The management, direction, and government of George Washington University is vested in a Board of Trustees. The Archives contains meeting minutes of the Board going back to the founding of the University in 1821, along with correspondence, and other records relating to individual members and campus development over the years.
Presidents of the University Papers:The University Archives house numerous collections with information on University Presidents. Written permission from the Office of the President must be obtained to research the material in the President's papers dated past 1955. All published materials, (before or after 1955), and unpublished manuscripts older than fifty years, are open for research. Records include letters and other documents of the first president William Staughton (1821-1827), and run through the administration of Lloyd Hartman Elliott (1965-1988). Materials include correspondence, memos, reports, etc., with certain periods of the 19th century and early 20th century having scant documentation. There is very little in this particular collection related to the administration of current President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, whose papers will be transferred to the Archives upon his retirement.
National UniversityNational University was incorporated by an Act of Congress in June 1869, and founded by Dr. William B. Wedgewood. Five presidents of the United States - Grant, Garfield, Hayes, Arthur and Cleveland - acted as Chancellor ex-efficio of the National University, an indication of the caliber of the men who directed its affairs in the formative years. Although instruction was first given in several professional fields, including a Department of Medicine, the concentration as the years passed was toward the law. Belva Lockwood, the first woman to be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court, was a graduate. Because of rapid growth and changing conditions it was found necessary to reorganize the University in 1896. A new charter was granted by a special Act of Congress, (129 Stat. L. 194), conferring the power to grant university degree.
Law constituted the predominant branch of the University, but it should not be overlooked that National's School of Economics and Government conferred degrees of A.B., B.S., B.CS., and M.CS. as well. In 1954 the National University merged with The George Washington University forming what became the National Law Center at The George Washington University. The collection covers the years 1875-1953, and contains course catalogs, convocation programs, yearbooks (1912-42), and student records.
Benjamin Franklin University
In 1907, Homer S. Pace established the Washington Branch of Pace Institute, offering the first professional accounting courses in the District of Columbia. Pace, noted for composing the definition of Accountancy, established the school to primarily meet the needs of the part-time student. For some nine years, Pace Institute offered the only available accounting courses in Washington, D.C. In 1925, Benjamin Franklin University was organized and incorporated to succeed Pace Institute. The founder and President, John Thomas Kennedy, established the University as a continuation of the Pace courses to provide the part-time student with a professional education in Accountancy, Financial Administration and General Business. Kennedy, a fourth generation Philadelphian, was a staunch admirer of the principles of thrift and self-reliance advocated by Benjamin Franklin and thus named the University after the fellow-Philadelphian.
In its charter, the University was authorized to confer Academic Degrees for both undergraduate and post-graduate work. Under the Act of March 2, 1929, Benjamin Franklin University was licensed by the District of Columbia Board of Education to confer the Associate in Business Administration, the Bachelor of Commercial Science and the Master of Commercial Science. The faculty consisted of men whose success in the practice of accountancy, auditing, law and taxation was widely recognized. The graduates distinguished themselves in the field of Accountancy and accomplished many notable "firsts" in the United States. From 1925 to 1938, the University offered its day and evening courses in the Department of Transportation Building. On January 1st, 1938, the University moved to 1100 Sixteenth Street, just four blocks north of the White House grounds.
By the 1980s Benjamin Franklin University offered the Associate, Bachelor and Master's Degrees in the fields of Accountancy and Financial Management. In 1987 an agreement was signed that merged Benjamin Franklin University and The George Washington University, and in 1992 the Benjamin Franklin Chair was established in the School of Business and Public Management. The collection contains course catalogs, yearbooks, brochures, commencement programs, student records, and photographs.
NOTE: University Archives does not maintain BFU student transcripts. Contact the GW Office of the Registrar.
A variety of records are maintained that document the activities of various schools, administrative offices (including personnel), academic departments, centers, institutes, and student organizations.
