organization of the college archives was initiated by President Wilbur Jordan in 1956. In 1981 the office and reading room were moved from Agassiz to the Schlesinger Library and a new records center was established in the basement of the Murray Center. Currently the Radcliffe Archives is housed in the Schlesinger Library.

Printed Guides & Catalogs:

Revealing Documents: A Guide to African American Manuscripts in the Schlesinger Library and Radcliffe College Archives (Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1993), compiled by Susan J. von Salis, leads researchers to sources about African Americans in the archive's collections.

General descriptions of college history are included in: A Century to Celebrate (Radcliffe College, 1978); Radcliffe College Centennial Exhibit (Cambridge: Armitage Press, 1978); Radcliffe Quarterly 69 (September 1983 issue), 72 (September 1986 issue), and 73 (June 1987 issue); Harvard: An Architectural History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), and Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History, ed. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (Palgrave, 2004).

Online Guides & Catalogs:

The processed collections and periodicals are cataloged in the HOLLIS Catalog, Harvard's online computer catalog; manuscript collections are also listed in RLIN. A small number of finding aids are available online through OASIS and approximately 5000 photographs are digitized, cataloged, and available online through VIA. The Harvard/Radcliffe Online Historical Reference Shelf http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/refshelf/ includes the Radcliffe annual reports, the Radcliffe Magazine (student periodical 1899-1920) and the online version of A Century to Celebrate.

Contact for permission to publish requests:

Radcliffe Archivist, radarch@radcliffe.edu

Reproduction services:

Photocopying by staff only.

Photographic reproduction services.

Items allowed in Reading Room:

Laptops

Digital cameras

Please address comments and updates to archinfo@hulmail.harvard.edu.