Collection inventory

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Faculty Club Collection

An inventory of its collection at the Syracuse University Archives

Finding aid created by: Sean Molinaro
Date: 2013

Revision history:
December 2023	Stylistic changes, one item added to Box 3 (SS)

Historical Note

The Syracuse University Faculty Club was founded in the summer of 1921. Initially serving to organize opportunities for men faculty members to congregate, dine, and forge a University network, it would later evolve to be more inclusive and purposeful.

The Faculty Club secured its first official home in September 1922, with the purchase of a house at 210 Walnut Place by the corner of Marshall Street. The Faculty Club officially comprised of only men faculty members, while women members of the faculty were left without a similar official club for several years. Women on the faculty were allowed to make limited use of the dining facilities shortly after the building had been purchased.

Throughout the 1920s, men and women both frequently used the facility for socializing, eating, and general meetings. Other uses for the club facility included honorary luncheons and dinners, tea ceremonies with special guests, and welcome receptions for new members of faculty. Additionally, the Faculty Club hosted a number of special lectures from professors, deans of Syracuse University colleges, and prominent alumni. Topics of these lectures ranged from world politics to issues facing Syracuse University.

In the 1930s, some members of faculty were working to make the Faculty Club more engaged with the University. They felt that a well-organized and purpose-driven faculty could serve as a great asset to a university. Katherine Sibley, director of the Women’s Physical Education Department, recognized as much. She was instrumental in forming an official Women’s Faculty Club in 1930 and served as its first president. Sibley and other members of faculty ensured the Women’s Faculty Club did far more than previous, less recognized clubs of women faculty members, such as organizing fund-raising benefits for the construction of new Syracuse University buildings.

By the early 1940s, the men’s Faculty Club had moved from their original home on Walnut Place to a place on 215 Euclid Avenue. They were not able to settle in there for too long before being moved to temporary quarters elsewhere, then to space in Lyman Hall in 1943, then back once more to the Euclid Avenue location. This would not end up being the last move for the organization. During this time, social meetings, honorary functions, and special lectures continued, though with an increasing focus on the realities of war and the hope for peace.

In the post-war years, the Faculty Clubs seemed to find new vigor, increasing the frequency and improving the structure of the longstanding lectures, while also pursuing a broader range of organized social activities for the faculty. Other Faculty Club traditions also progressed and expanded, such as the Faculty Clubs’ annual fund-raising event held at the end of the semester. In the early years of the men’s Faculty Club, members put on a fund-raising show called Faculty Follies, in which they performed comedic plays and routines. This would later evolve to become an annual show called Faculty Frolic, which included both the Men’s and Women’s Faculty Clubs putting on various acts, including some more subtle attempts at humor and musical performances.

In the decades that followed, the Men’s and Women’s Faculty Clubs saw further changes in both locations and operation. In the spring of 1950, the Women’s Faculty Club had moved into their new building at 911 Walnut Avenue. By the following year, however, they had left the building and were without a club facility. The men’s Faculty Club, meanwhile, was also without a clubhouse after the Euclid Avenue facility was made into a dormitory. Faced with the prospect of securing two new locations, both Faculty Clubs saw an opportunity to make an overdue administrative move. With strong support from University administration, the two Faculty Clubs made plans to merge the two organizations into the Syracuse University Faculty Club. The new, unified Faculty Club was given a home in the first Haven Hall building in September 1951.

Now sharing facilities, functions, and goals, the Faculty Club was able to continue its traditional activities in more cohesive ways. After several successful years at the first Haven Hall, the Faculty Club moved once more in 1962, when the building was set to be demolished. In 1963, the club moved to facilities in Chapel House, where it utilized the lower floors for several years. In 1974, Syracuse University purchased the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity house at 401 University Place and turned it into the Faculty Center, which served the purposes of the official Faculty Club and other faculty members looking for a social space. In 1997, the building completed extensive renovations and re-opened as the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center, and served as a space for University alumni as well. Though faculty organizations have changed in the years that followed, eventually moving away from one large, centralized Faculty Club, this building served as a longtime home for faculty use until 2022.

Scope and Content Note

The Faculty Club Collection is divided into three series: the Men's Faculty Club, the Women's Faculty Club, and the unified Syracuse University Faculty Club.

Though the Faculty Club had different divisions and operations over the years, the types of materials it collected remained largely the same. The different series include the minutes of meetings, documents from the board of directors, club constitutions, programs for events, mailings regarding social activities, and other papers related to the Faculty Club's various engagements. Other materials in the collection are more specific to their time and place, such as a comedic script from a Faculty Follies performance and a hand-written early history of the Faculty Club.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Syracuse University -- Faculty.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.
Syracuse University. -- Faculty Club.

Types of Material

Administrative records.
Correspondence.
Invitations.
Minutes (administrative records)
Programs (documents)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Faculty Club Collection,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

The Archives has no information about the acquisition of this collection.

Processing Information

Materials were placed in acid-free folders and boxes.

Arrangement

The items are arranged in alphabetical order within series.

Table of Contents

Men's Faculty Club

Syracuse University Faculty Club

Women's Faculty Club

Inventory