Scope and Contents

This note should include information about the date range of materials, the types of materials included, topics, arrangement, and other relevant information. The note may also mention strengths of the collection, or explain gaps in coverage. This information should be derived from the records themselves.

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

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 Maier’s work on an unpublished article, titled “Conspiracy and Suppression in Eighteenth Century New York,” is documented through drafts, research materials, and correspondence.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".

Series Level

File Level