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Group System records

 Record Group
Identifier: RG-04-014

Scope and Contents

Although the records of the Group System range in date from 1938 to 1970, the vast majority of the records date from 1951 to 1962, since most were either generated by or given to the short-lived Group Council. This record group is divided into seven subgroups: (1) Biological Sciences Group, 1951-1961; (2) Humanities Group, 1951-1970; (3) Physical Sciences Group, 1951-1961; (4) Social Sciences Group, 1938-1966; (5) Group Council, 1951-1962; (6) Engineering Sciences Group, 1966-1970; and (7) Earth Sciences Group, 1966-1969. The primary types of records are minutes and supporting papers. The record group contains a fair amount of information on the University's academic restructuring during the Bronk Plan, and also serves to illustrate many of the faculty's administrative responsibilities.

Scope and Contents

Subgroup Description
Subgroup 1, Biological Sciences Group, contains the minutes and supporting papers of the group from 1951 to 1961, arranged chrono-logically. There is also a file containing confidential student records.

Subgroup 2, Humanities Group, dates from 1951 to 1970 and consists of minutes and supporting papers. There is also a file on Development and one on the Old Dominion Proposal (1965). In addition, there is a file of confidential student records.

Subgroup 3, Physical Sciences Group, dates from 1951 to 1961 and consists entirely of minutes and supporting papers, with one file of confidential student records.

Subgroup 4, Social Sciences Group, contains records dating from 1938 to 1962. This is the only group whose records pre-date Bronk Plan. The records consist primarily of minutes and supporting papers, although there is one file of forms and regulations, one confidential faculty file and one confidential student file.

Subgroup 5, Series 1 consists of Minutes of the Group Council from 1951 to 1962. It is important to note that the complete Minutes for April 13, 1951, to June 4, 1953, can be found in volume 4 of the records of the Board of University Studies (record group number 04.012).

Subgroup 5, Series 2 consists of the supporting papers of the Group Council from 1951 to 1961, comprised primarily of reports, memoranda and correspondence. There is one file of confidential student records.

Subgroup 6 consists of one folder of Engineering Sciences Group records, in the form of reports, correspondence, minutes and memoranda, dating from 1966 through 1970.

Subgroup 7, Earth Sciences Group, contains minutes and supporting papers from the years 1966 to 1969. Only a few meetings of the Group are represented.

Dates

  • Creation: 1938-1970

Creator

Use Restrictions

Administrative records in this record group are restricted for twenty-five years from their date of creation. Education records in subgroups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (series 2), as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, are also restricted, as are employment records in subgroup 4. For details, see Regulations Governing Access to Restricted Records, at the front of each binder.

History

Early in its history, The Johns Hopkins University was dedicated to the idea of a broad liberal arts education without requiring too many courses outside the undergraduate student's area of interest. This paradoxical problem was solved with the development of the group system; the name at first denoted courses of study rather than a committee of faculty members. In 1882, President Daniel C. Gilman created seven groups: Classical, Mathematical-Physical, Chemical-Biological, Physical-Chemical, Latin-Mathematical, Historical- Political, and Modern Languages. The specific curricula required by these groups is published in the Johns Hopkins University Register. By 1906 the groups were consolidated into five areas: Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, History and Political Economy, Mathematics and Physics, and Chemistry, Biology and Geology.

By 1931, after the evolution of academic departments, and in the wake of the Goodnow Plan, the faculty formed the "new" group system to prevent the undergraduate course of study from becoming too narrowly-focused. The groups thus formed were Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. Each faculty member was con-sidered a member of a particular group and for each group a chairman was elected. Each group set core requirements for graduation, while allowing individual departments within the group to add additional requirements.

In 1951, with the adoption of the Bronk Plan and the creation of the Group Council, the group system was expanded to include graduate education as well. The Group Council consisted of the chairmen of the four groups, the vice chairman of the General Assembly, the Dean of the Homewood Schools and a secretary appointed by the group chairmen. The Council examined the requirements proposed by the groups and made recommendations to the General Assembly, confirmed the affiliation of departments and members with the groups, and made proposals to the General Assembly and the Academic Council on matters of academic policy.

The Group Council, however, soon became superfluous. By the mid-1950s, responsibility for undergraduate degree requirements was assumed by the dean, while graduate degree requirements fell under the jurisdiction of the group chairmen in conjunction with their groups. In 1962, the Group Council was superseded by the Graduate Board. The demise of the Group Council can be attributed to a decline in interest on the part of the faculty in the group system as a whole, based on the belief that students should have more freedom to choose their own academic programs. The group structure, however, remained intact and was even enlarged in 1966 by the addition of two more groups, Earth Sciences and Engineering Sciences. The group structure continued to exist into the 1970s.

Extent

1.9 Cubic Feet (5 letter size document boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Provenance

Most of the records of the Group System came from the Registrar's Office. Some of the records of the Social Sciences Group were transferred by Dr. Ernst Cloos, Professor of Geology. Records of the Earth Sciences Group were transferred to the Archives by Dr. Owen Phillips, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Accession Number

79.4, 79.38, 82.1, 88.19

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Maryanne Courtney, Sean DiGiovanna and Deborah Jeffrey.

Title
Group System records
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
The Sheridan Libraries
Special Collections
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore MD 21218 USA