In twenty hours, Eric and I processed the College of Engineering records (15 linear feet) at Drexel University. Almost half the collection was in original order, so a majority of our time was spent becoming acquainted with the collection. When doing minimal processing, original order has both its advantages as well as its disadvantages. It certainly makes arranging the collection easier, less time consuming, and more authentic, however, it puts you at a disadvantage when describing. We were lucky that the arrangement didn’t take us terribly long to do, which gave us more time to spend familiarizing ourselves with the contents of the collection. Even with the extra time, we couldn’t open every folder or look at every document — I would have liked to.
Somehow, in a just a short time, I was on a first name basis with LeRoy A. Brothers, who served as Dean of the College of Engineering from 1958 to 1969. Approximately a third of the collection was his files, with his original order and folder titles, and a bulk of the entire collection was created during his administration. I was thoroughly impressed by Dean Brothers, even though his choice of folder titles sometimes perplexed me and other members of the processing team. His efforts working with the faculty and outside business community to constantly improve the curriculum demonstrated a high level of devotion to the students, their education, and the community at large.
Conveniently for me he kept carbon copies of his responses stapled to the letters he was responding to, so it was easy to follow chains of events. I did eventually come across a handwritten note of his, and noticed why he typed most of his letters, even his personal correspondence. Needless to say, his handwriting was not the best (neither is mine, so we have that in common).
There was one series of letters that I found particularly touching. When Brothers’ predecessor, Dean Harry L. Bowman, died it was several years after his retirement. The student newspaper, the Triangle, published a short obituary. In response, Brothers wrote a letter to the editor as a tribute to his colleague, mentor and friend. Brothers states that he wrote it because after seeing the brief front page story, it occurred to him that perhaps many were unaware of the contributions of Dean Bowman to Drexel and goes on to outline Bowman’s impressive career. Brothers writes that his own relationship with Bowman was a unique one; “I have often thought that I had all of the advantages of being his son without the disadvantages that sometimes go with the relationship between father and son.” There are letters from President James Creese, Bowman’s daughter, and other faculty thanking Brothers for writing the tribute. Creese writes, “Aren’t we lucky to have been his friends and worked with him?” President James Creese, President William Hagerty, and faculty members Larry Mains, Jack Kolb and Brothers were all pallbearers.
Perhaps because I have never worked someplace for more than a few years, it surprised me that someone’s pallbearers would be their co-workers. After thinking about it, I realized that these people worked together for twenty, thirty years and were at this time more than colleagues, these people cared deeply about each other, they were friends, confidants.
Although this particular series of letters are not characteristic of the entire collection, which contains mostly professional and academic correspondence, these letters gave me a different perspective on the College of Engineering. It was interesting to see another side of these gentlemen and it gave me a sense of the connection between the individuals as I read their correspondence and annual reports. It exposed a personal side of these professionals.
