Trinity College Records
Scope and Content Note
The Trinity College Collection consists of files generated and assembled by staff and faculty members. The collection includes the following types of materials: board of trustees and committee meeting minutes; correspondence; memoranda; accreditation and planning reports; external and internal publications, including brochures, posters, admissions viewbooks, programs, invitations, press releases, newsletters, and newspapers; notes written by faculty and staff members; transcripts of speeches given to and by members of the Trinity community; contracts; financial records; course catalogues and academic calendars; faculty and student handbooks; faculty, student, and alumni directories; student and alumni surveys; grant proposals and reports; architectural plans; scrapbooks; yearbooks; audio and video recordings; musical scores; and photographs in album, print, contact sheet, negative, and slide formats.
The collection is arranged in record groups by subject. Files generated or assembled by identifiable individuals or college departments are arranged in series within the record groups. The record groups are organized by number according to the following broad categories:
100--All-College Governance
200--Departments and Curriculum
300--Academic Programs and Support Services
400--Academic Affairs
500--Student Affairs
600--Student Activities
700--Finance and Administration
800--Development and Public Relations
900--Archives
1000--People of the College
1100--Final Disposition of the College
Dates
- Bulk, 1980-2001 Bulk, 1980-2001 1917-2004
- Majority of material found within 1980-2001
Creator
- Trinity College (Burlington, Vt.) (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Access
The bulk of the Trinity College Collection is open for research. In accordance with the privacy guidelines described above, some files containing sensitive student, personnel, and legal information are restricted for fifty years from the latest date of the materials in those files.
Advisement to Researchers: It is possible that additional student, personnel, and legal records containing private or privileged information might be found scattered throughout the collection. Researchers retain the responsibility to handle this information with sensitivity and in accordance with all applicable state and federal laws.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.
Administrative History
Trinity College was founded in 1925 by the Burlington, Vermont chapter of the Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy. In the early twentieth century, many of the Sisters served as parochial school teachers in the local area. Evolving state professional standards for teachers led the Sisters of Mercy to seek a way to provide their members with college degrees. In the spring of 1925, after several years of lobbying efforts, the Vermont State Legislature granted the Sisters a charter to establish an undergraduate women's college. Trinity College officially opened in the fall of that year with twenty students, seven of them Sisters of Mercy. In 1988, in an effort to distinguish the school from other American colleges of the same name, Trinity's board of trustees voted to legally change the organization's name from Trinity College to Trinity College of Vermont.
Throughout its history, Trinity College provided a liberal arts education to Sisters and lay women, many of whom were part of the first generation of their family to attend college. In addition to serving young female students with associate's and bachelor's degree programs, in the late twentieth century, Trinity also enrolled adult learners of both genders in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The school established its PACE (Program for Adult Continuing Education) Program in 1971, launched its Weekend College Program in 1979, and established its Evening Degree Program in 1983. Graduate offerings, introduced in the 1980s and 1990s, included master's degrees in the Administration of Justice, Community Mental Health, and Education. Trinity was well-known for its social service programs, including education, special education, and social work; its ENHANCE Program, which offered developmentally disabled young adults the opportunity to attend college; and its Community Service Scholars Program, which provided scholarships and support to single parents on welfare.
Trinity College's enrollment peaked in the 1980s, when the student body comprised approximately 800 to 1,000. Throughout its history, traditional undergraduate students were offered the option of living on campus in dormitories or commuting from off-campus residences. Trinity's Catholic traditions greatly influenced student life on campus; for much of the school's history, students attended daily Mass in a campus chapel, and their conduct on campus was overseen by Sisters of Mercy, some of whom lived in the dormitories alongside their students. In the 1960s and 1970s, changing social mores for college life led to negotiations between the student body and school administrators for a loosening of restrictions on campus life, including the admittance of men to dormitory rooms. In the late twentieth century, Trinity's Catholic traditions also influenced an emphasis on community service. Among other activities, the college offered an Alternative Spring Break program, in which students spent their annual spring break conducting service projects.
