Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons: Finding Aids: AC1: Office of the Principal Records (Williston & Dobbs), 1902-1970

Archival Collection 1: Office of the Principal Records (Williston & Dobbs), 1902-1970

Extent

Archival Collection 1 (1902-1959) spans 15 Cubic ft. in three series over 57 boxes (10 letter document boxes, 3 half-letter document boxes, 42 flat letter document boxes, and 2 oversized boxes).

Acquisition

This collection was transferred from the Office of the President. Transfer date after 1980. This collection is closed.

Scope & Content Notes

This collection contains administrative files related to the school’s Principals: Arthur L. Williston and Frederick E. Dobbs; and documentation related to the school’s founding. Most files relate to the distribution of scholarships, speeches, faculty meetings, war materials, relations with alumni, and the expansion of the Aircraft Engine Laboratory in the late 1940s. Most of these items are paper, with some photographs and newspaper clippings. The collection includes materials on the dispute over the expansion of the school to a three-year institution in the early 1920s. The collection also contains a large scrapbook collection, most of which focuses on the Evening School and Print Shop, and includes materials from newspapers, photographs, and other mixed media.

Biography & History

Office of the Principal:

The Office of the Principal was established in 1910 by the trustees of the Wentworth Institute. The principals were Arthur L. Williston (February 1910-30 June, 1923), Frederick E. Dobbs (25 February, 1924-1951), and Marshall N. Arlin (Acting 1952-1953). The Board of Directors voted in early 1953 to change the title of the Principal to the President. H. Russell Beatty became president on 1 July, 1953.

Arthur Lyman Willison:

Arthur Lyman Williston, an engineer and architect, was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was appointed by the Board of Directors in 1910 as the first principal of Wentworth Institute. He would hold that position for 14 years.

As Wentworth's first principal, he provided constructive leadership, a superior faculty, and a vital curricula which reflected the demands of the community. Williston was no-nonsense, rule-oriented, and discipline-oriented. The Institute followed in his footsteps: Labs were kept clean, attendance was closely monitored, if not mandatory, and courses of study were demanding and rigid.

Williston wrote the Institute’s first catalog. He preferred to pull from industry professionals to fill the Institute’s first group of faculty. No department head did not have years of practical experience.

Arthur Williston believed strongly in educating the whole person. 1 and 2 year programs did not allow much variation in course of study. School was an intense commitment. Williston personally interviewed every student for admittance to the Institute, even though this meant he averaged 750 interviews of potential students per year.

Williston took great pride in contributing to the Institute's war effort from 1917-1918. He was the driving force behind the Institute’s involvement in wartime instruction. In April 1918, U.S. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker appointed him as the educational director of training of drafted men in "industrial and mechanical lines."

Even after the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, Williston and Wentworth Institute forged ahead with a progressive war-related initiative. In 1919, Wentworth ran free four-month courses to reintegrate veterans into productive civilian lives. These veterans slept in the barracks still in place from the Institute's 1918 training programs. Williston directed the men toward fields where demand was outpacing supply, such as printing, pattern making (Preissig's classes!), and plumbing. Dozens of the participants were physically disabled.

After the war, Williston's attention waned. He offloaded expanding responsibilities onto his assistant Frederick Dobbs.

In 1922, Williston invents the term “technical institute” at a conference held in Rochester, NY. Williston resigned in 1923.

Copyright

Per the Archives Charter (1988): “Any record, in any format, produced by an employee of the Institute while performing an official Institute function, is the property of the Wentworth Institute of Technology.” Upon copyright transfer, all items become the permanent property of Wentworth Institute of Technology University Archives and are to be used in preserving and presenting the history of Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Access

All materials are 75+ years old. Access is not restricted.

Processed By

Ashley Bryan, 2021-2022; Jacob Savory, 2021; Molly Peters, 2022; Mary Ellen Flaherty, 1985-2005.

Processing Notes

Staples and other metal materials were removed. Any plastic, rubber band, or taped material was separated from paper (when able to be separated without damaging the materials) and discarded. Duplicate, non-unique copies of materials were withdrawn from the collection. Acidic or photographic materials were kept in their original order but were re-housed in mylar sleeves or leafing folders. Duplicate folders were re-labeled, re-organized, and re-foldered. Materials were kept in the original folder order: alphabetical by topic, and then chronological within specific folders. Folders were placed in new letter document boxes.

