Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of the Senior Vice President, records of Vice President for Operations Philip A. Stoddard and Senior Vice President William R. Dickson
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No requestable containers
Scope and Contents
The collection comprises records created by the Office of the Senior Vice President at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The materials, which span the tenures of the Vice President for Operations Philip A. Stoddard and Senior Vice President William R. Dickson, date from 1956 to 1998.
Record types include: correspondence, subject files, and estate appraisals.
Dates
- Creation: 1956 - 1998
Creator
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Vice President for Operations (Organization)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Senior Vice President (Organization)
Access note
This collection must be reviewed to identify any restricted material before access can be granted. Please submit your requests at least ten business days before your desired visit to allow time for this review. An archivist will respond within five business days to let you know whether your requested material is open. For complete information on this policy, see our Statement on Accessing Institute Records.
Conditions Governing Use
Access to collections in the Department of Distinctive Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or MIT.
Historical note
The Office of Vice President at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was introduced in 1932, when Vannevar Bush was appointed vice president (1). He served in that position from 1932 to 1939. James R. Killian (executive vice president, 1943 to 1945; vice president, 1945 to 1948) and Julius A. Stratton (appointed vice president and provost in 1952) had similar responsibilities.
In 1953, President Killian called for a further decentralization of the Institute's administration resulting in the gradual establishment of several vice presidential offices. In 1961, the Office of the Vice President for Operations and Personnel was created to provide executive responsibility for physical facilities, planning and execution of construction work, management of housing and dining facilities, and nonacademic personnel (2). In 1969, responsibility for personnel was assigned to the vice president for academic administration; the vice president for operations remained responsible for Physical Plant, Safety, Campus Patrol, Graphic Arts and Audio Visual Services, Housing and Dining, and Endicott House.
Philip A. Stoddard served as vice president for operations and personnel from 1961 to 1969, and vice president for operations from 1969 to 1980. Following Stoddard’s retirement in 1980, William R. Dickson was appointed Vice President, Operations. By 1981, the Vice President for Operations was charged with the added responsibility of overseeing the administrative vice presidents and coordinating their responsibilities (3). In 1982, Dickson was promoted and the office was renamed the Office of the Senior Vice President. This office remained responsible for most of the operations of the Institute and much of the financial planning and activities. After Dickson’s retirement in 1998, the role of Senior Vice President was replaced with the new position of Executive Vice President.
(1) MIT, President's Report 1931-1932, p. 12.
(2) “Two New Vice-Presidents are Appointed,” Technology Review, November 1961, p. 40.
(3) MIT, Report of the President 1980-1981, p. 14
Extent
25.45 Cubic Feet (25 record cartons, 1 legal manuscript box)
Language of Materials
English
Location
Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use.
Processing Information note
Some collection descriptions are based on legacy data and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. Description may change pending verification. Please contact the MIT Department of Distinctive Collections if you notice any errors or discrepancies.
Subject
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Vice President for Operations (Organization)
- Dickson, William R. (Person)
- Stoddard, Philip Arnold (Person)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Senior Vice President (Organization)
- McCormick, Katharine Dexter, 1875-1967 (Person)
- Title
- Preliminary Inventory to the Records of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Office of the Senior Vice President
- Subtitle
- Records of Vice President for Operations Philip A. Stoddard and Senior Vice President William R. Dickson
- Status
- Unprocessed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2021 October 11: Edited by Lana Mason for compliance with DACS single-level optimum requirements.
Repository Details
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Building 14N-118
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139-4307 US
distinctive-collections@mit.edu