Although the records span the full 147-year history of CUCPS, the collection is very incomplete, and it is clear that the records deposited at the Historical Society via the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (originally about 40 cubic feet of documentation) represent only a small portion of the records which once existed. The collection focuses on two periods in the school's history: the nineteenth century and the school's last twenty years, with the middle period almost entirely unrepresented. In addition, some types of documentation such as accounting records, student transcripts, and the papers of individual faculty members are completely absent, while other important series such as minutes of the Board of Trustees and the Faculty Council and the deans' administrative files contain large gaps. Nevertheless, the collection provides important insights not only into the school's unique history and to the professionalization of pharmaceutical education but also to the problems of private colleges in the United States.
The files are organized hierarchically to correspond to the organizational structure of the college: the Board of Trustees and the Members; the dean, who had overall administrative and academic responsibility, and his financial officers. The creating office for some files, especially some files from the dean's office, could not be identified either from external or internal evidence; when this occurred, the most appropriate location was chosen.
Also included in the collection are records of the Alumni Association which was founded in 1871 and several files of general historical and miscellaneous information. Although many offices are not represented or not fully represented in the collection, the wide distribution of documentation at CUCPS via the mimeograph and photocopy machine means that some information about apparently unrepresented areas may actually be present in the collection. For example, although there are few files created by faculty and student organizations and committees, the combined deans' files contain some useful material which the deans collected about these groups.
The GENERAL AND HISTORICAL INFORMATION includes several brief published histories (one by Dean Henry Hurd Rusby); biographical sheets; organizational charts; by-laws and charters; bulletins and prospectuses (1870-1976); graduation programs; and photographs. The bulletins are especially valuable. During the 19th century these publications not only contained information about college activities and instruction but also sometimes contained illustrations, lists of students and college members, information about faculty, and course outlines and descriptions. Longer published histories of the college by Deans Ballard and Wimmer are not included in the papers but are available in the UW Pharmacy Library. Photographs received with the collection, which include portraits of faculty, students, and alumni and views of buildings and activities are housed in the Society's Visual and Sound Archives.
The BOARD OF TRUSTEES records, which also include records concerning the member organization, are best on the nineteenth century. These records are arranged as minutes, nineteenth century records, and twentieth century records. The minutes for both board and member meetings date to the earliest days of the school's history but are very incomplete for its later history. Also dating from the nineteenth century are correspondence of the secretary of the board, brief committee papers, financial records, and student information. The latter section includes informative biographical statements completed by students in 1880-1881 about their training and background. Among the twentieth century records, the most significant is the extensive report prepared by President John McDonnell, concerning the abortive planning for a new building during the early 1960s.
The DEANS' FILES are composed primarily of a combined file of correspondence, reports, forms, and legal documents which date from the tenures of Joseph L. Kanig (1965-1972) and Stephen M. Gross (1972-1976), with a few files of Dean E.E. Leuallen (1952-1965). This series is the key source for studying the college after 1950. Also filed in this section are two folders of Dean H.H. Rusby. Rusby's papers are comprised of some administrative correspondence, together with personal letters to administrators after his retirement in 1932. There is virtually nothing about his earlier career, although some incomplete correspondence from the period 1902-1916 pertains to the consolidation with Columbia. Especially notable in this matter are the exchanges with Nicholas Murray Butler. The remaining correspondence, primarily 1932-1942, consists of Rusby's handwritten (and largely unintelligible) letters to Dean C.W. Ballard about his ongoing concern for the college and for his diminished pension. Few replies from the college are included, although one letter from Ballard suggests his own discouragement in the face of the college's ongoing financial difficulties during the 1930s.
The deans' files are arranged by alphabetical topic: Academic programs, Administration (Financial), American Council for Pharmacy Education, Association and agencies, College (including Curriculum, Faculty, Students, and Departments), Hospitals, and Special Files. The combined files document the deans' general responsibilities in both internal matters (including faculty committees, student affairs, and the establishment of curricula) and the external college matters such as accreditation, fundraising, and relations with professional organizations. The controversy surrounding the construction of a new building for the college, which was in part a rehearsal for the student disturbances at Columbia later in the 1960s, and the financial problems of the college's final years consumed an increasingly large portion of Gross and Kanig's time, and these activities are well documented in the special files and legal sections.
General matters of curriculum development are discussed in the academic programs, college curriculum, and college faculty files, while specific information on classes such as syllabi, lab manuals, and exams can be found in the department section. Also included in the faculty files are runs of minutes pertaining to various faculty committees. Information about student activities and organizations are filed in the college undergraduates section. Accreditation (and reaccreditation) by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education was an important responsibility of the dean; these files contain reports detailing the faculty, student body, curriculum, and physical plant of the college. The financial difficulties encountered by CUCPS shortly before operations ceased are documented here as well.
Stephen Gross' files as assistant dean are filed separately, although some material in the combined deans' files refers to this responsibility. Activities documented here include planning for continuing education conferences, the innovative college retreats of faculty and students which examined college curriculum, and curriculum material for extension courses.
