The Executive Committee "shall have and exercise all the authority of the Board [of Trustees] between meetings of the Board," except for specific powers as described in the by-laws. The Committee is comprised of voting Trustees appointed by the Chair subject to approval of the Board.[RISD By-Laws, Art. IV; 2009 May 2)
Article IV of the Rhode Island School of Design Association constitution, adopted April 30, 1877, created the Committee of Management comprised of three members, increased to five members in 1881, elected by the Board of Directors, the President and the Vice-President. The Board had "charge of the practical working of the school" and made an annual report to the Association.
The 1893 by-law revisions gave specific duties to the Committee: "to take charge of the school buildings, to arrange courses of study, to employ all needed instructors, to award diplomas and prizes, and in general to have direction of the practical working of the school." The Board could not incur debts without the authority of the Board of Trustees. The Board became the Executive Committee in 1901 when RISD appointed a Director responsible for day-to-day operations.
The 1907 revisions expanded the duties of the Committee. Specifically, "under the general direction of the Board of Trustees, [the Committee] shall have full control, except as otherwise in the by-laws provided, of the affairs of the corporation," and "shall be the Governing Board of the School." The Committee had control of all buildings except for the interior of the Museum and appointed all employees except for the Director and the Curators. The Committee could expend the income from tuition fees and other income and received authority to audit ordinary expenditures on other Standing Committee. A 1929 revision granted the Committee the power to "engage and dismiss" all employees.
The Board shortened the Committee's charge in 1937. "Under the general direction of the Board of Trustees, [the Committee] shall, except as otherwise in the by-laws provided, have full control and direction of the property, business and affairs of the corporation." A 1947 amendment provided "control, direction, and regulation of the property…"
Administrative functions previously defined in the by-laws became part of the Administrative Manual adopted in 1940. Authority to prepare and circulate a manual was added to the by-laws after the fact in 1954. Standing Committees came under the control and supervision of the Committee in 1947. The Committee was required to make reports at the meetings of the Board and the annual meeting until 1977 though, in practice, the Committee ceased providing the reports in 1968.
The 1977 by-law revisions provided the Committee's current charge though the exceptions to the Committee's authority were not added until 1987. In addition, the Committee held authority to approve Standing Committee appointments, 1987-2009.
The Committee consisted of five elected members plus ex-officio members until 1977 when the committee was increased to not more than eleven elected trustees plus ex-officio members: President (1907-2009), Board Trustees Chair (1947-2009), Treasurer and Secretary (1959-2009), Vice-Chair (1965-2009), Alumni Association President (1977-2009), and Standing Committee Chairs (1980-2009).
The Board of Trustees Executive Committee records are closed for fifty years.
Permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from archival materials must be obtained in writing from the Archives. The researcher assumes full responsibility for use of material and for conformity to all applicable laws, including copyright.
Rhode Island School of Design. Board of Trustees Executive Committee records, Rhode Island School of Design Archives.
The records document the activities of the Board of Management, 1880-1901 and the Executive Committee, 1901-2007. The bulk of the records consist of fifteen volumes of meeting minutes, 1888-2007. The volume for 1877-1885 is missing. The minutes may include correspondence and reports presented to the Committee. The series includes Committee reports, 1880-1968, prepared for presentation to the Board of Directors/Trustees and Committee motions, 1913-1933, acted upon by the Committee. There are two small series of correspondence for Committee Chair Helen Metcalf, 1877-1895, and Committee Secretary Howard Hoppin, 1887-1934. See also the Office of the President, Executive Committee Meeting files, 1962-1993.
Organized into six series:
The corporate records for Rhode Island School of Design have been collected from the College St. Building safe, the Woods-Gerry House, the offices of the President and Academic Affairs, and the Library Archives.
The fifteen volumes contain the official minutes of the monthly meetings of the RISD Executive Committee (Board of Management, 1877-1901). Minutes record the activities and decisions of the Committee. The records may contain agendas, reports presented by administrators, budget reports and salary lists (post-1946), weekly expense lists, lists of graduating students, and correspondence. The minutes are hand written through May 11, 1925 and typed after that date. Volume 1, 1877-1885, is missing.
Secretaries Howard Hoppin, 1887-1930, and William H. Edwards, 1937-1968, dominate the records. During the Edwards era, the minutes are nearly conversational in tone providing a detailed record of the Committee's discussions. Agenda were no longer included after 1968 December 9. The minutes include few, if any, supporting records circa 1970-1988. The 1984 May 1 minutes are the last signed by the committee secretary.
