This series is contained in 7 Hollinger boxes. Academic matters, the lead topic, is found in Boxes 1-part of 5, with Box 1 and part of Box 2 incorporating descriptive material about awards recognizing scholarship. Some brief coverage regarding honorary degrees is located in Box 28, folder 13. The balance of this section is material addressing efforts to augment the University's limited number of endowed chairs. For additional material on the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities, see RG 21.1; for more on the proposed Oscar Morgenstern Chair see Box 19, folder 3 for Harold Hochschild/Sawhill correspondence, and the Morgenstern biographical file in the Archives' general collections.

The remainder of Box 2 and Box 3 provides an overview of Sawhill's overtures to and agreements with other local institutions for academic consortia offerings and possible institutional partnerships, some of the latter perhaps conceived to enable NYU to tap new populations of students in New York City's suburbs. These overtures did not always sit well with the leaders of other institutions (see Pace University President Edward Mortola to Sawhill 12/28/76, Box 2, folder 8).

NYU's continuing interest in justifying offering engineering courses can be glimpsed (see Box 3, folder 7, Berlowitz/Hamburger to Sawhill, 8/7/78 and Box 6, folder 6, deCapriles to Borowitz 7/22/75). For a more comprehensive exposure to this topic see the Records of the Office of the Chancellor/Executive Vice President (Sidney Borowitz), RG 6.0.7, Series V, Subseries II. Box 4, among a miscellany of mostly intramural program development topics, contains in folder 3 some indication of the content of NYU and then-new-neighbor Hebrew Union College's Statement of Understanding, signed 7/21/77. The remainder of this series deals with general academic and administrative activity. Some insights into Sawhill's management views can be found in Box 7, folder 6, Sawhill to Bromberg, Payne, von Raab 7/22/75 and Box 7, folder 7, Vernon Miller to Oliva 11/28/78.

Series II is comprised of 8 boxes totaling 3.33 linear feet. Its content stems from John Crittenden Sawhill's extramural worklife while at NYU, both NYU and non-NYU-related, and more than substantiates his "workaholic" persona; for this self-definition, see Sawhill to Maurice Greenberg 7/11/78, Box 14, folder 7. The broad variety of activity represented in this series has been divided into four subseries, defined as follows: subseries I, NYU-Related, New York City, etc.; subseries II, not-for-profit, energy, etc.; subseries III, directorships; subseries IV, higher education, corporate, personal, etc.

Subseries I, Box 8 contains rather a mix of information. Some Committee for Astor Place items are found in folder 17; additional material titled Astor Place Improvement is located in Box 40, folders 10-12. Box 9, folders 1-3 offers an immediate impression of Sawhill's range of initiatives during his presidency; in folder I, approaches to the corporate community; folder 2, a talk on the case for the liberal arts; folder 3, his role on New York City's Emergency Financial Control Board.

Subseries II offers substance to the picture of Sawhill's on-going involvement in national energy policy review and advocacy, see the Aspen Institute sequence, Box 10, folders 16-19, Box 11, folders 1-5, and Box 12, folder 5, Shimoda (Japan) Conference, Box 12, folders 15-17, and Mitre Corporation, Box 13, folders 1-5. Box 12 contains evidence of a more general reach in the public policy arena as well. His application for Common Cause membership appears in folder 1, his membership on the Federal Power Commission Advisory Committee, folder 6. Box 13 offers more in this vein, i.e., he consults for the National Science Board, National Science Foundation, folder 6, serves as a public member of New York State's Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), folder 9, and as a member of the Energy Advisory Committee of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, folder 10, and sometimes sets priorities as when he resigns from the Natural Resources Defense Council to accept appointment to New York's Emergency Financial Control Board, folder 7, while Box 14, folder 1 identifies his consultancy to the Administrator of the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. Frequently he wore his several hats at once, as exemplified in Box 11, folder 13, where, as a Committee for Economic Development (CED) member and a University president, he participates in a CED survey of academic leaders on federal support of research and development, Robert Holland to Thomas Vanderslice 12/28/78, and in Box 14, folder 10, when as Crane Company corporate director and University president he comments on NYU investment strategy 5/23/78.

