Operational and Vital Records, 1909-1979

The Annville Institute Collection contains all known non-current operational and vital records; information on the history of the school and missionary program in the form of historical sketches, scrapbooks, pamphlets and brochures; fairly extensive files on alumni; school and church publications dating from the early years of the school; and finally, the extant official student files dating from 1911 through 1978.

The substantive primary and secondary sources—the historical sketches and scrapbooks (1920-58), the financial records (1973-78), and the general operational and vital records of the 1950s-1970s—overlap during several time periods and consequently serve to supplement one another to a certain extent., However, other than the historical sketches which document the establishment and early years of the school, the majority of these records do not date back further than the first scrapbook entry in 1920, over a decade after the founding of the school. Although the publications begin around 1904 and go through 1978, only the RCA publications cover the entire time period; student publications date 1930- 1978, and the staff publications begin in the 1960s. Together with the student records and the alumni files, the material outlined above compose the greater part of the Annville Institute Collection.

There are some gaps in the operational and vital records: an absence of the files of the directors and other administrators prior to the 1960s, no real estate records such as deeds or contracts, almost no primary sources of information on curriculum and the labor program. Many of these types of documents may have been filed in New York at the Women’s Board of Domestic Missions, the Board of Domestic Missions or the General Program Council of the Reformed Church, each of which was at one time the governing body and primary funding source for the Institute. The Annual Report of the Women’s Board of Domestic Missions is cited as a source in several of the historical sketches but was not in the files of the Institute; presumably this was kept in the New York central offices.

The dearth of records from the first ten years of the school, the absence of many administrative documents as well as the lack of in-depth biographical data of the staff and information on curriculum will present some problems to the researcher. However, the surviving documents serve to outline the history and philosophy of the school, and its role in Appalachia. In addition, the student records, spanning almost the entire history of the school are good source materials on students and student life.

The collection is arranged in file series: 1. Historical Sketches and Scrapbooks, 1916-78; 2. Operational and Vital Records, 1909-79; 3. Alumni Files, 1910-78; 4. Publications, c. 1904-78; and 5. Student Records, 1911-78.