President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University (Macmahon Report), 1936-1958

Summary Information

Description

Summary

This collection consists of the records of the President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University. The committee files consists of correspondence, planning documents, questionnaires, and other studies. The "non-committee" records contain an extensive library of reports and background materials, both created at Columbia and at other schools. Finally, there are drafts, revisions and final copies of the Macmahon Report.

• Series I: Committee Files

  This series, organized alphabetically, contains correspondence, notes, planning documents, studies, etc.

• Series II: "Non-Committee" Files

  This terms was used to identify the reports, studies and other background materials used by the Committee, but not generated by the Committee. This extensive library includes reports from Columbia and other Universities.

• Series III: Report Files

  This set of records includes drafts, revisions and final copies of the Report. There is a set departmental records (correspondence and drafts used as the basis of the report); revisions (mostly from after the Arden House conference); records related to the production and the distribution of the report, and full sets of the Arden House conference (1957) transcripts.

Arrangement

• Series I: Committee Files
• Series II: "Non-Committee" Files
• Series III: Report Files

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

All administrative records of the University are restricted for 25 years from the date of creation. Materials related to students or containing student grades are restricted for 75 years from date of creation

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Macmahon Report Committee records; Box and Folder numbers; University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.

Accruals

No additions are expected.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2002.054.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in summer 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative. This collection was processed by Joanna Rios, July 2023.

Revision Description

2023-07-10 Finding aid published (JR)

2023-07-13 Added Boxes 12 an 13.

Historical Note

In 1955, the University Council asked President Grayson Kirk to appoint a President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University. The Committee would ideally have the following powers and responsibilities: "to make a searching inquiry into the functions of the University as an aid in determining how the University may most wisely employ its resources in the period immediately ahead; to confer with, and to inform the members of Columbia University, especially the several faculties and departments, of its findings and views; and, from time to time to make recommendations to the President of the University, to the University Council, and to the several faculties and departments of the University."

Arthur W. Macmahon, the Eaton Professor of Public Administration, was appointed Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Educational Future of the University. The other five members of the Committee were Charles H. Behre, Jr., Professor of Geology; Charles Frankel, Professor of Philosophy; Maxwell Gensamer, Professor of Metallurgy; Ernest J. Simmons, Professor of Russian Literature; and Howard R. Williams, Professor of Law. The work of the committee was financed by a $165,000 grant of the Carnegie Foundation. In its two-year study, the Committee analyzed the structure and course offerings of the University.

The Macmahon Report, as it became known, was issued to the Faculty in December 1957 and to the press in January 1958. It called for the establishment of a Science and Engineering college; proposed that the School of General Studies be limited only to those students working towards a degree; urged a broad program of expansion of University facilities, including a new gymnasium and the formation of a graduate center; asked that the number of required courses be reduced; and called for the creation of a senior honors program, among other recommendations.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Name
Columbia University	CLIO Catalog	ArchiveGRID
Columbia University -- : Curricula	CLIO Catalog	ArchiveGRID