Records of the Board of Trustees
Scope and Contents
The collection contains materials generated or employed by the Board of Trustees of Saint Procopius College, Illinois Benedictine College, and Benedictine University from 1959-2011. The bulk of the collection consists of meeting minutes and materials provided to the board for consideration at the time of the meetings. The collection documents the topics addressed by the Board of Trustees and issues faced by the University over the last fifty years, a time of many changes in the practice and philosophy in higher education.
Dates
- 1959-
Creator
- Benedictine University (Lisle, Ill.). Board of Trustees (Donor, Organization)
Restrictions
Due to the sensitive nature of much of the business undertaken by the Board of Trustees, the materials in this collection are restricted for 50 years from date of issuance. As of 2020, any materials created after 1970 cannot be viewed without permission.
Historical Context
The Board of Trustees was established in 1958 following the dissolution of the previous governing body, the Lay Advisory Board. The Board of Trustees functions as a governing body over the university, overseeing many aspects of the financial position of the university as well as general governance. Examples of the responsibilities undertaken by the board of trustees include, but are not limited to, approving salary and tuition increases, approving contracts for new buildings or campus maintenance, overseeing the hiring of upper level institution administrators, representing the university in court of law, reviewing enrollment statistics, and reviewing academic programs and federal and statewide educational policy.
Extent
6.5 Linear Feet
6 Record Cartons
Language of Materials
English
Containers
- Box 523: Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Executive Committee 1960-1982
- Box 524: Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Executive Committee 1983-
- Box 525: Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Various Committees 1959-2010
- Box 526: Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Full Board 1959-1986
- Box 527: Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Full Board, 1986-2011 / Operational Records, Biographical, Policy & Formation, Administrative, Fundraising
- Box 528: Board of Trustees Operational Records, Fundraising, Trustees' Dinner 1963-1989
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into two series: Meeting Minutes, arranged by committee and by date, and Operational Records, arranged topically and chronologically.
The Meeting Minutes series is divided into three subseries: Meeting Minutes for the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, Meeting Minutes for the Various Committees of the Board of Trustees, and Meeting Minutes of the Full Board of Trustees. Joint committee meetings were filed in the Various Committees subseries. The Full Board subseries also contains folders of orphaned enclosures, documents that were likely distributed to board members for use and reference during their meetings, but have since become separated and irreconcilable with any extant meeting minutes or agendas. Each subseries is arranged chronologically, with each meeting receiving its own folder or folders, depending on the amount of material.
The Operational Records series was divided into four subseries: Biographical, Formation and Policy, Administrative, and Fundraising. The biographical subseries contains member directories as well as biographical information on individual trustees. The Formation and Policy subseries contains documentation of the policies and formation of the board, such as handbooks, important resolutions, and documents the establishment of the Board of Trustees in 1958. The Administrative series consists of extraneous documents that were likely used by the board as they made decisions about institutional governance and as they strove to market Benedictine to prospective students and financial donors. The fundraising series contains documentation on major gifts to the institution, the asset building program that was started as a part of the centennial campaign, information and financials on various capital campaigns undertaken by Benedictine, and the major centennial campaign, “Securing the Second Century.” The bulk of the operational records series is the box of documents relating to the annual fundraiser hosted by the Board of Trustees, the Trustees’ Dinner (also known as Banquet Benedictine).
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These documents were transferred to the University Archives, exact provenance uncertain. Some of the records were separated from the Richard C. Becker papers if they related directly to the Board of Trustees rather than Dr. Becker’s presidency.
Accruals
Further materials should be expected as long as the Board of Trustees remains a governing body over the institution. Interval irregular.
Separated Materials
Materials that were unrelated to the deliberation and function of the Board of Trustees were removed, including copies of the student newspaper (any relevant articles were photocopied and retained in the individual meeting folders) or other university publications that were not explicitly mentioned in the agendas or meeting minutes of the folder in which they were found. Materials related to other deliberative bodies, such as the President’s Cabinet, were also removed and will be housed elsewhere in the university archives. Duplicate materials were removed and either discarded or filed in other areas of the university archives for breadth of coverage.
- Benedictine University (Lisle, Ill.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Catholic universities and colleges -- Illinois Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- College trustees Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Corporate governance Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Corporate minutes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fund Raising Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Illinois Benedictine College (Lisle, Ill.) Subject Source: Local sources
- Meetings Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Private universities and colleges Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Universities and colleges Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Records of the Board of Trustees, 1959-
- Author
- Jill M. Walker
- Date
- 2019-12-03
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Archives and Special Collections Repository
Benedictine University
5700 College Rd.
Lisle IL 60532 United States
