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A Guide to the Records at the Indiana University Archives

Finding aid prepared by University Archives staff.

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
Indiana University. Memorial Fund Campaign.

Collection No.
C80

Extent
8.5 cubic feet (9 boxes)

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
This collection consists of the records of the Memorial Fund Campaign, a series of drives to raise funds for the construction of an athletic stadium, women's dormitory, and student union building as memorials to IU students and former students who had participated in World War I.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Advance notice is required for access to the collection.

Administrative History

Shortly after the end of World War I, Indiana University students, faculty, alumni, and former students embarked on a Memorial Fund Campaign to raise money for the construction of specified buildings on campus and to simultaneously honor the men and women from the University who had participated in the war. Prior to the war the Indiana University Alumni Council recognized the need for a drive to raise funds for the construction of some university buildings and tentative steps were taken toward that end. After the war, in 1919, President Bryan envisioned such a drive as part of the Centennial in 1920 and solicited opinions from alumni and other University supporters as to the feasibility of such a project. In June, 1921 the Alumni Council gave official approval and authorized a campaign to raise $1,000,000 for the construction of three buildings: a Union building, an athletic stadium, and a women's dormitory. At this point, the campaign was officially identified as one to honor the participants in the war. In October, 1921, William A. Alexander, University Librarian, was appointed director and the campaign got underway early in 1922. Later that year, the Alumni Council voted to increase the fund goal to $1,600,000.

The Memorial Fund Campaign went through five phases. The first, in 1922, focused on getting pledges from students, faculty, alumni, and Bloomington residents and businesses. Efforts to reach alumni extended nationwide and abroad. In the spring of 1922, the "Flying Squadron," a group of student leaders, alumni, campaign officials (including W. A. Alexander), and President Bryan traveled around the country promoting the drive among alumni. Their itinerary included Washington, D.C. where they met with President Harding and obtained his support. Subsequent campaigns took place during the summers of 1922, 1923, 1924, and in May, 1926. The last came about when students challenged alumni to match what they could raise. Some students attempted to organize another drive in 1929 but did not succeed.

The process of collecting the pledges made in these various fund drives extended into the 1930s. A concentrated effort to complete this work was made in 1930 and 1931 when the Memorial Fund Committee engaged Mary Morgan Brewer as a Special Representative to correspond with pledgers and travel throughout the state collecting pledges.

Students and alumni actively participated in the leadership and work of these drives. In the summer of 1926, at the prompting of President Bryan, those who had worked on the various campaigns joined together to provide continued services to Indiana University as the Memorial Regiment.

The Memorial Regiment formed an important link between the Memorial Fund Campaign and the University Interests Committee in that the latter drew on Regiment members to lead their campaign among Indiana legislators for increased financial support for Indiana University. Several Memorial Regiment members also became founding members of the Indiana University Foundation in 1936.

Arrangement

Organized into seven series: Histories and personal accounts; Correspondence; Lists; Meetings; Promotional materials; Reports; and Scrapbooks and Narrative Reports.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of the records of the Memorial Fund Campaign, a series of drives to raise funds for the construction of an athletic stadium, women's dormitory, and student union building as memorials to IU students and former students who had participated in World War I. The collection spans 1919 through 1951 with the bulk of the material dating between 1921 and 1931. The collection is organized into seven series: Histories and personal accounts; Correspondence; Lists; Promotional materials; Meetings; Reports; and Scrapbooks and Narrative Reports.

The Histories and personal accounts series consists of just one folder containing a written narrative of the campaign by its director, W. A. Alexander. Also included are accounts by unidentified authors and excerpts from Alumni meetings relevant to the campaign collected by Ivy Chamness.

The second series, Correspondence, is further organized into three subseries: Campaign organization; Pledge collection; and Correspondence with pledgers. The first subseries, Campaign organization, includes correspondence by officials of the campaign with each other and with other campaign volunteers between 1921 and 1931. It includes correspondence by President Bryan, W. A. Alexander, and Field Secretary Paul E. Thompson, among others, and also form letters used by campaign officials and workers. The second subseries, Pledge collection, contains correspondence on the collection process initiated in 1930 for the collection of unpaid pledges and includes that of Field Secretary Paul E. Thompson, Special Representative Mary Morgan Brewer and her secretary, and various individuals in the Bursar's Office, including Bursar U. H. Smith and assistant Bursar J.B. Martin. Other recipients include campaign volunteers in various communities throughout the state. The third subseries, Correspondence with pledgers, consists of letters written to and from pledgers about the status of their pledges. They are arranged in chronological groupings corresponding to major phases in the collection process. Within the broader chronology, folders are arranged alphabetically by surname. Much of the correspondence for the 1920s was initiated or received by U.H. Smith, Bursar, and Paul E. Thompson, Field Secretary of the Campaign Committee. That from the 1930s originated with or was sent to Special Representative Mary Morgan Brewer or individuals in the Bursar's office. Many pledgers wrote about their professional and personal lives in these letters.

The Lists series consists of a variety of lists kept by leaders of the Memorial Fund Campaign. These include rosters of county committee chairs and members, pledgers, and campaign officials and leaders. Pledger lists by county and by college class are also included along with address change lists, and, in a miscellaneous folder, lists of deceased persons, lists of unpaid pledges, and unidentified lists. One folder contains a list of names of all those who paid part or all of their pledges by 1934.

The next series, Meetings, consists of one folder containing the minutes of the Executive Committee of the Memorial Fund Campaign from 1922.

The Promotional materials series consists of two folders. One includes brochures, flyers, programs of events, pamphlets, and posters. The other contains typed copies of speeches, news releases, and campaign strategy guides.