In its early years, Trinity College was almost entirely staffed by members of the Burlington chapter of the Sisters of Mercy. The sister holding the office of Mother Superior served as college president from 1925 to 1957. In 1957, the chapter decided to separate the two positions due to increasing responsibilities caused by growth of the school and potential conflicts of interest between the two organizational bodies. In 1970, the college's bylaws were revised to include lay persons on the board of trustees. By the late twentieth century, Trinity's faculty and staff were also almost entirely comprised of lay people. The college hired its first lay president, Lorna Duphiney Edmundson, in 1997.
Trinity College occupied a section of Mount St. Mary's Academy, a parochial high school in Burlington, Vermont, from 1925 to 1940. In 1933, the college purchased its first building, a large house on Colchester Avenue in Burlington, to serve as a dormitory called St. Joseph's Villa. In 1938, Trinity acquired property on Colchester Avenue adjoining the Villa building to establish a campus. Its first academic building, Mann Hall, was constructed in 1939-1940. In succeeding years, the campus expanded to include the following buildings: the Fine Arts Building (acquired in 1948); McAuley Hall (built in 1956-1958); Mercy Hall (built in 1961-1962); Delehanty Hall (built in 1965-1966); Hunt, McCann, Ready, Richardson, and Sichel Halls (built in 1972); the Ira Allen Building (acquired in 1980); the Farrell Family Library (built in 1984-1985); and four former single-family residences renamed the Cottages (acquired in 1996).
In the late twentieth century, Trinity College experienced serious financial difficulties. Its traditional undergraduate student enrollment declined as women's and religious schools became less popular with young women entering college. Trinity's commitment to student financial aid reduced its income, while its possession of substantial debt from capital improvements and its efforts to improve faculty and staff salary parity compounded its expenses. After efforts to either refocus its academic offerings or merge the school with other institution(s) failed, Trinity closed its academic programs in 2001. The campus was sold to the University of Vermont in 2002, and the nonprofit organization that managed Trinity College was dissolved in 2004.
College Presidents
Following is a list of college presidents:
1925-1926, 1932-1935 - Mary Magdalen (Alice Delehanty), RSM, Mother Superior & College President
1926-1932 - Alphonsus Cassidy, RSM, Mother Superior & College President
1935-1941 - Thecla O'Brien, RSM, Mother Superior & College President
1941-47, 1952-57 - Emmanuel Mann (Francis Mann), RSM, Mother Superior & College President
1947-1952 - Collette Delehanty, RSM, Mother Superior & College President
1957-1966 - Ruth Ready (Mary Claver), RSM, Ph.D., College President
1966-1976 - Elizabeth Candon (Mary Patrick), RSM, Ph.D., College President
1976-1979 - Catherine McNamee, CSJ, Ph.D., College President
1979 - Janice Ryan, RSM, MA, Acting College President
1980-1996 - Janice Ryan, RSM, MA, College President
1996-1998 - Lorna Duphiney Edmundson, Ed.D., College President
1998-1999 - Louis C. Vaccaro, Ph.D., Interim College President
1999-2001 - Jacqueline Marie Kieslich, RSM, Ph.D., College President
Names of Creators
The following individuals, departments, committees, offices, and companies are the creators of materials in this collection:
Academic Dean's Office
Academic Standards Council
Admissions Office
Archives
Francois Asselin - Contract Photographer, 1990
Nancy Audette, RSM - Dean of Students, 1969-1970; Instructor in French, 1969-1972; Assistant Professor of French, 1972-1979; Academic Dean, 1978-1979; Associate Professor of Humanities, 1981-1985, 1992-; Chairperson of the Curriculum Committee, 1982-1983; Adjunct Lecturer in Humanities, 1989-1991
Mary Beth Barritt - Career Counselor, 1984-1985; Director of Career Counseling and Placement, 1986; Director of Career Development, 1987, 1990-1999; Admissions Counselor, 1989; Lecturer in Education, 1997-1999
Kathleen Berard - [position unknown], circa 1995-1998
Bruce Bergland - Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean, 1997-1999; Professor of Basic & Applied Social Sciences, 1998
Paul Boisvert - Contract photographer, circa 1980-1985
Karin Begg Borei - Library Director, 1993-1998; Assistant Professor, 1993-1998
Charlie Brown Productions - Contract photography, 1986-1987
William "Bill" Burke - Contract photographer, 1993