Subseries III, found in part of Box 14 and part of Box 15, documents directorship appointment, among them several in the natural resource sector, United Siscoe Mines Ltd., Box 15, folder 6, Geothermal Kinetics, inc., Box 14, folder 12, North American Coal Corporation, Box 15, folder 2, and Consolidated Edison (NY), Box 14, folder 9.

Subseries IV has been constructed somewhat arbitrarily, to incorporate a miscellany of documents. Among the higher education-related materials in Box 15, see Sawhill to Gail Parker 12/8/75, folder 8. For an NYU response to a CHANGE Magazine survey identifying those institutions NYU saw as peers, to consult with or use as models, 4/15/76, folder 9. Another kind of NYU profile is located in folder 12, a survey of cost-related data and analysis in institutions of higher education. Also among the miscellany were references to the Washington Square Music Festival and the Friends of Washington Square Park, which were transferred to Archives H.

This series offers a comprehensive picture of John Crittenden Sawhill's fundraising efforts for NYU. It occupies 8 Hollinger boxes, measuring 3.333 linear feet. Correspondence forms the bulk of the series, from which a variety of information can be gleaned. Corporate leaders with little or no prior NYU connection were approached, see Mark Kaplan to Sawhill, 3/7/77, Box 18, folder 6. Sawhill's multiple hat persona appears, see Rawleigh Warner Jr. to Sawhill 1/14/77 and Sawhill to Warner 1/19/77, Box 20, folder 15, as do his views on corporate philanthropy, Sawhill to John S. Burr 4/5/77 in response to Burr to Sawhill 3/23/77, Box 21, folder 11, and a comprehensive snub, General Motors, Box 18, folder 17.

Some commentary on the Mueller Spaghetti Company sale appears, see Sawhill to Harold K. Hochschild 10/12/76, Box 19, folder 3 and to Alvin C. Zises, 10/15/76, Box 23, folder 3. A picture of extensive exchanges with the Shah of Iran and his representatives in Tehran and the United States emerges, Box 19, folder 5. The impact of the Leadership Campaign on NYU is described 5/9/80 by Ivan Loveridge Bennett Jr. to John E. Marshall III of the Kresge Foundation, Box 19, folder 16. A 7/26/54 analysis of institutional science facilities needs is found in Ray Harvey to David D. Henry, in Olin Foundation, Box 21, folder 8. A "Local Review Statement," on University goals was submitted to the National Science Foundation, 3/15/76, Box 21, folder 2.

Some connections have substantial history, such as the Gottesman Foundation, from 11/65, Box 18, folder 19, International Business Machines, 10/68, Box 19, folder 6, Mrs. Mary Lasker, 1/55, Box 20, folder 3. Two serendipidously consecutive folders offer a marked contrast between a devoted Washington Square alumnus, Michael Schimmel, and a disaffected University Heights alumnus, Henry R. Schnitzer Foundation, Box 22, folders 1-2. Finally, in Box 23, folder 12, Sawhill speaks to Gallatin Associates as NYU "booster," 12/2/75 and 10/7/76, and in folder 18 the University is profiled in the development 4/77 draft, "Our Presence in New York."

This series, a modest .624 linear foot, in 1.5 Hollinger boxes, covers a period of limited construction, facilities upgrading, and an emphasis on energy conservation as cost-saving. Box 24, folders 1-2 offer an inventory of existing academic space. Information on the conception and development of the School of Continuing Education's Midtown Center is found in Box 24, folder 11. Sawhill initiated the purchase of a VIP apartment at 1 Fifth Avenue, Box 25, folder 6.

