Collections : [University of Connecticut -Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center]

Lecture notes, transcriptions of lectures and interviews, and over three hundred audio recordings associated with a University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts course, "Black Experience in the Arts." The course's instructors included professors James Eversole, Hale Smith, Edward O'Connor, Leon Bailey, and Carlton Molette. The records, particularly the audio recordings, document the contributions of black artists of the time period and the power of art as a mechanism for social change and racial expression.

In April 1881, the Connecticut General Assembly established the Storrs Agricultural School after accepting a gift of 170 acres of land, several frame buildings, and money from Charles and Augustus Storrs. The School opened on September 28, 1881, with twelve students in the first class. Before the turn of the century there were two name changes (Storrs Agricultural College 1893, Connecticut Agricultural College 1899). In 1933, two years after the institution celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, it became Connecticut State College, a name more in keeping with its steady advances and broadened mission. Six years later, in 1939, the General Assembly designated the institution the University of Connecticut, an acknowledgment of the institution's developing importance to the State in graduate and professional education, research and public service.

Committee materials pertaining to the naming of University buildings.

Minutes of meetings between the President and Vice Presidents of the University.

Directed by the University of Connecticut Foundation, the public portion of the Our University Our Moment Campaign kicked off in 2001 with a gala event. Ongoing information is provided at http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/about-the-campaign.html. The collection contains several publications, keepsakes, and image viewers.

Collection contains significant documentation of the University's Centennial Celebration which took place in the academic year 1980-1981.

The Centennial Coordinating Committee was responsible for the extensive planning of the university of Connecticut's centennial celebration. The official observance of its 100th anniversary began 23 September 1980. William C. Orr served as chairman of the committee from its inception in 1979 to a successful conclusion at the Ninety-Eighth Annual Commencement, 24 May 1981.

This collection includes correspondence, reports, a copy of the first Upward Bound (Connecticut Pre-collegiate Enrichment Program (CONNPEP)) grant with supporting letters, student writing, and photographs and realia related to the activities of the Center for Academic Programs (CAP) and its predecessors. CAP houses federal TRIO programs, which are committed to supporting low income, first generation to college, and underrepresented students.

The Center was created in 1969 to facilitate interdepartmental support for research, study and outreach focused on the black experience. The collection contains materials concerning the establishment of the Center and programs of its activities from its establishment through 1980.

The collection contains administrative records, clippings, correspondence, notes, pamphlets, publications, and financial records relating to the Center for Contemporary African Studies which existed at the University of Connecticut from 1991-2009.