Stevens Alumni Association Collection

Collection

Identifier: SCW-UA-013

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a variety of bound volumes, photographs, correspondence, meeting minutes, mailings, publications, scrapbooks, dinner menus, objects, banners, programs, and other ephemera created by the Stevens Alumni Association. These records span the years 1876, when the Stevens Alumni Association was founded, to the late 1980s, when alumni-related activities fell under the administrative umbrella of Stevens Institute of Technology with the creation of the Alumni Office, now the Office of Alumni Engagement and Development (as of 2018.)

Related alumni activities (specific class anniversaries, dinners, scrapbooks, clubs) can be found in SCW.004: Alumni Collection.)

Dates

1872 - 1987
Majority of material found within 1908 - 1940

Biographical / Historical

The Stevens Alumni Association was founded in 1876, shortly after the graduation of the first senior class. In 1906, the Association was officially incorporated with its own Board of Trustees . The objectives of the Stevens Alumni Association are clearly stated in Article 1.2 of its Constitution: “to establish, maintain, and cultivate among its members a sentiment of regard for one another and of attachment to Stevens Institute of Technology and to promote in every way the interests of Stevens.” During its first 60 years, membership was granted on a dues-paying basis, but in 1930, an amendment to the Constitution was adopted to automatically make all Stevens degree recipients active members of the Association with voting rights.

Throughout much of its history, the Stevens Alumni Association operated largely as an independent association. Prior to 1974, the Alumni Association maintained its offices and staff through alumni contributions and the remaining funds were given to the college at the end of each year. In 1974 the Stevens administration and the Alumni Association agreed to the Interface Act, stating that their fundraising activities would be coordinated. In 1987, President Rogers and the Board of Trustees voted to bring the Alumni Association under the administrative umbrella of Stevens via the Alumni Office, now Alumni Engagement and Development (as of 2018).

Throughout its history, the Stevens Alumni Association has overseen six major activities:

Fundraising - through which alumni voluntarily contribute to the financial support of Stevens, the Alumni Association and other related activities. Ex. The Stevens Fund, Graduate Fund, and the Stevens Alumni War Memorial.

The Placement Service - whereby the Association sponsors all job placement activities on campus for both students and alumni.

The Alumni Banquet/Dinner - held annually, unless otherwise scheduled, at which alumni “gather to rekindle old friendships and pay honor to outstanding persons in industry” and to highlight notable achievements by the Alumni Association.

Alumni Day - on which alumni converge on the campus “for a full day of varied activities and fellowship, and to observe the progress of the Institute.”

Alumni Publications - There are two official publications issued by the Stevens Alumni Association to keep alumni informed of the various activities of the Association and of the goings on at their alma mater: The Indicator, a quarterly magazine, and The Alumniletter, published nine times a year. The Indicator was started as an undergraduate publication in 1884. It was published monthly during the college year until the end of 1886, when its management and financing were taken over by the Alumni Association. Beginning with the January 1887 issue, The Indicator was issued quarterly.

Record keeping and Alumni Directory - The home address and business affiliation of each alumnus is listed in The Alumni Directory, which was published every 5 years and distributed to each member of the Alumni Association.

Extent

5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

In 2018, Leah Loscutoff, Head of Archives & Special Collections and Ted Houghtaling, Archivist & Digital Projects Librarian, surveyed the Archives and realized that many Alumni Association records existed in disparate collections with no coherent organization or archival linkages. The preexisting Alumni Collection (SCW.004) would remain in place as a repository for individual alumni records and donations, but it was decided that a new collection, the Stevens Alumni Association Collection (SCW.028) would be created to reflect the fundraising, outreach and administrative activities of the Alumni Association and independent alumni groups. As we are continually receiving materials related to previous Alumni Association activities, this collection will serve as a repository for past Alumni Association activity when it functioned independent of Stevens from 1876 to approximately 1989. This collection will not be a repository for the post-1989 administrative activities of the Office of Alumni Engagement and Development(which currently oversees the current Alumni Association’s activities.)

Notes on name changes for alumni events: The Annual Alumni Meeting of the Stevens Alumni Association became the Annual Dinner/Banquet starting in 1901. Alumni Day, Alumni Weekend, and Red and Gray Days are all terms to describe the same event. The first Annual Alumni Day was held every year starting in 1908 but was put on hold during WW1. It resumed activities in 1920 so the present-day Alumni Weekend/Red and Gray Days numbering scheme derives from the 1920 date.

The series are arranged as follows:

Series I: Administrative Records and Organizational Activities Includes meeting minutes; fundraising activities such as the Stevens Fund and Stevens Alumni War Memorial; publications; a copy of the Association's Constitution from 1930.

Series II: Alumni Events Subseries A: Annual Meeting, Alumni Dinner/Banquet Includes programs, dinner menus, notebooks, and committee notes for Annual Alumni Meetings, Alumni Dinners and Banquets, arranged chronologically. Subseries B: Alumni Day/Weekend Includes programs, flyers, and committee notes for Alumni Days and Alumni Weekends, arranged chronologically.

Series III: Photographs Documents various alumni activities like Alumni Day, Alumni Dinners, and class anniversaries. Arranged by date.

Series IV: Indicators and Alumniletters Listed in chronological order and stored in Room 340.

Series V: Objects, Artifacts, Oversized Materials Includes apparel, banners, pennants, armbands, medals, and other three-dimensional objects related to Alumni Association events and programming.

Series VI: "Petition/Committee for a Better Stevens" Chronicles the dispute between the Stevens Alumni Association and the Stevens Administration and Board of Trustees in 1986-1987. Contains correspondence from various alumni to Michael Scott, then president of the Stevens Alumni Association, expressing their support for the Petition for a Better Stevens and their disapproval of President Kenneth Rogers and the Stevens Board of Trustees' efforts to dissolve the SAA and incorporate it as an administrative office.