Citation

Include at least the following information:

Folder Name, date (Month, year), AC 1, Series number, Box number, Folder number, Office of the Principal Records, Wentworth Institute of Technology University Archives, Boston, MA. URL if applicable.

This collection is currently being digitized. Any folder contents that are linked to the digital collections have been digitized.

Last updated on: May 2025

Series 1: Principal Papers

Box 1

Folder #	Contents	Date
1-1	Addresses to the Faculty and Students	1913-1920
1-2	Aircraft Engine Laboratory Expansion	1932-1948
1-3	Aircraft Engine Laboratory Expansion	1949-1953
1-4	Aircraft Instruction Positions	1945
1-5	Aircraft Laboratory Extension	1919-1928
1-6	Alumni Records	1919-1928
1-7	Alumni Records	1929-1930
1-8	Alumni Records	1931-1932
1-9	Alumni Records	1932-1937

Box 2

Folder #	Contents	Date
2-1	Alumni Records	Not Dated
2-2	Alumni Class of 1912, 1914, 1929	1912,1914,1929
2-3	Alumni, Correspondence	1930-1946
2-4	Applications for Part-Time Work & Scholarship Assistance	1928-1930
2-5	Athletic Association	1928-1936
2-6	Boston Elevated Railway	1936-1939
2-7	Budget Reports	1948-1952
2-8	Charles Irwin Travelli Fund	1930-1941
2-9	Comparison with Pratt Institute	November 1920
2-10	Correspondence - Dobbs	1926-1941
2-11	Correspondence - Dobbs	1942-1948

Box 3

Folder #	Contents	Date
3-1	Correspondence - Williston	1919-1923
3-2	Department of Photo-Engraving	1921
3-3	Employment Work Bureau	1922
3-4	Enrollment	1915-1938
3-5	Evening School Graduates	1921-1945
3-6	Faculty and Enrollment	1938-1952
3-7	Faculty Contract of Appointment - Dobbs	1937-1946
3-8	Faculty, Minutes of Meetings	1918-1919
3-9	Faculty, Minutes of Meetings	1920-1921
3-10	Faculty, Minutes of Meetings	1922-1923
3-11	Faculty, Notices	1947-1952
3-12	Faculty, Salary Recommendations and Notes	1919-1923

Box 4

Folder #	Contents	Date
4-1	Former Members of the Faculty	1935
4-2	Graduation Speeches	1925-1943
4-3	Hayden Scholarships	1938-1941
4-4	Hayden Scholarships	1941
4-5	Hayden Scholarships	1942-1948
4-6	Hayden Scholarships	1948-1951
4-7	Herrick, Carl E.,	1940-1941
4-8	History and the Early Days of WIT	1911, Not Dated
4-9	Information for all Members of the Faculty	1946-1951
4-10	Insurance	1928-1948
4-11	Library Purchases	Not Dated
4-12	Lufkin Scholarships	1931-1951

Box 5

Folder #	Contents	Date
5-1	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1919-1922
5-2	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1923-1925
5-3	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1925-1926
5-4	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1927
5-5	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1928
5-6	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1928-1930
5-7	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1930

Box 6

Folder #	Contents	Date
6-1	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1931
6-2	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1932
6-3	Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association	1933-1934
6-4	Massachusetts Department of Education	1940-1941
6-5	National Defense Training Program	1940-1941
6-6	Naval Training School	1941-1944
6-7	Naval Training School - Diesel School 1	1940-1943
6-8	Naval Training School - Equipment	1942-1946

Box 7

Folder #	Contents	Date
7-1	Naval Training School - Equipment	1944
7-2	Naval Training School - Equipment, MM Reports	1943-1944
7-3	Naval Training School - Financial Reports	1942-1946
7-4	101st Engineers	1919-1922
7-5	Pakistan	1952-1953
7-6	Record of Income	1946-1949
7-7	Registrar	1921-1923
7-8	Requirements for Admission and Graduation	1914-1940

