The Dept. of African and African American Studies collection contains the office files of department directors Walter Burford and William Turner. Materials and topics in the collection include course materials for courses taught under the aegis of Black Studies' instructors; the large efforts channeled into recruitment of full-time faculty for the program; committee work related to Black Studies proposals and to the program's departmental status; budgets; and printed matter relating to similar programs and problems at other schools. The materials date from 1966-1981.
The formal study of art at Duke began with the establishment of the Dept. of Aesthetics, Art, and Music in 1942. The department was renamed the Dept. of Art in the 1959/1960 academic year, and later renamed the Dept. of Art and Art History in 1985/1986. The Department has two distinct units, one primarily devoted to the making of works of art, the other primarily devoted to the historical understanding and current interpretation of visual images and constructed space. Records include clippings, exhibit catalogs, reports, memoranda, and other records. Subjects include the B. N. Duke lectures, the James A. Thomas Memorial Room, and exhibits. Materials range in date from circa 1942 to 1985. English.
The Department of Botany existed at Duke from 1935 until 2000, when it joined with the Department of Zoology to re-form the Department of Biology. Collection contains assorted records from the Department of Botany, spanning from 1932 to 1978. Included are ledgers of financial records from the late 1930s, newspaper clippings from throughout the department's history, promotional materials, and committee reports from the mid 1960s.
Established in 1968 with funds from Duke and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Phytotron is a controlled environment research facility located on the Duke University campus housing plant growth chambers, controlled greenhouses, and associated instrumentation and laboratories. The Phytotron Records contain correspondence, memoranda, financial records, reports, grant proposals, blueprints, schematics, contracts, supplier catalogs, specification books, and other records of the planning, construction, and operation of the facility. Major subjects include the Duke University Dept. of Botany and Dept. of Biology, greenhouses, and global environmental change. English.
Originally the classical studies curriculum was spread over two separate departments which were Latin and Roman studies, and Greek studies. In 1962, these disciplines combined to become Classical Studies. This collection contains materials related to the Department of Classical Studies including minutes, materials created by students in classical studies classes, correspondence, financial records, a course paper, flyers, and other materials.
The Department of Computer Science originally formed as the Computer Science Program in 1971. It became a department in 1973. The files in this collection concern the origin and formation of the Department and include much information about the Duke University Computation Center (DUCC) and the Triangle Universities Computation Center (TUCC). Materials range in date from 1961-1978.
The Duke University Dept. of Anthropology was formed in the 1972/1973 academic year, after the joint Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, which had existed from 1941 to 1972, split into two separate departments. In July 1988, the disciplines in the Dept. of Anthropology divided into the Dept. of Cultural Anthropology and the Dept. of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy. The Dept. of Cultural Anthropology focuses on the study of cultures around the world. Records include two brief subject files including clippings and a newsletter, as well as a few documents relating to the Anthropology Majors Union, from the 1970s. In addition, the records include a syllabus and selected course papers from Cultural Anthropology 105.S01: Campus Politics, taught by Orin Starn in 1992.
The study of economics has a long history at Duke University. Economics classes were taught at Trinity College, the forerunner of Duke University, as early as the 1899-1900 academic year. Several individuals particularly important to the Department's development and programming: include Calvin Bryce Hoover; Joseph J. Spengler; H. Gregg Lewis; and Martin Bronfenbrenner. The collection contains miscellaneous office files associated with the daily operations of the Department of Economics including: correspondence, memoranda, class schedules, faculty rosters and files, reports, and undergraduate honors theses. Also present are the Working Papers in Economics produced by the Department of Economics, Duke University dating 1981-1990, 1992.
The Reynolds Student Investment Fund began in 1952 in conjunction with Professor Frederic Joerg's Investments course in the Duke University Department of Economics and Business Administration as a means to introduce students to investment practices. The collection includes financial reports, trust agreements, analyses, and related materials from the years 1952 to 1968.