Collections : [Wesleyan University -Special Collections and Archives]

Arthur T. Vanderbilt was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1888. He was educated at Newark Public High School and graduated from Wesleyan University in 1910. While at Wesleyan he was a student leader and a member Delta Kappa Epsilon. He then attended Columbia Law School, earning an LL.B. in 1913. Vanderbilt practiced law privately from 1913 to 1947, largely representing fire insurance companies, corporations, and banks. During this period, Vanderbilt also taught law at New York University as full-time faculty, later becoming Dean of the Law School from 1943 to 1948. He also served on the Wesleyan University Board of Trustees from 1934 to 1957, and acted as President of the Board from 1946 to 1947. A leader throughout his life, he also served with the American Bar Association, and was preeminent in the movement to reform the administration of justice and chaired an advisory committee to create a uniform code of military justice. Vanderbilt became a New Jersey Circuit Court judge in November 1947, and was confirmed as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in December 1947. He served in this capacity until his death in 1957.

William Manchester (1922-2004) was a noted author of eighteen books and dozens of articles. His first book, Disturber of the Peace, was a biography of H.L. Mencken published in 1951. Manchester wrote three novels during the 1950s, after which he published A Rockefeller Family Portrait in 1959, based on a series of magazine articles on John D. Rockefeller and the two generations that followed him. Manchester wrote one more novel before returning to non-fiction in 1962 with Portrait of a President, a study of John F. Kennedy. Manchester suddenly rose to national prominence in 1964 when Jacqueline Kennedy selected him to write the authorized account of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Robert F. Kennedy was also closely associated with the project. Two years later, Mrs. Kennedy sued Manchester to prevent its publication, setting off a controversy that played out on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Following a settlement, The Death of a President was published in 1967. With his reputation established, Manchester steadily published works of non-fiction: The Arms of Krupp (1968) chronicled the German munitions family; The Glory and the Dream (1974) provided an analysis of American history, 1932-1973; Controversy and Other Essays in Journalism (1976) included Manchester's own account of the Death controversy; American Caesar (1978) profiled Gen. Douglas McArthur; Goodbye, Darkness (1980) was Manchester's memoir of his World War II Pacific combat experiences; The Last Lion (1983 and 1988), a two-volume biography of Winston Churchill; and A World Lit Only By Fire (1992), an overview of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Manchester was associated with Wesleyan University for more than 40 years, first as an editor for American Education Publications (the publisher of My Weekly Reader and other periodicals formerly owned by the University) starting in 1955, and later as a writer-in-residence and adjunct professor.

Bennet graduated from Wesleyan University, class of 1959, and was president of that institution from 1995 to 2007. These professional papers contain materials from his undergraduate studies, including materials from Bennet's position as co-president of fraternity Alpha Chi Rho. There are also materials from his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Harvard University. The bulk of the materials cover his professional career, beginning as administrative assistant to Ambassador Chester Bowles in India in the mid 1960s, and continuting through his many years in Washington D.C. He was a speech writer for Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey from 1967 to 1968 and the collection contains realia from the 1968 Humphrey/Muskie presidential election. In the early 1970s, Bennet was an administrator, first for senator Thomas F. Eagleton and then for Abraham Ribicoff. As administrator for Senator Eagleton, he helped craft the Democratic Platform in the 1972 election and was active in Eagleton's political campaign. Bennet ran for the House of Representatives in 1974 and went on to be the staff director for the newly-formed Senate Budget Committee from 1974 to 1977. Bennet served twice as Assistant Secretary of State, as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations from 1977 to 1979, and as Assistant Secretary of State for International Affairs from 1993 to 1995. He also served as administrator for the Agency for International Development (AID), 1979 to 1981. The AID series contains many photographs. This collection also contains material on Bennet's two years as president of the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies and some material from his ten years as president of National Public Radio. The personal series includes a family scrapbook containing a 19th century sampler.

The Middletown Scientific Association was founded on March 17, 1871 by Wesleyan University faculty and residents of Middletown, Connecticut. Its purpose was to encourage scientific investigation and curiosity among members and to receive papers from members and other scientists regarding popular topics in all fields of science, history of science, and education of science.

Born in Atchison, Kansas, Ray P. Holland was interested in the outdoors beginning in his youth. He became a noted sportsman and writer, was dedicated to the management of wildlife and, as a United States Game Warden during World War I, became a key figure in the Supreme Court case of Missouri v. Holland, decided in 1920, a landmark case in constitutional and conservation law. Active in conservation groups such as the American Game Protective Association and the International Association of Game, Fish and Conservation Commissioners, Holland was editor of the magazine Field & Stream during its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s.

Philip Levy (1909-1970), was a government official in several capacities, serving on the legal staff of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and as counsel to Senator Robert F. Wagner, and practiced private law during a career that spanned 1934-1970. He was directly involved with the development of national labor policy in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, and maintained a continued interest in labor policy throughout his long career.

Robert Edmond Jones was born in 1887, and spent his career as a theater set designer. He also worked on the production of early Technicolor films as a color consultant. As a stage designer, Jones is best known for his simplified sets that complemented the action of a production and his dramatic use of color in costuming and lighting.

A lifelong Democrat, William M. Citron served as a member of the Connecticut State Assembly, Connecticut State Legislature, and had two terms in the United States Congress as a representative for Connecticut. He served in the Army in both World War I and World War II. Citron was an outspoken opponent of anti-semitism and, in 1935, wrote to the U.S. Olympic Committee to urge that American athletes boycott the Olympics scheduled to take place in Berlin in the summer of 1936. He also made remarks (printed in the Congressional Record), that the United States' attendance at the Olympic events would give tacit approval to the racist practices of the Nazi government. In addition, Citron introduced legislation to regulate development along the Connecticut River and to provide flood control. His career was most active during the Great Depression, and he was a participant in the New Deal.

In 1927, The Voluntary Committee of Lawyers, Inc. was organized by a group of young New York lawyers who felt that the national prohibition law was both unjust and unenforceable. Its leaders were Joseph H. Choate, Jr., who served as chairman of the Executive Committee, and Harrison Tweed, Treasurer. The organization existed to organize like-minded associates, take opinion polls of lawyers across the country, issue bulletins and annual reports reciting arguments against the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and work closely with the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment. They stressed that a Repeal Amendment should provide for ratification by state convention and then proceeded to prepare and place before all state governors in February 1933 draft bills providing for election at large of all delegates. The alertness and prestige of the members of the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers contributed to the fact that most states enacted the model convention bill verbatim. When the Twenty-First Amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933, the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers disbanded.

The fraternity Esse Quam Videri (EQV) was formed at Wesleyan in 1959 from the Phi Gamma chapter of Alpha Chi Rho (AXP). It was created in response to perceived discriminatory practices by the national AXP organization. EQV existed until 1967, when a house fire appeared to be a major factor in the demise of the group.