University of West Florida. University Advancement. Commencement Records

Records of the Office of University Advancement consisting of Commencement files, 1968- . Files include materials on commencement planning, the University Marshal, academic traditions and regalia, publications and programs, speeches, photographs, materials about speakers, and related papers. Key personal names include Richard Nixon, Lawton Chiles, John C. Pace, Mary Firestone Baars, J. Patrick Moynihan, Malcolm B. Johnson, Gloria Jahoda, James B. Wilson, Dean Rusk, Eudora Welty, Governor Reubin O. Askew and Bob Graham, Lawrence W. Tyree, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, James V. Buchli, Sam J. Ervin, John Brademas, Jerry L. Maygarden, Arthur V. Doerr, Jack and Carolyn Fleming, Nancy Gilliam, H. Lawrence Garrett III, Harold B. Crosby, James A. Robinson, and Morris L. Marx. Topics include history of the University, honorary degrees, the Corpus Christi, Panama City, and Eglin campuses of the University, special materials on the number of graduates (10,000th, etc.), and handling of student demonstrations during the Vietnam War.



NOTES: Users should read the Scope Notes/Explanation sheet before using the collection. Most commencement programs carry a cumulative list of honoraree degrees/keynote speakers of past years, but these may not be all-inclusive of all speakers at each graduation.



SCOPE NOTE: The original division of University Relations and its Office of Information Services were charged by the President's Office with organizing and coordinating each University commencement. From the early days, the Office of University Relations and the President's Office were physically located next to each other in Building 10; this led to some centralizing and sharing of files. This has continued to present day (June 1996) although the division today is known as University Advancement.



Each of these Commencement files contain materials concerning the planning, organizing, and completion of each commencement. To various degrees, each file contains copies of invitations, photographs, letters and correspondence of both University officials, guests, degree honorarees, and commencement speakers; copies of addresses and speeches, including alumni speakers; and copies of honorary degrees. Special notes on additional items are found in the annotations on the inventory.



At least one copy of each Commencement Program is in each file. Special Collections has combined its existing set of Commencement Program duplicates with this collection, retaining one copy (a reference set) in the University Archives vertical files.



Note: there is no automatic mechanism for Special Collections to acquire commencement programs, and not all files in this collection include a copy. Since 1981, Special Collections has gotten copies through on-site acquisition by volunteer usher Judy DeBolt except for those commencements that she has missed. Other copies turn up in the Publications Office job order files where samples have been attached to work orders and dummy workups for typesetting.