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Finding Aids

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

 

Extent

Archival Collection 1 (1902-1959) spans 15 Cubic ft. in 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 unknown. 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 

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.  

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

Folder Name, date (Month, year), AC 1, 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 2023

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

Books & Scrapbooks

Box #

Book or Scrapbook

Date

12

Names and Addresses of Graduates

1915-1916

13

Williston, Arthur L. Letterpress Book

Not Dated

14

Athletics

1936-1938

15

Arioch Wentworth Estate - Finances

1904-1970

16

Class of 1912-1917 Reunions

1932-1937

17

Clippings

Time Schedules

1914-1918

1916-1918 

18

Clippings - WIT Publicity

1915-1922 

19

Clippings

1928-1951 

20

Clippings

Letters, Williston

1930-1931

1912-1920

21

Clippings

1932-1945

22

Draft Detachment

War Memorial

1918

1924

23

Enrollment and Attendance 

Employment Bureau

1919

1921-1923

24

Enrollment 

Enrollment

1918

1918-1921

25

Evening School 

Enrollment and Annual Report, Day School

1912-1913 

1912-1913 

26

Evening School 

Evening School

1913-1914 

1914-1915 

27

Evening School

Evening School

1916

1917

28

Evening and Day School

Evening School

1920-1921

1921-1922

29

Evening School

1922-1923

30

Evening School

Evening School

1923-1924 

1924-1925 

31

Evening School

1925-1926

32

Evening School

Evening School

1926-1927

1927-1928 

33

Evening School

1928-1929

34

Evening School

1930-1931 

35

Evening School

1931-1932

36

Evening School

1932-1933

37

Letters

Letters, Evening School

1911-1914

1911-1912

38

Military Engineering, War Work

1917

39

Print Shop

1920-1925

40

Print Shop

1925-1926

41

Print Shop

1926-1927 

42

Print Shop

1928-1929

43

Print Shop

1929-1930

44

Print Shop

1930-1931

45

Print Shop

1931-1932 

46

Print Shop

1932-1933 

47

Print Shop

1933-1934 

48

Print Shop

1934-1935

49

Print Shop

1935-1936

50

Print Shop

1936-1937

51

Print Shop

1937-1938

52

Print Shop

1938-1939

53

Print Shop

Print Shop

1939-1940 

1942-1943

54

Schedules

1911-1913 

55

WIT Stationary

1911-1918

Oversized Boxes

Box #

Contents

Date

56

United States Navy Certificate

1945

57

Evening School Attendance Chart  

Certificates of Completion

1913-1915

1919, 1920, Not Dated