Guide to the Deane W. Malott Papers,
1951-1964

Deane Waldo Malott was born in Abilene, Kansas on 10 July 1898. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1921, and a master's degree from the Harvard Business School in 1923. From 1923 to 1929 he was assistant dean of the Harvard Business School; from 1929 to 1933 he was vice president of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company; and from 1933 to 1939 he was an associate professor at the Harvard Business School. Malott was Chancellor of the University of Kansas from 1939 until 1951, when he became the sixth president of Cornell University, a position he held until 1963.

The Deane W. Malott Papers consist of correspondence and office files deriving from his presidency of Cornell University from 1951 to 1963, pertaining to the routine operation of the university from the President's Office. A small part of the collection consists of the social correspondence of President Malott during his years in office, and is concerned mainly with his travel, autograph collection, and letters to and from friends. Subjects include the relations between the Malott administration and the Board of Trustees, and correspondence between Malott and individual members of the Board, members of the Cornell University Council, and with patron donors of the university. Another major focus of the collection is the administration's dealings with the university's colleges, divisions, and departments, with the many standing and ad hoc committees within the university, with the State University of New York, and with the New York State and federal government departments and agencies. University departments or divisions appearing most prominently in the collection, and topics affiliated with them include the Cornell University Library, the development of its special collections, and the construction of Olin Library; the Department of Physical Education and Athletics and the expansion of its programs and facilities; and the Cornell University Medical College including the question of an enrollment quota for Jewish applicants.

Also, the University Faculty pertaining especially to issues of academic freedom; the Dept. of Economics including the controversy engendered by some alumni concerning the alleged lack of a traditional capitalist perspective. Topics also include the Graduate School of Nutrition, the Social Science Research Center, the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell United Religious Work, ROTC, the Law School, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Architecture, the College of Engineering, the Graduate School of Business and Public Administration, the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the New York State College of Agriculture, the New York State College of Home Economics, and the New York State Veterinary College. There are also files documenting the searches for and appointments of deans of the School of Hotel Administration, the Law School, the College of Architecture, and the Graduate School of Business and Public Administration. Other special concerns documented in the collection include the expansion of university research, the Office of University Development, the increased attention paid to alumni affairs, and the construction of Olin Library, Gannett Clinic, Collyer Boathouse, Helen Neweman Hall, and other buildings and facilities. Another emphasis in the collection is the administration's relations with corporations and business enterprises, and with educational and philanthropic foundations.

These include the Rockefeller Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the American Association of Land Grant Colleges and State Universities, and the American Council on Education. A significant topic in the collection is communism and the discord of the McCarthy Era, including the fears of alumni, social critics, and newspaper editorialists concerning the supposed influence of the communist ethic in the teaching of some members of the faculty, with specific reference to Philip Morrison, Marcus Singer, Harry Steinmetz, and Paul Sweezy. The question becomes one of academic freedom and Malott's defense of his faculty is well documented. Another main topic is student deportment, and the new customs evident on campus among the student body. The social problem of fraternities is chronicled, pertaining chiefly to drinking and male-female relationships; the question of fraternities with restrictive clauses and racially segregated sororities is also evidenced in the collection. Another issue is the controversy over University rules regarding the the presence of women in men's off-campus apartments, which led in part to a major demonstration in 1958. A small amount of material pertains to sex discrimination. Other issues include the founding and chairing of the John L. Senior Professorship, and the affiliations drawn among the Ivy League schools.

Topics also include cooperative programs with other colleges, and with universities in Latin America, Europe, and Africa; also, relations with Ithaca, N. Y., the development of educational television, and the Liberian Codification Project. Includes notes by William Rees Sears on the selection of Malott as President. Major correspondents include Neal Dow Becker, Walter S. Carpenter, John Lyon Collyer, Arthur H. Dean, Mary H. Donlon, Victor Emanuel, Caroline Werner Gannett, Frank E. Gannett, Larry E. Gubb, Eugene F. Kaufman, Philip Morrison, William I. Myers, Jansen Noyes, Nicholas H. Noyes, John M. Olin, Nelson A. Rockefeller, George H. Rockwell, Francis H. Scheetz, Maxwell M. Upson, Harry V. Wade, and J. Carlton Ward.