Box 8

Folder #	Contents	Date
8-1	Requisitions	1930-1944
8-2	Requisitions	1945, 1946
8-3	Resolutions of the Faculty	1916-1937
8-4	Schedules	1911-1923
8-5	Scholarships	1919-1923
8-6	Scholarships	1925-1926
8-7	Scholarships	1926-1927
8-8	Scholarships	1938-1941
8-9	School of Mechanics	1911-1928
8-10	Selective Service	1941-1952

Box 9

Folder #	Contents	Date
9-1	Students’ Army Training Corps	1918
9-2	Tekton	1928
9-3	Three-year Course	1922
9-4	Tuition	1934-1935
9-5	Tuition, day - collections	1940-1942
9-6	Tuition, evening	1930-1932
9-7	U.S. War Assets Administration	1947
9-8	U.S. War Department Air Corps Material Division	1933-1940
9-9	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	1939-September 1940

Box 10

Folder #	Contents	Date
10-1	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	October 1940-December 1940
10-2	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	1940-1941
10-3	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	January 1941-February 1941
10-4	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	March 1941-April 1941
10-5	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	May 1941-June 1941
10-6	Vocational Education of Defense Workers	July 1941-September 1941
10-7	Watson, Paul B.	1941
10-8	Wentworth, Arioch - Copy of Will	1936
10-9	Wentworth School Songs	1902, 1959
10-10	Wentworth, William H., “Sketch of the Life of Arioch Wentworth”	1913
10-11	Williston, Arthur L. - Obituary, Boston Herald	November 1956

Box 11

Folder #	Contents	Date
11-1	U.S. War Department - Express	1918
11-2	U.S. War Department - Telegrams	1917-1918
11-3	U.S. War Department - Committee on Education and Special Training	1917-1919
11-4	U.S. War Department - Committee on Education and Special Training	1918
11-5	U.S. War Department, Washington D.C. - Committee on Education and Special Training	1918

Series 2: Scrapbooks

Books & Scrapbooks

Box #	Book or Scrapbook	Date
1	Names and Addresses of Graduates	1915-1916
2	Williston, Arthur L. Letterpress Book	Not Dated
3	Athletics	1936-1938
4	Arioch Wentworth Estate - Finances	1904-1970
5	Class of 1912-1917 Reunions	1932-1937
6	Clippings Time Schedules	1914-1918 1916-1918
7	Clippings - WIT Publicity	1915-1922
8	Clippings	1928-1951
9	Clippings Letters, Williston	1930-1931 1912-1920
10	Clippings	1932-1945
11	Draft Detachment War Memorial	1918 1924
12	Enrollment and Attendance Employment Bureau	1919 1921-1923
13	Enrollment Enrollment	1918 1918-1921
14	Evening School Enrollment and Annual Report, Day School	1912-1913 1912-1913
15	Evening School Evening School	1913-1914 1914-1915
16	Evening School Evening School	1916 1917
17	Evening and Day School Evening School	1920-1921 1921-1922
18	Evening School	1922-1923
19	Evening School Evening School	1923-1924 1924-1925
20	Evening School	1925-1926
21	Evening School Evening School	1926-1927 1927-1928
22	Evening School	1928-1929
23	Evening School	1930-1931
24	Evening School	1931-1932
25	Evening School	1932-1933
26	Letters Letters, Evening School	1911-1914 1911-1912
27	Military Engineering, War Work	1917
28	Print Shop	1920-1925
29	Print Shop	1925-1926
30	Print Shop	1926-1927
31	Print Shop	1928-1929
32	Print Shop	1929-1930
33	Print Shop	1930-1931
34	Print Shop	1931-1932
35	Print Shop	1932-1933
36	Print Shop	1933-1934
37	Print Shop	1934-1935
38	Print Shop	1935-1936
39	Print Shop	1936-1937
40	Print Shop	1937-1938
41	Print Shop	1938-1939
42	Print Shop Print Shop	1939-1940 1942-1943
43	Schedules	1911-1913
44	WIT Stationary	1911-1918

Series 3: Oversized Materials

Oversized Boxes

Box #	Contents	Date
1	United States Navy Certificate	1945
2	Evening School Attendance Chart Certificates of Completion	1913-1915 1919, 1920, Not Dated

Box #

Contents

Date

United States Navy Certificate

1945

Evening School Attendance Chart

Certificates of Completion

1913-1915

1919, 1920, Not Dated