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© 2010 University of Chicago Library
Series III contains student records such as letters of recommendation, grade reports, transcripts, and graded student work. This material is restricted for 80 years.
Series III also contains budgets and gift files, restricted for 50 years.
The remainder of the collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago. School of Social Service Administration. Office of the Dean. Harold Richman. Records, 1969-1978, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Founded in 1920, the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration prepares students for leadership in fields of social work. As one of the university's professional schools, SSA offers graduate-level coursework leading to master's and doctoral degrees. Early deans of SSA led the school from its founding as an experimental program that stressed social research and theoretical studies, into its establishment as a model for innovative social work education and a national influence on social policy. Under the leadership of Dean Alton Linford in the 1950s-1960s, the school underwent diversification in curriculum, faculty, and the student body. The construction of a new SSA Building, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was a public symbol of the school's renewed status during this time. SSA was also central to controversial incursions of the university into neighboring communities in Hyde Park and Woodlawn.
As Linford prepared to retire from his deanship, he worked with University of Chicago President Edward H. Levi to recruit Harold Richman, a promising young faculty member, to the position. Richman became dean in 1969. Previously an employee of the National Institute of Health and a White House Fellow under the Secretary of Labor, Richman used his Washington connections to expand federal funding of SSA programs. An important initiative was an experimental consolidated grant secured from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. This grant model streamlined the funding process and offered administrative flexibility in funding curriculum development and student aid. Richman also expanded the curriculum and the faculty by recruiting from related disciplines. During the 1970s, he was instrumental to the development of the interdisciplinary Committee on Public Policy Studies, which evolved into the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy Studies.
In 1978, Richman resigned from the deanship to found the Chapin Hall Center for Children. He was replaced by Margaret Rosenheim, who would serve in the position until 1983.
The collection is organized into three series:
Series I: Office of the Dean, documents the administration of SSA under the leadership of Harold Richman, who served as dean from 1969-1978. It represents the work of Richman; Associate and Assistant Deans including Lewis W. Flagg, Laurence Hall, and John Schuerman; and other administrative staff. There is correspondence of the dean and assistant and associate deans; files on research administration, curriculum development, and fundraising; records of SSA's relationships with social work organizations and government agencies; records of the school's administration of the Center for the Study of Welfare Policy and the Woodlawn Social Services Center; files on alumni relations; and materials from special events and speeches. Files are concentrated in the years 1969-1978, but include a small amount of material dating as early as 1929.
Series II: Faculty, Students and Curriculum, documents the broad spectrum of teaching, research, field work, curriculum development, and student life at SSA. Files in this series are from a variety of sources, including administrative staff, faculty members, and the SSA Library. There are faculty and committee meeting materials; files on curriculum development; statistics and surveys on the experiences of students and alumni; faculty biographical information; teaching materials; drafts of speeches and articles; and editorial files of the SSA faculty newsletter. Files are concentrated in the years 1969-1978, but include a small amount of material dating as early as 1957.
Restricted materials, including letters of recommendation, grade reports, transcripts, and graded student work have been transferred to Series III: Subseries 2.
Series III: Restricted, consists of files containing restricted materials transferred from Series I and Series II. It contains two types of restricted materials: Student records, including letters of recommendation, grade reports, transcripts, and graded student work; and financial records, including budgets and gift files.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
This series documents the administration of SSA under the leadership of Harold Richman, who served as dean from 1969-1978. It represents the work of Richman; Associate and Assistant Deans including Lewis W. Flagg, Laurence Hall, and John Schuerman; and other administrative staff.
This series is divided into eight subseries:
Subseries 1: Correspondence of the Dean, consists of the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Harold Richman. Materials date from 1969-1978, with a small number of items from the 1950s and earlier 1960s. There are files of correspondence arranged alphabetically by correspondent or subject, followed by files of general correspondence, arranged chronologically.
Subseries 2: Correspondence of Assistant and Associate Deans, consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence of Lewis W. Flagg, Laurence Hall, and John Schuerman, all of whom served as assistant or associate deans under Harold Richman. Materials date from 1969-1978, with a very small number of earlier items. Files are arranged by dean's name.
Subseries 3: Research and Development, contains files on research administration, curriculum development, and fundraising. Much of this subseries relates to the management of federal grants to SSA, particularly large grants from the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW or DHEW). Also included are files on state and private funding prospects. There are a small number of files on grants to institutions other than SSA. Materials include proposals, reports, evaluations, applications, correspondence and notes. Files attached to a specific funding agency are organized alphabetically by agency name. A second set of files not associated with a specific agency are organized by title or topic at the end of the subseries. Materials date from 1968-1978.