Some selected information concerning dormitories, including some press coverage and correspondence about the proposed eviction of several long-term tenants whose occupancy in the Brittany Hotel pre-dated the University's purchase of it for dormitory use, book centers, classroom space and food services are found in Box 24, while some matters pertaining to real estate, insurance, and security are located in Box 25. Individual housing requests have been discarded.

This modest assemblage of material is contained in approximately 2.5 Hollinger boxes, for a total of 1.041 linear feet. The University budget sequence reflects the nature of the efforts made to contain spending and eliminate the deficit. In Box 25, folder 14 Sawhill advises officers and deans of an "unacceptable" deficit forecast, 10/15/75; in folder 15 he announces a "strict freeze on all hiring," 1/9/76 and Dean Dick Netzer defends the budgets of the "poor" schools, such as the Graduate School of Public Administration, 1/21/76.

Early in Sawhill's tenure, in a major restructuring, he appointed Allan E. Claxton Vice President for Finance, effectively removing from the Chancellor's purview those budgetary responsibilities and fiscal control mechanisms previously under his aegis, Box 39, folder 7, Sawhill to Trustees' Financial Affairs Committee 12/5/75, NYU Press Release 2/4/76. Claxton's involvement can be seen beginning with Box 26, folder 1, 4/2/76, folder 2, 6/30/76. For continuing progress in containing the deficit, see folder 4, Sawhill 1/31/77, folder 5, Sawhill 3/9/78. For some history of the deficit and further detail, see Box 27, folder 1, Borowitz to Trustees, spring '75, Borowitz Papers (RG 6.0.7), Boxes 29 and 30, and Senate Financial Affairs Committee (RG 14).

Within the 7 Hollinger boxes of this series, a total of 2.916 linear feet, are found materials from the primary components by and through which the University operates, namely the Board of Trustees, President's and Officers Groups, and University Senate. Changes in the ways in which university business was conducted, such as the appointment of a Vice President for Finance, noted in Series V, resulted from Sawhill's managerial-mindedness. He placed early emphasis on creating "a more effective" Board of Trustees, Payne to Sawhill 5/27/75 and following, Box 28, folder 1. For the involvement of trustees in the School of Law's planning process arising from that school's improved financial base following the Mueller sale, see Sawhill to the Board of Trustees 12/6/76, Box 28, folder 2 along with the Historical Note and Series X, Schools and Divisions, School of Law section. In folder 2 Sawhill alerts the trustees to new marketing plans 4/6/77. In folder 3 perhaps his interest in trustee involvement had cooled over time, see Taggart Whipple to Sawhill 3/15/78.

Among the historical materials sprinkled through the Sawhill papers is a 9/74 report to the trustees regarding the status of the Dental Center, hand-edited by James M. Hester, Box 28, folder 7. The trustees' involvement in long range planning is reflected in Box 28, folder 9, Baruch to Sawhill 4/16/79. A long range planning sequence appears in Box 29, folders 14-20 and Box 30, folders 1-3. For budget issues and information presented to the trustees see Sawhill to the Financial Affairs Committee 1/26/78, Box 28, folder 15.

Sawhill, in reorganizing the Office of the President, created the post of Vice President for Academic Affairs in lieu of Chancellor, thus connecting more closely the oversight and conduct of academic matters with the President. One outcome was Sawhill's assuming from the departing Chancellor the chair of the weekly Deans meeting, Box 30, folder 14, Sawhill to the Vice Presidents 1/7/77 and to the Deans 1/7/77. Other academic matters jointly considered by the President and Deans Council were a 7/29/77 Sawhill memorandum identifying a marketing problem with "serious implications" for the University, Box 31, folder 1, Andrew Schaffer's review of a faculty committee report on financial exigency, Box 31, folder 9, 3/7/79 and Sawhill's prioritization of the humanities; his interim report to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 5/78 on the reorganization of NYU's Humanities Council addresses some results of that new focus, Box 32, folder 12.

