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Senatus Academicus minutes

Senatus Academicus minutes

Descriptive Summary

Title: Senatus Academicus minutes
Creator: University of Georgia. Senatus Academicus
Inclusive Dates: 1799-1842
Language(s): English
Extent: 1.5 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Collection Number: UA0148
Repository: University of Georgia Archives

Collection Description

Historical Note

There are no more comprehensive original sources for the early history of the University than the Minutes of the Board of Trustees and the Minutes of the Senatus Academicus, the two major governing boards of University of Georgia before the creation of the Board of Regents and the University System of Georgia.

The 1785 Charter of the University of Georgia specified that there would be two bodies, the Board of Trustees and the Board of Visitors and that together they would meet as the Senatus Academicus. In his history of the University, Thomas Reed notes that the Board of Visitors was composed of state government officials to maintain a close tie with the state. In Reed's view, the Board of Trustees came to make most of the practical decisions regarding the institution, with the Visitors joining them in the Senatus to ratify certain decisions of the Trustees. By 1859, though, the Senatus was considered unnecessary and was dissolved.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of the Senatus Academicus' bound handwritten minutes from 1799 to 1842. Inside the back cover of the Senatus Academicus volume are two documents that illustrate the precarious nature of the historical record. The oldest, a note from 1857, specifies that President Alonzo Church is to be given custody of the minutes of both the Trustees and the Senatus, with the exception of the current volume of Senatus minutes that will be kept in the Executive Offices of the state capitol, then in Milledgeville. Pasted over the 1857 note is an 1893 letter from Governor W. J. Northern to Augustus Longstreet Hull, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees, regretting that those later Senatus minutes cannot be found "amid the debris of books, pamphlets, etc., etc., that was brought over to the new state building."

The collection also includes three separate transcriptions that date from the 1930s to the 1970s.


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Senatus Academicus, UA0148, University Archives, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.


Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

Histories.
Minutes (administrative records)
Universities and colleges -- Georgia -- Administration.
University of Georgia. Board of Trustees
University of Georgia. History

Related Collections in this Repository

All the Senatus Academicus meeting minutes held by University Archives have been transcribed and are available through the Digital Library of Georgia https://dlg.usg.edu/collection/guan_ua0148. The minutes of the Senatus Academicus, 1799-1842 / transcribed by Leslye Seltzer is available in the Ga Room LD1971 .U55 1976.


Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 
box
1Minutes, 1799-1842 Access Online
 
boxfolder
21WPA sponsored transcription of minutes with handwritten corrections, 1930s
 
22-3Transcription of minutes with handwritten corrections
 
24Minutes of the Senatus Academicus, 1799-1842, 1976 November 4
Transcribed by Leslye Seltzer in 1976 and converted to electronic form by Zubin Patel in 2008
Transcript of Minutes of the Senatus Academicus, Part 1, 1799-1811 Access Online
Transcript of Minutes of the Senatus Academicus, Part 2, 1812-1819 Access Online
Transcript of Minutes of the Senatus Academicus, Part 3, 1820-1829 Access Online
Transcript of Minutes of the Senatus Academicus, Part 4, 1830-1842 Access Online