Xavier University President's Council records

Collection

Identifier: XUA-33

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This is a collection of records resulting from the activities of the Xavier University President's Council and its predecessor committees, the Lay Advisory Council and the Lay Advisory Board. There are gaps in the record holdings.

Dates

Creation: 1944-1975

Restrictions on Access

Restricted access. Please contact the Xavier University Archives staff.

History of Xavier University President's Council

The origin of committees of the lay persons advising the university president is not clear.

The origin of the Council is somewhat obscure. According to Dr. Roger Fortin's history of Xavier University, President Dennis Burns first appointed an "Advisory Board of Prominent Laymen" in the late 1930s "to offer the university advice on business matters." On the other hand, the Cincinnati Enquirer, in an article published in 1955, stated that the President's Council "succeeded the Xavier Lay Advisory Board, formed in January, 1947, by the Very Rev. Celestin J. Steiner, the president of the university." However, from the papers in this collection, it seems clear that a committee of lay advisors to the president existed prior to 1947 under the name of "The Lay Advisory Council." Sometime around 1950, the name was changed to "The Lay Advisory Board," and in 1955 President Maguire renamed it "The President's Council." Around 1976 it went out of existence, probably because it no longer served its purpose, since more and more laymen were being appointed to the Board of Trustees. The Council's constitution of April 22, 1955 defined its purpose as follows: "The purpose of the Council shall be to provide to the President a cabinet of advisers who through their personal prestige, their demonstrated leadership capacities and their broad business or professional experience are especially qualified to give counsel on important matters concerning the University." Membership was set at 15 in the same constitution.

Biographical / Historical

The origin of the Council is somewhat obscure. According to Dr. Roger Fortin's history of Xavier University, President Dennis Burns first appointed an "Advisory Board of Prominent Laymen" in the late 1930s "to offer the university advice on business matters." On the other hand, the Cincinnati Enquirer, in an article published in 1955, stated that the President's Council "succeeded the Xavier Lay Advisory Board, formed in January, 1947, by the Very Rev. Celestin J. Steiner, the president of the university." However, from the papers in this collection, it seems clear that a committee of lay advisors to the president existed prior to 1947 under the name of "The Lay Advisory Council." Sometime around 1950, the name was changed to "The Lay Advisory Board," and in 1955 President Maguire renamed it "The President's Council." Around 1976 it went out of existence, probably because it no longer served its purpose, since more and more laymen were being appointed to the Board of Trustees. The Council's constitution of April 22, 1955 defined its purpose as follows: "The purpose of the Council shall be to provide to the President a cabinet of advisers who through their personal prestige, their demonstrated leadership capacities and their broad business or professional experience are especially qualified to give counsel on important matters concerning the University." Membership was set at 15 in the same constitution.

Extent

.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Meeting minutes, correspondence and other documents of the President's Council and its predecessors.

Statement of Arrangement

Materials are arranged in folders chronologically.

Processing Information

This collection was reprocessed into its current arrangement and description as part of a major University Archives reprocessing project in 2012-2013. This reprocessing project was largely an effort to disband a record group system, developed in the late 1970s, used to arrange university records. The record group scheme had been established by the first University Archivist, Lee Bennish, SJ, and chiefly organized materials by originating office and organizational structure. After Bennish’s tenure, oversight of the archives changed several times and resulted in a lack of adherence to the record group scheme for new acquisitions. The 2012-2013 processing project also sought to incorporate records for which little acquisition or contextual information existed. The project staff primarily reorganized records into subject-based collections. Occasionally subjects coincided with offices of origin (e.g. Subject, Presidents; Office, Office of the President; Collection, Xavier University President’s Office). This subject-based arrangement makes it difficult to identify or describe the collections by office of origin but administrative project records do indicate transfers and connections between original record groups and 2012-2013 collections. During the project, records were rehoused in archival folders and boxes, and new finding aids were created using the OhioLINK Finding Aid Creation Tool.

As of 2017, University Archives no longer employs the 2012-2013 system of arranging collections by subject.