The material covering the conduct and business of the University Senate is limited and somewhat routine. It might be surmised that many matters before the Senate were of less interest to the President than to the officers, deans and faculty delegates.

This single Hollinger box, 1.25 linear feet, contains the limited amount of materials retained by the Sawhill office relating to the University's transactions with federal, state and local entities. Much of it is routine. Matters of interest may be found mainly among the Arnold Goren memoranda, Box 35, folder 15, Box 36, folder 2, Box 37, folders 6-13. Goren had represented the University in New York City and Albany on political matters dealing with higher education and specifically NYU prior to Sawhill's arrival at NYU; Sawhill continued this appointment, moving him into that role in the federal arena as well soon after the President's arrival, Box 35, folder 12, Goren to Sawhill 12/30/75.

Box 35 contains a mixed assortment of items. Folder 4 contains an Op-ed piece 2/16/77 authored by John C. and Isabel V. Sawhill concerning the federal "marriage tax," also referenced in Series IX, and which was widely distributed. Folder 17 offers Carol Bellamy on (NY) City and State Budgets 3/24/79, see particularly p. 5, while Box 36, folder 11 contains a full copy of the 9/1/75 Report of the Regents Advisory Commission on the Financial Problems of Postsecondary Institutions. A brief summary of the state's role in addressing NYU's financial difficulties leading to the sale of the University Heights Campus in 1972 is found on pp. 167-169.

This series is contained in one Hollinger box, .833 linear feet. About one-third of its content is taken up with Sawhill correspondence with university faculty and staff, Box 38, folder 4-16. In folder 4, Sawhill comments on the state of the University to the University's former director of public relations 8/22/77. A second sequence, in Box 39, is concerned with officers' positions, folders 4-12. Limited amounts of material relating to benefits, employment, health services, retirement, salary administration, tenure and union activities constitute most of the remainder of this series. Some differences between faculty and Sawhill on benefit matters appear in Box 38, folder 3, while in Box 39 some University response to the faculty organizing drive appears in folders 20-21.

This series is the largest in the Sawhill collection, suggesting the area of most interest to this presidency. It comprises 21 Hollinger boxes for a total of 9.165 linear feet. As in Series II, it contains both NYU and non-NYU related material, sometimes in tandem as in the course he taught for several semesters at GBA, listed as "Ethical Choices in Developing Energy Policy," Box 44, folders 9-13. Particulars of his views on NYU and non-NYU matters can be found in the dozens of texts of lectures, speeches, interviews, etc., which have been retained. The series' main groupings are: Intellectual Life in New York, Invitations, Public Occasions and Public Presentations. Also located in this series are his general and energy-related correspondence sequences, as noted previously.

The series opens at Box 40, with a mixed grouping of public relations files. Sawhill can be seen reaching out into the local community in various ways in folders 1-2. A proposal addressing NYU's 150th Anniversary celebration can be found in folder 4, Levine to Sawhill. Acting President Ivan Loveridge Bennett Jr. takes on his new post, folder 5. A briefing piece prepared for the incoming Sawhill on community relations is in folder 9, Burneson to Sawhill, 8/1/75, along with a draft on dealing with the University's "neighbors," Maggin to Blumenfeld 6/4/76. NYU withdraws from the Washington Square Art Show in Box 41, folder 2, Patterson to Pagella 7/6/77, while folder 3 offers insight into the kinds of involvement with Washington Square Park NYU experienced.