Elizabeth Candon (Sister Mary Patrick), RSM - Director of Admissions, 1953-1965; Instructor in English, 1953-1959; Assistant Professor of English 1960-1972; Associate Professor of English 1972-1973; Professor of English, 1973-1981; President, 1966-1976; Professor of Humanities, 1981-1999; Special Assistant to the President, 1984-1997; Vice President for Academic Affairs, 1991; Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, 1992
Career Development Office
Mary Carty - Contract photographer, circa 1980-1986
Florence Childs - Student, Class of 1926
Jeff Clarke - Contract photographer, 1985-1995
Gladys Coates (later Gladys Coates Hart) - Controller, 1987-1997
Tammie Colburn - [position unknown], circa 1996
Patricia "Pat" Connelly, RSM - Director of Financial Aid, 1972-1973; Dean of Students, 1973-1987; Dean of Students and Enrollment Management, 1988-1989; Assistant Professor of Education, 1986-1997; Vice President for Enrollment and Student Affairs, 1990-1997
Roger Crouse - Director of Information Technology Services, 1997-1999
Curriculum Affairs Council
Donna Dalton - Assistant Professor of Basic and Applied Social Sciences, 1991-1992; Associate Professor of Basic and Applied Social Sciences, 1993-1999; Chairperson of the Basic and Applied Social Sciences Department, 1991-1998; Associate Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Academic Dean, 1999
Oren Davis - Instructor in Philosophy, 1971-1972; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, 1972-1981; Chairperson of the Philosophy Department, 1976, 1986-1988; Associate Professor of Humanities, 1981-1989; Faith P. Waters Endowed Chair of Humanities, c. 1989-2000; Professor of Humanities, 1990-1999
Dean of Student's Office
Didier Delmas - Contract photographer, 1990
Development Office
Michael Donnellan - Academic Dean, 1979-1984
Lorna Duphiney Edmundson - College President, 1996-1998; Professor of Basic & Applied Social Sciences and Education, 1997
J. Kirk Edwards - Contract photographer, 1996
Joyce A. Engelken - Assistant Treasurer, 1981-1983; Treasurer-Business Manager, 1984-1989; Vice President of Finance and Administration, 1990-1998
Faculty Development Council
Gwen Fenno - Academic Dean's Office [position title unknown], circa 1990-1995
Finance Office
Dolly Fleming - Director of the Institute for Program Development, 1999
Nancy Goodrich - Director of External Affairs, 1983-1986; Director of Institutional Advancement, 1987
Robert Hahn - Academic Dean, 1984-1989; Assistant Professor of Humanities, 1985-1990; Associate Professor of Humanities, 1991; Vice President for Academic Affairs, 1990-1991
Gladys Coates Hart (first Gladys Coates) - Controller, 1987-1997
Laurie Tremblay Hickey - Director of Development 1993-1998
Patricia Hodge, RSM - Library Director, 1978-1981
Bonnie Hughes - Director of Public Relations, 1985-1988
Dorothy Hunt - Associate Professor of Music, 1931-1972; Professor Emerita, 1972-1992
Institutional Advancement Office
Pamela Jarvis - Assistant Professor of Business & Economics, 1990-1992; Associate Professor of Business & Economics, 1993-1999; Vice President of Finance and Administration, 1999
Susan Jones - Director of Career Development, 1983; Assistant Dean of Students, 1984-1987; Lecturer in Education, 1986-1991; Associate Dean of Students, 1988-1989; Dean of Students, 1990-1991
Jan Kenney - Public Relations Office [exact position unknown], circa 1998
Jacqueline Marie Kieslich, RSM - Instructor of Education, 1976-1981; Assistant Professor of Education, 1981-1983; Chairperson of Education Department, c. 1982; Associate Professor of Education, 1987-1999; Associate Academic Dean, 1987-1998; Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, 1998; Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, 1999; President, 1999-2004
Tammy Lenski - Dean of Students 1992-1996; Assistant Professor of Education, 1995; Acting Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, 1997
B. Leslie [first name unknown] - Contract Photographer, 1990
Library Department
Vernon "Vern" Lindquist - Associate Professor of Humanities, 1983-1989; Department Chairperson of Humanities, 1989-1992; Professor of Humanities, 1990-1992
Kathryn Lorraine - Director of Alumni Affairs, 2000
Virginia Lyons - Instructor in Biology, 1974-1975; Assistant Professor of Biology, 1976-1981; Assistant Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 1981-1986; Associate Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 1987-1992; Professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 1993-1999; Chairperson, Curriculum Committee, 1981-1982
