Lee Hall records (2.10)

Maintained primarily as notebook logs by the President's staff, the series contains photocopies of President Lee Hall's letters, memorandums, speeches, lectures and writings arranged chronologically. The series contains few records received by her office. See President's General Correspondence, 02.02.1.2, for such records. The series documents Hall's communications with trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, students, visiting committees, friends, and professional organizations. Internal communications are found primarily in the Memorandum and Correspondence-Confidential subseries.

Subjects documented by the records include routine administrative matters, the faculty, unionization, and contracts, her friendships with Betty Parsons and other artists, her farm in Lyme, CT, academic and financial reforms, relations with trustees, committees, and Museum of Art Directors Stephen Ostrow and Franklin Robinson.

The collection includes fourteen VHS tapes of interviews of artists, designers, and others conducted by Hall, circa 1981. Hall conducted the interviews at the New York offices of Needham, Harper and Steers, Inc. as part of a project for the proposed non-profit RISD Athena Productions. Organized in 1981 November and dissolved in 1984, the non-profit's purpose was to design and produce film, video, and other materials related to the educational mission of RISD. Most of the interviewees were recipients of an Honorary Degree or an Athena Award, 1977-1982. Paul C. Harper, Jr., Chair of NHS, served on the RISD Board of Trustees.