The files of Samuel S. Liberman, who served the college for over forty years in several capacities are arranged hierarchically under his final position, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDEN for over forty years in several capacities are arranged hierarchically under his final position, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDENT AFFAIRS, which he assumed in 1959. The files reflect Liberman's duties over the forty years as Assistant to the Dean (1948-1959), Associate Dean for Student Affairs (1960-1969), and Director of Admissions (1967-1969). However, the series is by no means complete, and it certainly does not fully represent his reputation as the “very image” of Columbia Pharmacy. The series is arranged as an alphabetical subject file. Included are reports, letters of recommendation written for CUCPS graduates, applications for admission from foreign students, lists of required textbooks, student handbooks, and various other materials pertaining to students and instruction. Several files relate to his work as head of the Instruction and Admissions committees and to the administering of awards and financial aid. The file on Cuban pharmacists discusses the college's role in attempts to help pharmacists from Cuba resume practice in the United States.
In 1968 Dr. Eleanor M. Schetlin was appointed assistant director of student personnel, a position involved in the administration of college admission, registration, honors and awards, scholarships, and academic counseling. Later she was promoted to the head of the office. The DIRECTOR OF STUDENT PERSONNEL FILES contain information related to student concerns and are similar to Liberman's files, but more extensive. Her files are more associated with administration, however, than policy development and include numerous reports, lists, statistics, and tuition and registration-related information. There is some correspondence with Dean Kanig. Limited amounts of information on student activities can be found in her student activities files.
As DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS, Louise Taylor appears to have assumed responsibility for some of the tasks handled by Eleanor Schetlin, Director of Student Personnel. However, her files are very incomplete, although they do include additional NYCEAC loan applications, which contain valuable background information on Columbia Pharmacy students during the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, the DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AND FOREIGN STUDENT ADVISOR FILES of Margaret M. Maher, who also exercised some responsibility similar to Schetlin's, are not well represented. Of interest are the programs designed to help foreign teaching assistants with the English language.
The area of student financial aid took on particular significance during the 1960s as the availability of state and federal assistance programs expanded, but this function is only fragmentarily documented in T. Alan Kotas' files as DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. Instead these files largely focus on the admissions responsibilities which he inherited from Maher. In addition to internal information on admissions, these files also document his involvement with various professional organizations.
Jack E. Gross, a pharmacist and brother of Dean Stephen Gross, was appointed DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS in 1968, a position that gave him
responsibility for student activities and counseling. Prior to that he had headed the college's Respect for Drug program for two years. The RFD program is extensively documented here by contracts, correspondence, and press material. There are no raw files pertaining to Gross' work with student organizations, although some files of Student Council minutes, budgets, and handbooks are included.
REGISTRAR'S FILES are divided into two portions: the papers of W.B. Simpson, who also held the title of secretary of the college, and a later file (1941-1965) which combined materials from Eleanor Keriker, Monte P. Shepler, Gertrude Hallinan, Andrew J. Esposito, Doris L. Campbell, and others who exercised responsibilities more commonly associated with college registrars. Largely because of Simpson's duties as secretary, the earlier files are comprised of some policy-level correspondence, while the later combined files are more oriented toward enrollment statistics and data. The files do not contain summary analyses of individual student averages or rankings, financial data, or other confidential information generally contained in transcripts.
Because of the absence of administrative files for the first half of the twentieth century and because there are exchanges with Rusby, Wimmer, and H.V. Arny, with various faculty committees (especially the Committee on Instruction and the Examination and Commencement Committee), and with Columbia University, Simpson's correspondence is of particular value, although incomplete. The files are divided first by chronological period and then alphabetically by correspondent or subject. In addition to the general correspondence, the files also incorporate information on the planning for the school's centennial in 1929. Especially notable in the combined registrars' files are the biographical sheets completed by college alumni in 1940 about their careers.
With the exception of the correspondence of Leonard Barmak, business and financial officer during the 1960s, the business records of the school (both accounting records and correspondence files) are missing. Indeed, Barmak reported when he assumed his position that the school's records were in chaos. The BUSINESS AND FINANCE MANAGER'S FILES, which are arranged as an alphabetical subject file, have been retained virtually unweeded so that the financial operations of the college during its last years could be as fully represented as possible.
Also related to the financial history of the school are Rose Cannistraci's fragmentary DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT FILES. Notable here are examples of the college's fundraising literature, the forms Cannistraci distributed to numerous college officers for information on prospective donors (no completed forms are included), and her reports to the Board of Trustees.
At the end of the collection are records of a general character. These files include a selection of PUBLICATIONS AND PUBLICITY, records of the ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, and MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS. Most notable among the press materials are a long run of Andoyne, the student paper, which provides an important perspective on the struggle of the school's last decade; an informative newsletter prepared by Dean Ballard for students in the military during World War II; and photocopied clipping scrapbooks entitled “College in the News”. A run of student yearbooks, 1927-1976 (with gaps), is held by the Special Collections Department of the Health Sciences Library at Columbia.
Records of the Alumni Association primarily document its early activities. These records include published annual reports from the late nineteenth century, minutes (1907-1915), two examples of the briefly-published Alumni Journal, and information on reunions.
The miscellaneous records include the “routine of practical work” of Professor George C. Diekman; an extensive file of mimeographed and printed examination questions (1917-1947); an unidentified notebook containing drug formulas (1848); a register of prescriptions probably filled in the school's practice pharmacy (circa 1950); and a constitution of the Woman's Club, an organization for women students and faculty wives. Prescription registers of Ewen McIntyre, a former president of the college, which were received from the college and which were apparently stored in the CUCPS basement, have been separately cataloged with the other prescription registers of the AIHP at the Historical Society.
