The Henry E. Rauch papers include materials related to Henry Rauch's time as a member of the Duke University Board of Trustees, as well as some autobiographical notes on Henry Rauch's personal and professional life. Much of the material related to Rauch's tenure in the Board of Trustees was gathered together as a scrapbook, and includes correspondence, clippings, photographs, reports, and typed notes on his particular role and involvement in events, such as the Duke Vigil and in the development of the Duke Medical Center. Also included are excerpts from Board of Trustee meeting minutes relating to Henry Rauch, often including handwritten annotations by him.
The collection is arranged into five series: Autobiographical materials, Duke Scrapbooks, Board of Trustees meeting minutes excerpts, Photographs, and Awards. Autobiographical materials include copies of typed chapters describing Henry Rauch's personal and professional life not including his involvement with Duke University. Duke Scrapbooks include materials which were gathered into scrapbooks by Henry Rauch and were disassembled prior to their transfer to the University Archives; these include materials related to Rauch's involvement in Board of Trustees committees, particularly related to the Medical Center and the Duke Vigil in 1968. Board of Trustees meeting minutes excerpts relate to the actions and contributions of Henry Rauch, and many include his handwritten annotations and explanations. Photographs and Awards both include oversized materials, many of which are mounted on boards and were removed from frames. These relate to Rauch's involvement with the Board of Trustees, the Medical Center Board of Visitors, and outside organizations.
Henry E. Rauch was born September 21, 1902, near Boston, Massachusetts. The youngest of five children, he began working odd jobs while still in grammar school. He attended the Boston High School of Commerce, where he could study accounting. In 1918, while still in high school, he began working in the office of the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance, later Bentley College. After graduating high school in 1920, Rauch entered the Bentley Evening Division and graduated in 1924 with a degree in accounting.
Prior to graduating from Bentley, Rauch began working for the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, a textile company, starting as a bookkeeper in 1922. He was with Amoskeag for 14 years, progressing rapidly in responsibility. In 1928 he began a seven-year stint overseeing the textile mills in Manchester, New Hampshire. During this time, he was involved in negotiations with members of the company labor union, closely involved with salary negotiations, as well as being a witness to a number of strikes, some violent, during the period 1933-1935. In 1936, he assisted with the liquidation of Amoskeag after it declared bankruptcy and was affected by a massive flood.
From 1936-1938, Rauch worked for Peterzell & Gelles, then began working for the American Thread Company in 1938. He stayed with American for eleven years, rising to Executive Vice President, before resigning in 1949. He then became President of Peterzell & Gelles from 1949-1951, before becoming a consultant for Burlington Mills in 1951. He worked in this capacity for a brief time before becoming Corporate Controller of Burlington Mills, which became Burlington Industries in 1955, and moved to Greensboro, NC. He was promoted to Vice President, Executive Vice President, and Director before becoming Chairman of Burlington Industries in 1962. Rauch oversaw significant growth and expansion of the company before retiring as Chairman in 1967, then resigning from all Board positions in 1970.
Henry Rauch became involved with Duke University in the early 1960s. While his son Dudley Rauch was a student at Duke, Henry Rauch became Chairman of the Parents of Students Committee and Chairman of the Parents of Students Loyalty Fund from 1960-1963. In 1964, he was elected to the Board of Trustees and became an extremely active member. In 1965, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Board, then in 1966 the Business and Finance Committee (of which he became Chairman in 1972). In 1968, he was appointed to the Investment Committee and as Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Medical Center, as well as helping to create the Trustee-Faculty Liaison Committee. He also served on two ad hoc committees, the committee that developed the Policy on Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations, which became effective in 1968, and the committee that formalized the operations of the Private Diagnostic Clinic associated with the Medical Center. In addition, he served as a member of the special committee to formulate plans and establish goals related to the Decade of Destiny, a far-reaching fundraising campaign to improve Duke University’s standing as a research university with a large number of building projects including a new Medical Center. Rauch was elected Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees in 1970.
In 1968, during the Vigil that took place on the campus quad in the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry Rauch was appointed the head of the Trustee-Administrative Committee organized to deal with demands of students and participants in the Vigil, related to the wages and working conditions of non-academic employees. In this capacity, he issued the statement of the committee resolving to increase employee wages and was instrumental in the wage schedule calculations and negotiations. The Policy on Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations, which Rauch was involved with developing, came about as a result of this incident. Also partially in response to the Vigil, Rauch helped organize the creation of the Trustee-Faculty Liaison Committee.
Beginning in 1970, when Rauch became a consultant to the Medical Center for the purpose of developing a new Hospital, he became increasingly interested in and involved with the operations of the Medical Center. He was closely involved with the financial planning and structuring of the new Duke Hospital building, called G-94 during planning and now called Duke North, and worked closely with Dr. William Anlyan, Vice President for Health Affairs at that time. He gave financial gifts to the Rauch Family Cancer Research Fund, and later to the Henry E. Rauch Arthritis Research Fund. He was appointed an honorary member of the Medical Alumni Association in 1971, the second person to receive this honor, and his contributions were also recognized in the dedication of a conference room in Duke North.
In 1972, at the age of 70, Henry Rauch began to withdraw from several of his many Trustee commitments. In disagreement with investment advisors and frustrated at the slowed pace of committee meetings involving students and faculty, he resigned from the Business and Finance Committee in 1972. Concerned with the financial management of the Hospital expansion and planning, in 1974 he resigned from the Investment Committee, then resigned entirely from the Board of Trustees and all committee work shortly thereafter. He continued in an advisory capacity with the Medical Center Committee from 1974-1978 and remained active in the financial planning of the Medical Center.
The Board of Trustees and Duke President Terry Sanford voted to award Rauch an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1975, then to reject his resignation as Trustee and elect him a Trustee Emeritus in 1976.
Henry Rauch met Alice Atkins, a secretary for the Boston office of the Amoskeag Company, in 1928, and they married in 1929. The couple lived in Boston until about 1930, when they moved to Manchester, NH. Daughter Elizabeth Rauch was born January 18, 1936, and son Dudley Rauch was born July 21, 1941. Along with his involvement with Duke University, Henry Rauch was also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Bentley College, in Boston, Mass., his alma mater, from which he also received an honorary doctorate of laws, and was a member of the Board of Visitors of Charles R. Drew Medical School in Los Angeles, CA. Alice Rauch died October 22, 1974, and Henry E. Rauch died January 16, 1994, of a heart attack.