Subseries 4: National and International Organizations, documents SSA's administrative relationships with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the Inter-University Centre of Post-Graduate Studies, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Urban Coalition, the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, and the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Many of these files reflect Harold Richman's work on advisory committees and task forces: a large set of files relates to DHEW's Medicaid Task Force. Most of the files on CSWE are related to academic accreditation of SSA by the Council. This subseries is organized alphabetically by organization, and includes correspondence, notes, reports, drafts, meeting materials, and publications. Materials date from 1966-1978.
Subseries 5: Center for the Study of Welfare Policy, consists of dean's office files on the administration of this interdisciplinary research center. Files are arranged alphabetically and contain conference proceedings, correspondence, financial records, reports, and research papers. Materials date from 1969-1974.
Subseries 6: Woodlawn Social Services Center, consists of dean's office files on this provider of services in education, health care, and legal aid. The bulk of material in this subseries relates to the development and operation of the Woodlawn Service Program, an experimental social services delivery project that was coordinated with The Woodlawn Organization (TWO). Files are arranged alphabetically and contain correspondence, financial records, proposals and reports. Materials date from 1968-1978.
Subseries 7: Alumni Affairs, contains correspondence, meeting minutes, newsletters, notes, and reports. Most files relate to the operation of the SSA Alumni Association and development of the SSA Alumni Fund. Files are arranged alphabetically. Materials date from 1969-1978.
Subseries 8: Events and Speeches, contains speech drafts and notes, correspondence, financial records, schedules, programs, agendas, and proceedings. Most of the speeches were given by Harold Richman; there are a small number of speeches given by SSA faculty and visitors. Other files relate to event planning and travel arrangements. Files are arranged chronologically and date from 1965-1978.
Additional records of the Office of the Dean are found in Series II, collected with the records of other SSA units. Files containing restricted student recommendations, grade reports, transcripts, graded student work, budgets and gift files have been transferred to Series III: Subseries 1.
This series documents the broad spectrum of teaching, research, field work, curriculum development, and student life at SSA. Files in this series are from a variety of sources, including administrative staff, faculty members, and the SSA Library. This series is organized into 5 subseries:
Subseries 1: Faculty Meetings, contains minutes, agendas, announcements, reports, and correspondence. Files are arranged chronologically from 1969-1976.
Subseries 2: Committees, contains material generated by faculty committees and committees of the Dean, including correspondence, meeting minutes, publications, and reports. Files span 1966-1978 and are arranged alphabetically by committee name.
Subseries 3: Courses, Curriculum and Instruction, is a large and diverse set of materials that document curriculum development; course offerings; and the experiences of students, teachers and staff in SSA's instructional environment. Included are reports, proposals, correspondence, manuals, syllabi, reading lists, statistics, time schedules, course catalogs, and student work. Files span 1957-1978 and are arranged alphabetically.
Subseries 4: Statistics and Surveys, spans 1961-1978 and contains reports, statistical charts and tables, questionnaires, evaluations, and related correspondence. More than half of the materials in this subseries were generated as part of a survey of SSA graduates' professional experiences and assessment of SSA. There are also large collections of statistics on applications, admissions and enrollment. Most other materials were generated through assessments of student behaviors and preferences. Files are organized alphabetically.
Subseries 5: Faculty and Lecturer Activities, spans 1970-1976. This subseries contains files individual faculty and lecturers at SSA and affiliated research centers. There are biographical summaries, curricula vitae, teaching materials, research proposals and reports, drafts of speeches and articles, and correspondence. These files are followed by collected biographical information on faculty members, and editorial files of the SSA faculty newsletter. Included in a file on faculty interviews is an audio tape of Donnell Pappenfort and Rachel Marks.
Records of faculty and student activities are also found in Series I. Files containing restricted student recommendations, grade reports, transcripts, and graded student work have been transferred to Series III: Subseries 2.
This series consists of files containing restricted materials transferred from Series I and Series II. It contains two types of restricted materials: Student records, including letters of recommendation, grade reports, transcripts, and graded student work; and financial records, including budgets and gift files. It is divided into two subseries:
Subseries 1: Office of the Dean, contains student records and financial records transferred from Series I.
Subseries 2: Faculty, Students and Curriculum, contains student records transferred from Series II.