The sixth series, Reports, is further organized into two subseries: Campaign assessments and field reports, and Financial. The former contains assessments of the 1922 phase of the campaign and field reports on the collection process from 1928 and 1930-31. The second subseries, arranged chronologically, consists of financial reports summarizing collections and donations from the 1920s-1934. It also contains 10 bound columnar books describing contribution amounts, pledge amounts, cash donations, and pledge payment records.

The final series, Scrapbooks and Narrative Reports, consists of 11 bound books covering the campaigns between 1921 and 1926. One book is a narrative of the first campaign in 1922 from the viewpoint of Noble Butler, a student leader, and another an account of the 1923 campaign by Mary Thornton and Dale Fox. One of the scrapbooks includes a narrative of the women students' campaign in 1923-1924 written by Mary Thornton. Other scrapbooks contain various materials relating to the campaign such as organizational charts, instructions for solicitors, correspondence of some of the student leaders, form letters, accounts of mass meetings, newspaper clippings, campaign literature, posters, forms, sample pledge cards, lists of campaign workers, pictures, and photographs of persons and events. Three oversize items have been separated and stored in the Archives Photograph Collection.

Photographs connected with the Memorial Fund Campaign may be found in the Indiana University Archives Photographs Collection.

• Indexing Terms

• The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

• • Names
  • Indiana University. Memorial Fund Campaign--Archives.
  • Indiana University. Memorial Fund Campaign--Records and correspondence.
  • Indiana University--Endowments--History--20th century--Sources.
• • Topics
  • Universities and colleges--Endowments--History--20th century--Sources.

Separated Material

Related Material

Related photographs may be available in the University Archives Photographs Database: http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/

Administrative Information

Container List

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Series: Box 1 Histories and personal accounts, 1922-1936 

(1 folder)

View item(s)

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Series: Correspondence, 1919-1951 

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Subseries: Campaign organization, 1919-1930  

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Administrative/Organizational, 1919-1930  View item(s)

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Form Letters, 1921-1930  View item(s)

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Subseries: Pledge collection, 1930-1931 

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Bursar's Office

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1930 

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1931 

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Special Representative (Mary Morgan Brewer)

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February-June 1930 

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July-September 1930 

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October-December 1930 

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January-February 1931 

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March-June 1931 

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Special Representative's Secretary (Helen Drake), 1930-1931 

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Subseries: Correspondence with pledgers, 1920-1951 

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A-An, 1920s 

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Ar-Az, 1920s 

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Ba, 1920s 

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Be-Bi, 1920s 

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Bj-Bo, 1920s 

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Br-Bz, 1920s 

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Ca, 1920s 

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Ce-Cl, 1920s 

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Co-Cr, 1920s 

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Cu-Da, 1920s 

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De-Di, 1920s 

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Do-Eh, 1920s 

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Box 2 Ei-Fa, 1920s 

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Fe-Fo, 1920s 

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Fr-Ga, 1920s 

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Ge-Gl, 1920s 

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Gr-Gz, 1920s 

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Haa-Har, 1920s 

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Has-He, 1920s 

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Hi-Hor, 1920s 

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Hos-I, 1920s 

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J, 1920s 

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Ka-Ki, 1920s 

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Kl-La, 1920s 

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Kl-La, 1920s 

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Le-Lo, 1920s 

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Lu-McI, 1920s 

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McK-Mar, 1920s 

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Mas-Me, 1920s 

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Mi, 1920s 

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Mo-Mz, 1920s 

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Box 3 N-Om, 1920s 

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On-Pa, 1920s 

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Pe-Po, 1920s 

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Pr-Red, 1920s 

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Ree-Ri, 1920s 

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Ro-Run, 1920s 

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Rus-Sc, 1920s 

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Se-Shi, 1920s 

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Sho-Sl, 1920s 

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Sm-Spe, 1920s 

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Spi-Str, 1920s 

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Stu-Te, 1920s 

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Th-To, 1920s 

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Tr-U, 1920s 

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V-Wa, 1920s 

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We-Whe, 1920s 

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Whi-Wil, 1920s 

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Wim-Wo, 1920s 

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Box 4 Wr-Z, 1920s 

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A-J, Jan.-Apr. 1930

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K-Z, Jan.-Apr. 1930

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A-Bo, May-Dec. 1930

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Br-Ca, May-Dec. 1930

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Ce-E, May-Dec. 1930

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F-Hi, May-Dec. 1930

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Ho-Le, May-Dec. 1930

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Li-M, May-Dec. 1930

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N-Ri, May-Dec. 1930

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Ro-S, May-Dec. 1930

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T-Z, May-Dec. 1930

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A-Ba, 1931-1932

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Be-Col, 1931-1932

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Com-Cr, 1931-1932

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Cu-De, 1931-1932

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Di-E, 1931-1932

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F, 1931-1932

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Box 5 G, 1931-1932

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H-I, 1931-1932

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J-L, 1931-1932

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M-N, 1931-1932

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O-Ri, 1931-1932

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Ro-Sk, 1931-1932

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Sl-Sz, 1931-1932

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T-Wa, 1931-1932

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We-Z, 1931-1932

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Correspondence with Pledgers, 1951

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Series: Meetings,  1922-1926

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Minutes of the Executive Committee 1922 and committee lists, 1922-1926  View item(s)

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Series: Promotional materials, 1920s 

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Posters, Flyers, etc., 1920s  View item(s)

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Speeches, Press Releases, Strategies, 1920s  View item(s)