Records of the Office of the Vice President and Secretary (Pollock, Thomas)
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Abstract
The collection comprises documents and correspondence originating from the Office of the Vice President and Secretary during the term of Thomas Pollock (1959-1966). The collection documents trips he took as a representative of that office to various other academic institutions; notes and documentation on various programs he supported or proposed, such as the British University Summer Schools and College of Independent Study; and documentation from boards and institutions of which he was a member, such as as the TIAA/CREF Board, and the Publishing Council of NYU Press.
Biography of Thomas Pollock
Thomas Clark Pollock (1902-1988) served New York University in a number of capacities. From 1941 to 1943 and 1944 to 1947, he was Professor of Education and Chairman of the Department of English Education. He was Professor of English and Dean of the Washington Square College of Arts and Science 1947 to 1962. From 1951 to 1952 he took a leave of absence from his deanship to become acting Provost of the University. During that period he also served as Chief Administrator of the College of Dentistry. From 1958 to 1959 he was Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science as well as Washington Square College. In 1962 he was appointed Vice President and Secretary of the University. In September 1967 he was appointed Archivist of the University, a position he held until March 1969. He retired from NYU in 1970.
Pollock was awarded honorary degrees from Muskingum College and the Universities of Brazil and Bahia.
He wrote several books, including The Philadelphia Theatre in the Eighteenth Century, The Teaching of English Grammar in the Secondary Schools of New Jersey, The Nature of Literature, A Theory of Meaning Analyzed, The English Language in American Education, and Thomas Wolfe at Washington Square (with Oscar Cargill). He was working on a 20th-century history of New York University at the time of his retirement. He died of pneumonia May 12, 1988, at the age of 86.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in a single series, alphabetically by theme and chronologically within those themes.
Scope and Contents
This collection contain mostly administrative correspondence and program/department reports. There are extensive notes and minutes from meetings of the TIAA/CREF Board of Trustees (1962-1964), documentation of Dr. Pollock's trips to various academic institutions, records from the Publishing Council of NYU Press, of which Dr. Pollock was a member (1961-1966), and Proposals for the College of Independent Study (1959-1964). General correspondence, memoranda, and event invitations round out the collection.
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Custodial history
This collection was maintained by the office of the Vice President and Secretary under the care of Ernest Frederic Knauth, Assistant to the Vice President and Secretary, before it was transferred to the University Archives in 1977.