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Eugene Lang College administrative records and audio recordings

 Record Group — Box: 1
Identifier: NS-02-24-04

Abstract

Administrative records regarding the formation and development of Eugene Lang College, 1983-1987, as well as audio recordings of a colloquium and convocation in 1985 and academic lectures from 1986.

Dates

  • 1983-1987

Creator

Extent

0.471 Cubic Feet (1 container, which includes paper files and 13 audio cassette recordings.)

Language of Materials

English

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of administrative records regarding the formation and development of Eugene Lang college, especially with regard to the expansion of the college, housing, budgets, and building an alumni network. Also included are audio recordings of a colloquium and convocation in 1985, the year that Eugene Lang College was named, and academic lectures from 1986. These records consist a small number of files saved by a student administrative worker in the dean's office; as of 2024, there is no record group in the university archives for Eugene Lang College Dean's Office records.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.

Conditions Governing Use

To publish material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives and Special Collections. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.

Historical Note

Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts is the division of The New School university dedicated to solely educating traditional college-age undergraduates in their late teens and early twenties. All other university divisions offer graduate degrees. Although The New School began granting undergraduate degrees in 1944 to serve veterans, the origins of the contemporary Eugene Lang College date to the 1970s.

The program that was to become Lang College originated in 1972 as "Freshman Year at The New School" (no records in the collection date from this era). In this program, high school students enrolled in first-year undergraduate classes to explore different topics and disciplines, and were then expected to transfer as sophomores to another institution for degree completion.

The New School established a four-year, bachelor of arts granting Seminar College in 1975 or 1976. In 1978, the Freshman Year Program and the Seminar College were combined. First year students could then either continue their New School education in the Seminar College or transfer to another institution of higher education.

A substantial donation from philanthropist Eugene Lang precipitated the renaming of the Seminar College to Eugene Lang College in 1985. From 2005 until 2015, the college was renamed as, "Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts." In 2015, the college name changed to "Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts" following a university-wide rebranding.

References

Larrimore, Mark. "The New School's Long Road to a Four-Year College." In Realizing the New School: Lessons from the Past, edited by Julia Foulkes and Mark Larrimore, 80-89. New York: Public Seminar Books, 2020.

The New School for Social Research, 1981. "Self-Study Report: New School for Social Research and Parsons School of Design." https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS010105_00000

Arrangement

Organized in 2 series: 1. Administrative files, arranged alphabetically by subject; 2. Audio recordings, arranged chronologically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

These records were transferred to the New School Archives in 2021 by Dan McSweeney, an alumnus of Eugene Lang College who was a student worker in the Lang College Dean's Office.

Related Materials

Researchers seeking information related to Eugene Lang College should consult the following collections or series:

New School course catalogs and bulletins collection (NS.05.01.01), Eugene Lang College series and the New School course descriptions collection (NS.05.02.01); New School marketing and promotional materials (NS.05.08.01) Eugene Lang College series; Ann Snitow faculty records (NS.02.08.01); Mark Larrimore faculty records (NS.02.09.01); New School photograph collection (NS.04.01.01); and the Eugene Lang College collection (NS.02.24.01).

Title
Guide to the Eugene Lang College administrative records and audio recordings
Status
Completed
Author
New School Archives and Special Collections staff
Date
September 19, 2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • October 14, 2024: Victoria Fernandez updated the container description of the extent to reflect deaccessioned audio tapes.