Office of University Development records

The records of the Office of University Development [OUD] consist of correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, newsletters, brochures, flyers, reports, scrapbooks, and films.  The records are arranged alphabetically within three series.

Series I. Senior Vice President for Development is divided into two subseries, A. Richard Meyer and B. Eugene Reppucci. The materials include material relating to the Century Fund and Centennial Campaign. The Leadership Campaign planning is largely documented under Vice President Richard Meyer. The notes in Reppucci's materials include memos sent and received within the Northeastern University community, reports on donation recruitment trips, and notes taken during office staff meetings. This series also consists of extensive correspondence with Northeastern University administrative offices, such as the Office of the President. Of note are the Chronological Files, which document correspondence with OUD and potential and previous donors, and meeting minutes and reports generated during the Senior Vice President's meetings with staff.

Series II. Administration consists of files relating to the daily operations of the Development Office. Included are alumni lists, campaign planning and marketing material, campaign publications, and Northeastern Fund records, which include nine account books that were maintained by the Alumni Office before its fundraising activities were transferred to the OUD in 1959.  These records list names of contributors and pledge amounts towards specific funds.

General Publications in Series II. includes fundraising materials that were published before the inception of the OUD.  Most of these publications are not campaign-specific.  Of special interest is the report, "An Opportunity for Permanent Investment," which was prepared by Northeastern in 1931 when the University was affiliated with the Boston Y.M.C.A.; this report presents the University's early goals, programs, and outstanding needs.

Materials from the DADP, The Century Fund, and the Centennial Campaign include information regarding financial goals, fundraising methods, and assessment of the University's needs, activities, and accomplishments.  The newsletters "Developments" and "The Centennial Campaign News," publications of the OUD, provide updates on the fundraising campaigns' solicitation efforts and achievements.

The National Council, a NU leadership committee, was founded in 1964 to promote an effective relationship among the University, its alumni, and the local community, to conduct activities that would strengthen the University's services, and to assist NU in adding to its financial resources.  Members of the council include distinguished alumni, corporation members, and members of NU faculty and administration.

In 1939 and 1982, Northeastern hired outside consultants for fundraising advice and planning. Their reports analyzed the University's strengths, needs, goals, weaknesses, and fundraising potential and they provided recommendations and strategies for raising money.

Series III. Media includes a video promoting a campaign to raise money for new buildings for the Evening School of Law and for the Evening School of Commerce and Finance, ca. 1920. This recording, which is approximately five minutes long, is a copy of a 16mm silent, black and white film transfer of a 35mm film.  The VHS and 16mm copies are included in the collection. The series also contains a 25-minute video recording of a 16mm sound movie, "Another Milestone in the Telechron History."  The recording, which was produced by the Warren Telecom Company in 1943, celebrates the retirement of the Company's President and founder, Henry Ellis Warren, the inventor of the electric clock.  In 1963, Warren's widow, Edith, donated part of her late husband's property in Ashland, Massachusetts to Northeastern, which used the land to develop the Warren Center, a conference center and inn.

Of note are two oversize volumes of "The Great Book of the Library," containing autograph cards of donors who contributed the library building fund in 1952.