Harold L. Dorwart papers
Content Description
The Harold L. Dorwart papers contains correspondence, articles, clippings, brochures, and handwritten accounts by Harold L. Dorwart during his tenure as Seabury Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and later Dean of Trinity College. Includes materials related to the 1968 sit-in at Trinity, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's visit to campus in 1954, as well as other documents illustrating cultural and political events that took place both at Trinity and around the country.
Labeled "Trinity College 1967-68: A Documentary History," this small collection of papers assembled in February 1979 by Dr. Harold Laird Dorwart (1902-1998) covers one of the more unusual times in the history of Trinity College -- one of immense change in not only the curriculum, but also policy -- as Trinity prepared for and moved into the early years of coeducation. Many of the documents that comprise this collection cover a very short time frame, namely Dr. Dorwart’s tenure as Dean of the College from 1967 until his retirement in late 1968.
In a detailed introduction to the collection, Dorwart identified how he came to be Dean and what he thought were the major crises of his time in that role. A few of those events include: parietals [college visiting rules]; in loco parentis [in place of parents]; student involvement in college affairs; campus recruiters; tuition increases; scholarships for blacks; and the 1968 sit-in. Dorwart also identified the kinds of materials he included in the volumes and how they were assembled.
Crises were not the only events marking Dr. Dorwart’s tenure. There were a number of special occasions, lectures, and concerts that took place during the span of Dr. Dorwart’s term as Dean, even an exhibition of the prestigious McMurray Collection of Hudson River School paintings. Perhaps the most high-profile event to occur while Dr. Dorwart was actively teaching at Trinity was the visit from then U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on October 20, 1954, when the President received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Material (mostly news clippings) related to the visit is found in the collection.
Dates
- Creation: 1924-1997
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to the public and must be used in the John M.K. Davis Reading Room of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws when using this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
Digital surrogates may be provided to researchers, in accordance with the duplication policy of the Watkinson Library.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information (e.g. social security numbers) in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.
Biographical / Historical
Harold Laird Dorwart was born on August 27, 1902 in Greenville, Pennsylvania. He was a 1924 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College and earned a PhD at Yale University in 1931. Before coming to Trinity College as Seabury Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and Chairman of the Department of Mathematics in 1949, he taught math at Williams College and at Washington & Jefferson. In addition to having published many papers in academic journals, Dr. Dorwart was the author of a book, The Geometry of Incidence, and an accompanying puzzle kit, "Configurations," which was marketed nationally by toy sellers as part of the academic gaming movement gaining popularity in the late 1960s.
Trinity College asked Dorwart to fill in as Acting Dean for the 1967-1968 academic year, to which he agreed. Then Trinity President Albert Jacobs told Dorwart that the responsibilities of the position would be "light," not foreseeing his own sudden illness that essentially would leave Dorwart at the helm alone. During his short tenure as Dean, Dorwart encountered unexpected turbulence related to several "crises" at the College, including a student sit-in, military recruiters on campus, and student unrest over a tuition increase. Surprisingly, Dorwart accepted an extension of the deanship into the 1968-1969 academic year after the search for a new, permanent Dean did not yield an acceptable candidate. Dorwart retired from Trinity College at the end of December 1968 after having overseen the transition to a new Dean.
Married to his wife Carolyn for 65 years, Harold Dorwart died at home in 1998 in Salisbury, Connecticut at age 95. He was active in scholarly pursuits throughout his retirement.
Extent
1 Cubic Feet (1 records center carton with 51 letter size folders) ; 1 box (16.25 in. x 13 in. x 10.5 in.) equals 1 cubic foot ("cubic foot" defined in SAA Dictionary)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged into five series, the first four corresponding to original binder order.
Series 1. Volume 1: "Trinity College 1967-68: a documentary history." [Actual dates of materials span 1953-1980.]
Series 2. Volume 2: "Trinity 1949-1967" [Actual dates of materials span 1924-1997.]
Series 3. Volume 3: "Pockets A-D"
Series 4. Volume 3a: "Pockets A-H"
Series 5. Copies for Teaching Purposes
History and Description of Arrangement
When given to Trinity’s College Archives, the collection was housed in three-ring binders. With the exception of the items contained at the end of the Volume 1 binders, many of the documents were annotated and numbered, presumably by Dr. Dorwart. Dr. Dorwart’s order has been maintained and the documents have been filed by the number he assigned them. The material was originally filed as: Binder 1, which held pages 1-228; Binder 2, which held pages 229-469c; and Binder 3, which held pages 470-555 and other related material. For ease of use, the original volume and page numbers were retained in the folder headings. While the title indicates a date span from 1967-1968, items in this series range in date from 1953-1980. (It is apparent that Dr. Dorwart collected additional documents which lend context to the ones from 1967-1968.)
A complement to Dr. Dorwart’s papers related to his tenure as Dean, a second set of papers, "Trinity 1949-1967" covers Dr. Dorwart’s tenure at Trinity as Chair of the Department of Mathematics. When the collection came to Trinity, it was housed in three binders labeled "Vol. II," "Vol. III," and "Vol. 3a-Pockets." These labels have been retained in the folder headings. Much of the material in these folders is ephemeral in nature and includes clippings, brochures, correspondence, and personal photographs. Actual dates span 1924-1997.
Each volume has a detailed Table of Contents or an Index which is helpful in accessing items related to specific people, events or topics, as most folders are labeled only with a range of page numbers.
A fifth series includes copies of various documents pertaining to the 1968 sit-in, presumably used for teaching purposes.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Harold L. Dorwart papers were donated by Harold L. Dorwart at the request of Trinity Professor Glenn Weaver in December 1980. A second accession, donated by Roger W. Dorwart (Harold Dorwart's son), was received in May 1999.
Processing Information
Materials re-processed in August 2022. The archivist refoldered materials into letter size folders to improve housing. For the most part, initial folder titles were retained; dates were added. Many folders include transcriptions of Harold Dorwart's notes by Henry Arneth, the archival assistant who initially processed the collection.
- Title
- Guide to the Harold L. Dorwart papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Amy M. FitzGerald, using a Microsoft-Word finding aid originally prepared for electronic publication by Henry Arneth in 2013 and again in 2015.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2022-08-15: Files refoldered into letter size folders, relabeled and dates added. Scope and contents note updated to include information about what appears to have been an addition to the collection in 2015. Biographical and processing notes added. -- completed by Processing Archivist.
Repository Details
Part of the Trinity College Archives Repository
Watkinson Library
300 Summit St.
Hartford CT 06106 USA