Box 42 contains the energy-related correspondence, assembled alphabetically. Folder 5 includes a Sawhill quotation covering an announcement of the publication of a group of energy-related dissertations, Garland Publishing, Inc, 1/79. Folder 23 sketches Sawhill's work as energy advisor to the Sargent Shriver for President campaign. Folder 27 offers a news note on a Sawhill proposed energy plan, Energy Users Report, Number 290, 3/1/79. Folder 28 is the first of three containing correspondence associated with the preparation of the report for the Trilateral Commission; folders 1-2 in Box 43 complete the sequence. Folder 2 contains a copy of a briefing paper on "Energy Conservation, Pricing, and Alternatives" presented by Sawhill to a New York business audience hosted by David Rockefeller, North American Chairman of the Trilateral Commission 1/8/79. General correspondence occupies the balance of Box 43, and continues into Box 44. The courses taught sequence follows, in turn succeeded by Intellectual Life in New York matters, filling much of Box 45. Invitations from University and external hosts appear next, extending through Box 46 and much of Box 47.

Public Occasions incorporates several subsets, opening with a few folders devoted to Commencement matters; Box 47, folder 13 is the source of the highlight about the University's use of Washington Square Park, Sawhill to Lewis Rudin 3/12/76, and also contains a copy of Sawhill's remarks at his "first Commencement as President of NYU…" 6/3/76. Among the largest of the subsets, Lectures and/or Receptions, Dinners, Luncheons, fills much of Box 48 through Box 51, folder 8. Box 49, folder 1 offers a copy of Sawhill's remarks before a Real Estate Institute Dinner in which he discusses developments at NYU over the last year 3/24/77. A dinner for banking and securities industry executives to exchange views with Sawhill was hosted by NYU Trustee Lewis Preston 5/8/79, Box 50, folder 2, and Sawhill hosted a dinner for George H.W. Bush 3/14/79, Box 51, folder 4.

The sequence titled Public Presentations, Speeches and/or Articles, Interviews, Remarks succeeds Public Occasions. This opens with the pre-NYU grouping mentioned in Scope and Content, Box 51, folder 9 through Box 52, folder 5. The next section is subtitled NYU, NYC, Education, and continues through Box 56, folder 7. Box 56, folder 8 picks up with the subtitle Energy, Economy, etc., through Box 59, folder 6. Among these voluminous files, Box 53 contains an attack on Sawhill's priorities for NYU 12/1/75. the Village Voice, folder 3, "The case for the large private university," an interview with Sawhill 2/9/76, folder 4, and Sawhill on leadership as a participant in a TIME Magazine-sponsored conference, TIME 11/8/76, folder 5. The New York Times Magazine of 4/30/78 published a major article by Times education editor Edward B. Fiske on NYU, crediting Sawhill with the "Miracle on Washington Square," Box 55, folder 3. The following year CHANGE Magazine also published a major, though less enthusiastic article authored by free-lance writer Ron Chernow, "John Sawhill: Academe's Crisis Manager," May-June 1979, Box 56, folder 4.

In the Energy, Economy subset Sawhill testifies before the Maryland Public Service Commission on behalf of the Potomac Electric Power Company in a rate case, June (?) '76, Box 57, folder 5, the Durham (N.C) Morning Herald editorializes that "…(while) Mr. Sawhill continues to speak out on the need for serious conservation. It's a pity his words don't get more attention from government officials…" 1/2/77, Box 58, folder 1. Sawhill takes notes at the Seven Springs Center Symposium on "The Governance of Energy: The Proper Role of Industry and Government," 2/10-12/77 and, as noted in Series VII, publishes an Op-ed piece with wife Isabel V. Sawhill, "This article really is about income tax," both in Box 58, folder 2.

In Box 60, miscellaneous correspondence concerned with Public Presentations occupies folders 1-10. Folder 10 contains Sawhill's "going on leave' letter, while folders 11-13 deal with Speakers Bureau matters; a Sawhill biographical brochure with suggested lecture topics appears in folder 12. The balance of this series, Box 61, opens with Publications, folders 1-7, and closes with a variety of routine materials, folders 10-13. Folder 1 includes a copy which appeared in the 5/7/78 Kansas City Star of the syndicated New York Times article by Edward B. Fiske referred to above. An NYU profile and listing of University Centennial memorabilia are found in folder 9.