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Haverford Union records
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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Haverford Union was a society formed by Alfred Percival Smith (Class of 1884) in 1909, designed to foster connections between Haverford alumni, undergraduates, and faculty. As described in the Haverford Bulletin, "The Haverford Union is an organization of alumni and students for the promotion of social fellowship. The home of the Union is a large and attractive building supplied with reading rooms, recreation rooms, sleeping rooms for visiting alumni, and a large assembly hall." Members of the Union paid yearly dues of $1.00 to $2.50 or a lifetime fee of $50. After its first year, the Union had 250 members.
The Union Auditorium hosted the Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association, along with rehearsals for various musical groups such as Glee Club and Mandolin Club. Union also housed the offices of
The Haverfordian and the Haverford News. Faculty, alumni, and undergraduate members of the Union could meet in the Union building to study in the Reading Room, play billiards in the Billiard Room, play chess in the Club Room, or drink cocoa and eat crackers together in the winter months. The Union provided an even ground for alumni, faculty, and undergraduate students to interact. The Union also hosted lectures and events with guest speakers. Visitors of the Union hailed from many different states.The Haverford Union was governed by a governing board from 1909-1919. The board was elected annually and included undergraduate, faculty, and alumni representatives, along with a president, secretary, treasurer, assistant secretary, and assistant treasurer. In 1920, the Union Governing Board transferred the responsibility of care of the building to The College. Smith, The Union's founder, tried and failed to reverse this decision, believing the care of the Union should rest in a committed governing board.
Though the purpose of the building has changed, the Union's home still stands on Haverford's campus and is currently known as Union Building.
This collection contains four volumes of materials related to the Haverford Union. The first two volumes are minute books from meetings of the Governing Board of the Haverford Union. The books also include various letters written by former members of the Governing board, spending receipts, and a list of personal property of the Haverford Union. The second volume includes minutes from the annual meetings of the board, while the first book includes the board's constitution and minutes from general meetings. The third and fourth volumes each contain one Haverford Union Visitors Register book. Each book includes space for visitors to include the date they visited the Union, their name, their current residence, and who introduced them to the Union. The third volume also provides space to include the visitor's class year, the university, college, or school they attend or attended, and any remarks about their visit.
Gift of John L. Scull
Processed by Maia Schwallie, completed September 2023.
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Maia Schwallie
- Finding Aid Date
- September, 2023
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
The first volume of the Haverford Union Governing Board minutes includes the constitution and by-laws for the Haverford Union, minutes from the Governing Board's meetings from October 25, 1909, through October 30, 1919, letters of resignation from a variety of former Governing Board members, and a letter from Alfred Percival Smith to John Scull, the secretary of the Union in 1919. There are also five slips of paper listing the members of the Governing Board in 1911. The entries are sporadic, with entries approximately every 1-6 months from 1909-1913. They became increasingly sporadic from 1914-1918, where there is only one entry each year. The entries from 1919 are all handwritten and not adhesed to the volume.
The Haverford Union Governing Board's second volume includes the minutes from one special meeting in 1910 and the minutes from the annual meetings from 1911-1918. This volume also contains various letters of resignation and the treasurer's reports of Haverford Union spending. There is also a list of the personal property of the Haverford Union as of January 7, 1920.
This volume contains the Haverford Union Visitors Register from 1911-1922. The book includes space for visitors to write the date they visited the Union, their name, their class year, the university, college, or school they attend or attended, their current residence, who introduced them to the Union, and any remarks about their visit. The book is completely filled and even includes some visitors who wrote their names on a blank page at the back of the book. Most visitors were from the Philadelphia area, such as students, alumni, and faculty from Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, Swarthmore College, Lehigh University, the University of Pennsylvania, and various Pennsylvania high schools. However, there are also many visitors from schools out-of-state, like New York University, Wellesley College, and Wesleyan University.
This volume contains the Haverford Union Visitors Register from 1923-1940. The book includes space for visitors to write the date they visited the Union, their name, their class year, their address, and who introduced them to the Union. The book is nearly filled, with some pages torn or left blank. Most visitors were from the Philadelphia area, such as students, alumni, and faculty from Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, Swarthmore College, Lehigh University, the University of Pennsylvania, and various Pennsylvania high schools. However, there are also many visitors from schools out-of-state and some visitors from out of the country.