Charles Seymour, president of Yale University, records

Collection

Call Number: RU 23

Scope and Contents

The records consist of correspondence, subject files, reports, memoranda, planning records, minutes of meetings, speeches, and biographical clippings documenting all aspects of Charles Seymour's activities as president of Yale University.

Dates

1917-1956

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records were transferred from the Office of the President, 1958.

Arrangement

The records are arranged as follows: I. Correspondence and Subject Files, 1917-1954. II. War Emergency Planning Records, 1938-1947. III. Post-war Planning Board Records, 1943-1945. IV. Council of Masters Minutes, 1937-1950. V. Addresses, Speeches, and Biographical Clippings.

Extent

85.25 Linear Feet (207 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ru.0023

Additional Description

Abstract

Biographical / Historical

Charles Seymour was born in New Haven, Connecticut on January 1, 1885. He attended Cambridge (B.A. 1904, M.A. 1909), Yale (B.A. 1908, Ph.D. 1911) and the University of Paris. Seymour taught history at Yale from 1911-1937. In 1937 he became president of Yale, a position he held until 1950. Seymour inaugurated the Directed Studies Program for freshmen and sophomores, revived the Scholar of the House Program, and introduced such interdepartmental majors as Foreign Area and American Studies. In addition to his duties at Yale he served as chief of the Austro-Hungarian Division of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace; U.S. delegate on the Rumanian, Jugoslavian, and Czechoslovakian Territorial Commissions (1919); and curator of the Edward House Collection at Yale (1923-1963). Seymour died in Chatham, Massachusetts on August 11, 1963.