Elizabeth Mansfield - Director of Alumni Affairs, 1995-1997
Stella Mazon, Class of 1937
Agnes McCann, RSM (Sr. Mary Cephas) - Professor of Philosophy, 1925-1970; Academic Dean, 1946-1952, 1958-1966; Registrar, 1952-1957
David McKay - Director of Institutional Advancement, 1989; Vice President for Institutional Advancement, 1990-1998
John McKenna - Instructor in Human Services, 1976-1978; Director of PACE Program, 1976-1978; Assistant Professor of Human Services, 1979-1981; Assistant Professor of Basic and Applied Social Services, 1981-1989; Associate Professor of Basic and Applied Social Services, 1990-1997; Professor of Basic and Applied Social Services, 1998-1999
Catherine McNamee, CSJ - College President, 1976-1979
Jessica Brugger Meserve - Director of Admissions, 1979-1983
Elizabeth Messina - Contract photographer, 1994-1996
Linda Murray - Director, Enhance Program, circa 1994-1996
Gertrude Myrick (Sister Mary Charles), RSM - Instructor in English, 1962-1968; Assistant Professor of English, 1969-1971; Academic Dean, 1966-1978; Special Assistant to the President, 1979; Assistant Director of Admissions, 1979-1983; Associate Director of Admissions, 1983-1985; Director of Campus Ministry, 1992-1995
Katherine Orthman - [position unknown], circa 1997-1999
Mark Pendergrast - Technical Services Librarian, 1981-1990
Physical Plant Office
Brent William Poppenhagen - Vice President for Academic Affairs, 1993-1997; Associate Professor of Business & Economics, 1993-1995
President's Office
Lois Price - Director of Special Events and Conferences, 1993-1998
Public Relations Department
Ruth Ravey, RSM - Instructor in English, 1972-1973; Assistant Professor of English, 1976-1981; Assistant Professor of Humanities, 1981; Director of Development and Public Relations, 1972-1976; Chairperson of the Curriculum Committee, c. 1966-1980
Registrar's Office
Carl Riden - Director of Physical Plant, 1984-1998
Lisa Ritter - Public Relations Office [exact position unknown], circa 1991
Joyce Rodham - Public Relations Office [exact position unknown], circa 1989
Frances Roth - Instructor in Education, 1974-1976
Alice Rouleau - Bookstore Manager, 1983; Registrar, 1984-1998; Registrar and Director of Institutional Research, 1999
Janice Ryan, RSM - Instructor in Special Education, 1969-1972; Director of Publicity, 1969-1971; Assistant Professor of Education, 1972-1979; Professor of Education, 1979-1995; Acting College President, 1979; College President, 1980-1996; Professor Emerita of Education, 1997-1998
Inge Schaefer - Director of Public Relations and Alumnae Affairs, 1978-1981; Director of Public Relations, 1981-1983
Bruce Spector - Director of Community Service Learning and Leadership Program, 1990-1998; Adjunct Lecturer in Basic & Applied Social Services, 1990-1999; Lecturer in Humanities, 1995; Assistant Dean of Students, 1998; Interim Dean of Student Affairs c. 1999
Paul Sutherland - College Counsel, circa 1993-1997
Kathleen "Kathy" O'Dell Thompson - Director of Public Relations, 1992-1998; Acting Vice President for Institutional Advancement, 1999
Bonnie Trombly - President's Office [exact position unknown], circa 2001
Julie Trottier - Reach-Up Case Manager, circa 1993-1998
Unknown Office Files - [office unidentified]
Louis Vaccaro - Interim College President, 1998-1999
Suzanne Villanti - Alumnae Secretary, 1974-1976; Alumnae Director, 1976-1978; Director of the Annual Fund, 1978-1979; Director of Development, 1979-1981
R. Timm Vogelsberg - Director, Transitions II Program circa 1985
Dorothy Watson - Director of Traditional Admissions, 1997
Kelly Watt - AmeriCorps VISTA Alternative Spring Break Coordinator, 1999-2000
Thomas Way - Contract Photographer, date unknown
John Williams - Contract Photographer
Elizabeth "Betty" Wilson - Director of Human Resources, 1997-1998
Timothy Whiteford - Assistant Professor of Education, 1983-1985; Associate Professor of Education, 1986-1992; Professor of Education, 1993-1999
Elizabeth "Peg" Whitson - Library Archivist, 1986-1993
Mark Yerburgh - Library Director, 1983-1989; Associate Professor of Humanities, 1985-1989
Vanessa Phelan Zerillo - Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in Education, 1997-1999
Extent
