Scope and Contents

This note should include information about the date range of materials, the types of materials included (format(s): broad categories and/or digital file formats), topics, arrangement, the process of creation, and other relevant information.This note may also mention strengths of the collection, or explain gaps in coverage. This information should be derived from the records themselves. When relevant, provide information on the context or location of the records or files within the collection. While digital material should be included in the categories mentioned in the previous sentences, you should also explicitly state whether there is any digital material present to let the user know what to expect.

Scope and Contents notes may be used at any level, but it is required at the collection level.

If the collection contains potentially offensive or disturbing material, add a content warning in a separate Scope and Content note.

Examples

Collection Level

From the Pauline Maier papers (MC-0705)

This collection documents the activities of Pauline Maier, who was a professor of history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1978 to 2013. Materials in the collection, spanning 1960 to 2013, document both her personal life and her academic career. Her papers are arranged in five series: Correspondence, Course Notes and Curricula, Research Materials and Writings, HASS-D Overview Committee and Historical Studies Subcommittee Records, and Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on the Closing of CMRAE Records. Each series maintains the original order.

Series 1 includes the personal and professional correspondence of Professor Maier, spanning from 1969 to 2011. Included in her correspondence are materials from her time serving as Chair of the History Faculty, from 1979 to 1988. A portion of the correspondence is arranged chronologically, as originally ordered.

Teaching materials generated throughout Maier’s career are found in series 2, including subject files, lecture notes, syllabi, and reading materials for various American History courses taught by Maier. The series, spanning 1960 to 2013, covers courses taught at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Yale University; and MIT. MIT courses documented in this series include American History to 1865; The American Revolution; Colonial America; Riots, Strikes, and Conspiracies in American History; and American Classics.

Series 3 documents a variety of writings produced by Maier, including some background research. Materials are roughly grouped together by publication, following the original order. Most prominent in this series is her work on The Old Revolutionaries: Political Lives in the Age of Samuel Adams. Materials related to this book include her research notes, source materials, correspondence, and chapter drafts. Maier’s work on an unpublished article, titled “Conspiracy and Suppression in Eighteenth Century New York,” is documented through drafts, research materials, and correspondence. Drafts and revisions for her junior high school textbook, The American People: A History, are included. Additional materials related to text books, book reviews, speeches, and articles by Maier can also be found in this series.

Records from Maier’s involvement on the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Distribution (HASS-D) Overview Committee can be found in series 4, spanning from 1987 to 1992. This committee was tasked with reviewing proposals for new and modified classes to fulfill updated guidelines as specified by the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Requirement component of the General Institute Requirement (GIR). Maier was a member of the committee and served as chair of its Historical Studies Subcommittee.

In 1994, Maier served as a member of the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on the Closing of the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE), chaired by Peter Diamond. Series 5 documents Maier’s involvement with the committee’s investigation into the decision by a review committee to close MIT’s CMRAE. Materials in this series include Maier’s notes, reports, and background materials.

Peter Eagleson personal archives

The personal archives of Peter Eagleson, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology comprises teaching and professional papers. The bulk of the collection are published and unpublished works by Eagleson dating from the 1950s to 2009. The bulk of published materials date from the 1970s to 1990s. As Eagleson served as head of the Department of Civil Engineering, there are records related to the naming of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering department (the Hydrodynamics Laboratory was renamed the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory in 1970). Additionally there is professional correspondence, MIT committee-related papers, and research, documents, and articles about the history of hydrology. The department-related material is mostly from 1970 to 1975. Overall the department related materials date from the 1970s to the 1990s. There are some course-related materials from the 1930's prepared by Kenneth C. Reynolds, who was an Assistant Professor of Hydraulics at MIT. There are course materials from Eagleson's teaching career, including from a short course (10 lectures) he gave in China "Topics in Surface Water Hydrology".

Leon Trilling personal archives: hybrid collection with a small amount of digital

The Leon Trilling personal archives consists of publications by Trilling on aeronautics, gas, fluid, and thermodynamics, aeronautical engineering, and science education. Included in this collection are hand and typewritten notes for an unpublished study on the topic of Models. There is also grant reference material, correspondence, and workshop material related to Trilling’s involvement in teaching and education for the Passamaquoddy STEM project in Maine with Alan Dyson and Chris Craig. There are a small amount of publications, correspondence, and photographs related to Trilling’s work on diversity and inclusion both at MIT and in Brookline, MA through the METCO program. There is one digital presentation by the National Society of Black Engineers which consists of a Macromedia Director Projector file and accompanying video, images, and audio. In addition to professional work, there are numerous awards and personal photographs and videos, often taken when at professional conferences.

MIT Libraries Music at MIT Oral History Project records: all digital collection

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries’ Music at MIT Oral History Project records span the years 1999 to 2014. The project was created and managed by the Lewis Music Library. The project interviewed twenty-nine individuals who were MIT faculty, staff or former students with a connection to music at the Institute. Some individuals were interviewed multiple times. The collection is divided in to two series. The first series, Oral History Project Records, consists of files from the project manager, Forrest Larson, that document the behind the scenes work that contributed to the management and promotion of the project. Between 2010 and 2012 the interviews were video-recorded. Some excerpts from the video interviews were used in presentations and are included in the Project Records series. The series includes high quality WAV audio files for each interview. The series is arranged in alphabetical order. The second series, Oral History Interviews, includes all fifty of the interview audio, video, and transcript files that were publicly available on the Music at MIT Oral History website. The interviews explore the formal academic music program, ensembles of the MIT Music Section, student-run performing groups, and the history of the Lewis Music Library. The files are organized in folders by interviewee. Within each interviewee folder there may be multiple interview folders. Each interview folder includes the audio file, transcript file, and supplementary materials such as photographs and “chapter” documents that note the time-stamp at which certain subjects were discussed in the interview. The duration of interviews varies and ranges from about forty minutes to two hours. The series is arranged in alphabetical order.

Series Level

This series consists of consists of documents from Greg Eow, Associate Director of Collections from 2014-2019 under Director, Chris Bourg. It consists of entirely digital material. It contains email correspondence during this time in the mbox format as well as articles, reports, and draft documents on areas under his management such as Acquisitions and Appraisal, Metadata and Technical Services, Scholarly Communications and Open Access, and documents about his involvement in the ASU summit, all primarily in Microsoft Word and PDF formats. There are also articles and presentations created by Eow during his tenure, primarily in PDF, Mac keynote, and Microsoft PowerPoint formats.

File Level

Video recording and text of talk Chomsky gave at the Scuola Superiore IUSS or the "Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori", titled "Language and Limits of Understanding" at the new IUSS site at the Broletto Building in Pavia, Italy. Also included are a video recording of a seminar with students, transcripts of the talks, audio from a special concert in his honor, and a slide show of photographs of Chomsky's visit.