John Dixon Bolton papers, 1913-1969, bulk 1930-1968

Summary

Creator:
Bolton, John Dixon
Date:
1913-1969, bulk 1930-1968
Extent:
76 Linear Feet (79 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

John Dixon Bolton papers, UA92-196, University Archives, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

The Financial Materials examine the entire fiscal process of the university, from Budget Requests through final audit and financial reports for the fiscal year. Also present on this series are working papers, rough drafts, reports, support documents and related correspondence. These records are substantially complete from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, and reflect best the marked growth of the University and the Comptroller's Office. Also present are copies of bound Proposed Budgets.

The Administrative Subject Files include research contracts at the University from 1944-1956; documents on personnel training agreements for World War I; and a wealth of correspondence, including a letter to Eddie Rickenbacker, letters from Sen. Richard Russell and J. Edgar Hoover.

The Personnel Materials include the State Security Questionnaires and loyalty oaths from 1954-1959. There is also a subject file and salary information.

The Board of Regents material focuses on the Physical Plant aspects of the Comptroller's Office, with special emphasis on the physical properties of the University. Of special interest is the documentation for the period of growth and expansion which took place at the University from the mid 1950s through the early 1960s. There is also a copy of a 1934 inventory of physical holdings of the University.

The Athletic Association material includes a complete financial record of the Association from the early 1950s through the early 1960s. The most important portion are the administrative subject file which contains a wealth of correspondence and materials from the 1940s to the 1960s. Two files of material on Sanford Stadium and one file of contracts 1913-60 are also available.

The Personal Papers are organized into an alphabetized subject /correspondence file, and includes correspondence with the Bolton family and friends. There are also materials dealing with Mr. Bolton's various affiliations, including Kiwanis, Athens Country Club, Masonic Lodge, and various other professional and social groups.

Biographical / historical:

John Dixon Bolton served as the Treasurer, and later Comptroller, of the University of Georgia from 1933 to 1965. He was born in Leslie, Sumter County, Georgia, on November 1, 1900. As a boy in Leslie, Bolton worked in his father's hardware store, and then in banks in Americus, Smithville, Chipley, and Atlanta. Young Bolton attended the Leslie High School and the Locust Grove Institute, in 1917, he went to work and took correspondence courses from three schools to pass the certified public accountant examination before a Georgia Board of Examiners in 1929. Several years later he became an examiner in the State Auditor Department under William Thrasher.

During the next two years he audited the books of the University, whose Treasurer and Registrar was the "Uncle Tom" Reed. As Bolton later maintained, Reed possessed an unorthodox system of keeping the books. Devoid of any accounting background, Reed just entered everything that "came in" in one ledger and everything that "went out" in another. For all practical purposes the system worked, but when Bolton divulged of the tricks of the trade, Uncle Tom Reed, highly impressed, invited him to take over. He did so in July, 1933 and became Comptroller in 1941.

Mr. Bolton, at the time of his death on August 1, 1965, had served the University of Georgia for thirty-two years. During this time he took an important in the development of the University of Georgia. He established sound and efficient routines in administering the important office which he headed at the University, and his administration was characterized by quiet and unostentatious efforts and effective results.

Bolton held memberships in both professional and honor societies being a member of Alpha Sigma Phi, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Beta Gamma Sigma, Delta Sigma Pi, Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Gridiron Club. Comptroller Bolton was also an avid sports fan who served as the treasurer of the Athletic Association for many years.

In addition to University work Bolton promoted and gave leadership to many organizations and institutions in Athens. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club for over three decades and served as its President in 1940. Other activities included membership in the Board of Directors of the Young Men's Christian Association; chairman of the Board of Deacons of the First Baptist Church; President of the Athens Country Club; Director of the National Bank of Athens; Secretary-Treasurer of the Athens Masonic Temple, Inc.; one of the founders and President of the Clarke Federal and Loan Association; and a member of numerous other groups which were concerned with community improvement.

Arrangement:

This collection is organized into 7 series: financial, administrative subject files, administrative correspondence files, personnel, Board of Regents, Athletic Association, and personal papers.

Access and use restrictions

Preferred citation:

John Dixon Bolton papers, UA92-196, University Archives, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.