Beginning 1989, the minutes may again include supporting documents such as reports, other committee minutes, and administrative material. In 1992 the minutes are consistently accompanied by supporting material pertaining to the individual meetings. In 1995 Chair Barnet Fain reorganized the supporting material into an agenda notebook for each meeting. The Archives maintains notebooks holding just the minutes and agendas, 1992-2007, in order to facilitate the use of the records. The minutes with all supporting material comprise a new series, Agenda Notebooks, 1995-2007.
The Executive Committee reports served to communicate information to the Board of Directors/Trustees. The reports for 1880-1901 were written by the Board of Management Secretary and include reports by the Headmaster (1893-1901). The Committee Secretary and the RISD Director wrote separate reports, 1901-1909, when the Director assumed responsibility for writing a single report to the Board (1909-1929). The Educational Director/Executive Vice-President wrote the reports, 1929-1946, and the President issued the reports from 1947 until 1968. The Committee discontinued the reports in 1968 because the reports duplicated the material in the Committee minutes.
The reports were issued in coordination with the Board of Directors/Trustees meetings on a yearly and quarterly schedule until 1947 when the Board switched to semiannual meetings. The reports may include information on Committee decisions and recommendations, student registration numbers, diploma recipients, scholarships, instructors, student prizes, gifts to the School, exhibits, building projects, and activities of the faculty and students. Pre-1900 files include reports to the State Board of Education and a report on the Department of Decorative Design and Woodcarving, 1898-1901.
See also the Reports of Executive Vice-President Royal Bailey Farnum, 1930-1943.
The quarterly and semiannual reports are arranged chronologically.
Elected to the Board of Management on 1877 April 30, Helen Metcalf served as Chairman until her death on 1895 March 1. The bulk of Metcalf’s work for Rhode Island School of Design is documented by Committee minutes and reports prepared by the Committee Secretary. The four files contain letters sent to Metcalf and a report by Metcalf. William J. Charlton wrote on 1891 September 9 requesting, unsuccessfully, a position as an Instructor of Practical Design. The files contain a written report on Prussian Industrial Art School Director Dr. O. Jessen’s system for teaching Industrial Art education presented by Metcalf to the Board of Directors on 1886 June 9. Two letters dated 1887 August 25 from RISD Instructor Warren S. Locke (1887-1908) present his comments on Jessen’s system and his request to recruit students at an August fair. He includes comments on former RISD Instructor Gardner C. Anthony. Rhode Island Commissioner of Public Schools William B. Stockwell wrote on 1889 January 7 that he the Governor would recommend an additional appropriation of $500 for state scholarships.
Alphabetical
The records for Howard Hoppin, Executive Committee Secretary, 1887-1930, contain primarily correspondence sent to Hoppin regarding administrative affairs. Correspondents include Headmaster Warren S. Locke regarding his employment and resignation, 1887-1908; Directors E. B. Homer and Huger Elliott; the Architecture, Jewelry, and Textile Visiting Committees, 1906-1916; and President William C. Poland regarding Henry H. Clark as successor to Theodore Pond, Head of Decorative Design, 1902. The records contain correspondence from faculty and staff regarding appointments, 1888-1916, including Theodore H. Pond regarding his appointment as lecturer and head of Decorative Design, 1894-1901. Other records include a small pox vaccination notice (undated); reports, pamphlets, clippings, and correspondence for the NY Institute for Artists Artisans, 1888; and a faculty recommendation from William R. Ware of Columbia University School of Architecture, 1901.
Arranged alphabetically.
Kept in three-ring binders (6 x 9.5"), the records consist of typed lists of all motions presented at Executive Committee meetings, 1913-1933. Apparently Director L. Earle Rowe, who signed each list as “correct” from 1913 to 1926, began the series. The lists record the action taken on each motion: voted, no action taken, tabled. Marginal notations in red ink serve as reference points. The records may include written notes and lists of instructors (with salaries), or graduating seniors.
Arranged chronologically by academic year
The Agenda Notebooks contain records collected for each Executive Committee meeting, 1995-2007. In 1995 Chair Barnet Fain organized the meeting records into notebooks with records keyed to specific agenda items. The records may include agendas, meeting minutes, committee reports, financial reports, by-law amendments, memorandums, brochures, trustee nominations, remarks by officers, and building plans. The records may document presentations to the Board by faculty, students, staff, alumni, or consultants.
Chronological by meeting.