230.6 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Trinity College Collection contains the records of Trinity College of Vermont, a private Catholic college founded by the Burlington, Vermont chapter of the Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy. The school offered a liberal arts undergraduate degree program for women from 1925 to 2001, when it closed due to financial difficulties. In the last twenty years of its operation, Trinity also enrolled adult students of both genders in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The Trinity College Collection is comprised of materials documenting the founding, administration, academic programs, facilities, student affairs, and closure of the school, including manuscripts, financial papers, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and audio and video recordings.
Arrangement Note
The record groups were established by school administrators following the college's closing in 2001, when the collection was assembled from the files of individual staff and faculty members by Sr. Jacqueline Marie Kieslich, Trinity's last president, and faculty member Richard Hunt. Kieslich and Hunt gathered materials found in the possession of the college's existing archives and special collections, department chairmen, faculty members, administrative offices, and staff members. They selected items that they felt were essential to understanding the history of the institution, especially the period from the mid-1970s to 2001, which was not represented in a published history of the school. The collection was processed at the University of Vermont by Erica Donnis between 2007 and 2009. During processing, files generated or assembled by identifiable individuals or college departments were placed in series within the record groups.
Also during processing, student and personnel records in the collection were reviewed for potential privacy and confidentiality concerns. The following guidelines were developed and implemented in accordance with federal privacy laws, the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, and privacy and confidentiality guidelines of the Society of American Archivists:
1. Records that were judged to provide insight into the broader history of Trinity College and were associated with individual(s) who cannot be identified were retained. Examples include: anonymous survey responses and anonymous student correspondence with Trinity staff and faculty.
2. Records pertaining to specific aspects of an identifiable individual's studies or employment at Trinity College were either destroyed, redacted, or restricted, as follows:
A. Records were destroyed if (a) they were judged to contain sensitive information that did not provide insight into the broader history of the school, or (b) they contained indefinitely privileged information as defined by attorney-client confidentiality laws. Examples include correspondence with Trinity College's general counsel regarding litigation proceedings.
B. Groups of records that were judged to provide insight into the broader history of the school were restricted at the folder, sub-series, series, or record group level for a term of 50 years from the date of the most recent document in the file to protect identifiable individuals' privacy during their lifetimes. Examples include evaluations of applications for professional development leave by the Faculty Development Council.
C. Identifying information was redacted from individual records scattered throughout the collection when they were judged to provide insight into the broader history of the school, and the identifying information they contained could easily be removed without obscuring the meaning of the documents. Examples include letters or memoranda in which students' names and addresses were redacted.
The following exceptions were made for student and personnel records: Records containing information that was disseminated to the Trinity community and/or general public at the time in which they were created, or in which the individuals had an explicit or implicit understanding that the information could be publicly disseminated, were retained. Examples include: press releases, newspaper and newsletter articles, convocation programs, grant applications, and memoranda distributed to Trinity faculty and/or staff at large.
Physical Location
Library Research Annex
Custodial History Note
The Trinity College Collection was donated to the University of Vermont by Trinity College in 2004.
- Title
- Guide to the Trinity College Records mss.689
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Erica Donnis
- Date
- 2010-10-11
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Vermont Libraries, Special Collections Repository
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
(802) 656-2138
(802) 656-4038 (Fax)
uvmsc@uvm.edu
