President's Office

The Davidson College Archives has a variety of information on former presidents of the college. The collections of Presidents Morrison, Williamson, Lacy, Blake, Hepburn, McKinnon, and Shearer contain limited amounts of correspondence. The collections of Presidents Smith, William Joseph Martin Jr., Lingle, Cunningham, David Grier Martin, and Spencer are more extensive and contain information about the general day-to-day activities of the college. Please review the list at the bottom of this essay for links to information on the various presidents.

Annual Reports from the President's Office (RG 2.2) are also stored in the Davidson College Archives. The annual report files contain copies of reports made by Davidson College Presidents to the Board of Trustees, the Executive Committee of the Trustees, and to the public. The files begin with a handwritten report in 1880 from Andrew Hepburn, Davidson's seventh president. The Annual Reports discuss enrollment, student activities, faculty work, finances, the condition of the physical plant, and recommendations for action by the Board of Trustees.

Commencement has traditionally been an important event in the history of the college. The Archives has a collection of materials that relate to the Commencement ceremonies (RG 2.3). Commencement files contain materials issued by the college in conjunction with the ceremonies, such as invitations, programs, service bulletins, and citations.

The Director of Institutional Research (RG 2.5) provides staff support for the office of the President, represents the President on various committees, and coordinates the college's strategic and facilities planning. Records of the Office of Institutional Research currently housed in the Archives include Administrative, Strategic Planning, Self Study, and Stuart Scholar files.

The Board of Visitors (RG 2.7) was founded in 1956 to increase the number of friends Davidson College has outside the obvious circles of its alumni and current student families and to make firmer the college's relationships with existing friends. The College Archives has the annual meeting information and newsletters from the Board of Visitors.

Annual Reports from the President's Office (RG2.2)
Board of Visitors (RG 2.7)
Commencement, 1837-1995 (RG 2.3)
Institutional Research (RG 2.5)
President Robert Hall Morrison (RG 2.1)
President Samuel Williamson (RG 2.2)
President Drury Lacy (RG 2.3)
President John Rennie Blake (RG 2.6)
President Andrew Dousa Hepburn (RG 2.7)
President Luther McKinnon (RG 2.8)
President John Bunyan Shearer (RG 2.9)
President Henry Louis Smith (RG 2.10)
President William Joseph Martin, Jr. (RG 2.11)
President Walter Lee Lingle (RG 2.12)
President John Rood Cunningham (RG 2.13)
President David Grier Martin (RG 2.14)
President Samuel Reid Spencer, Jr. (RG 2.15)
President John Wells Kuykendall (RG 2.16)