Durfee Family Collection

Summary Information

Repository
Hobart and William Smith Colleges Archives
Title
Durfee Family Collection
ID
Geneva.Coll #38
Date [inclusive]
1884-1993
Extent
1.2 Cubic feet
Language
English
Abstract
Documents and photographs relating to the Durfee Family: Elizabeth Racao Durfee(Registrar and faculty member), Walter Hetherington Durfee(Dean, Provost, Acting President and faculty member), and William Pitt Durfee (Dean, Acting President and faculty member)

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Biographical/Historical note

The Durfee family has been an important part of the history of both Hobart College and William Smith College. William Pitt Durfee, first Dean of Hobart and professor of Mathematics from 1884-1929. Both W.P Durfee and his son W. H. Durfee served as interim presidents during their long tenures at the Colleges. Elizabeth was Registrar as will as a physics instructor. There are two building on campus with the name: Durfee House and Durfee Hall. Many members of the family are alumni/ae of the Colleges.

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Scope and Contents

Documents and photographs relating to the Durfee Family. Much deals with the business of the Colleges, including correspondence, honors received, retirement and death tributes as well as College memories.

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Arrangement

These files are arranged with a series for each family member represented: Elizabeth Racao Durfee, Walter Hetherington Durfee and William Pitt Durfee.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

  • William Smith College
  • Hobart College.
  • Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Personal Name(s)

  • Durfee, William Pitt, 1855-1941
  • Durfee, Walter Hetherington, 1899-1973
  • Durfee, Elizabeth Racao

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Collection Inventory

Elizabeth Racao Durfee (Registrar) 1910-1942 

Biographical/Historical note

William Smith College graduate with a B.S. in 1917. U.S. Bureau of Standards at the close of World War I. Secretary to HWS President Murrary Bartlett starting 1919. M.S. in Physics from Cornell University, 1924. Worked in Washington D.C. at the Geophysical Laboratory 1925-26. William Smith registrar 1928-1933. World War II instructor in physics for the Navy V-12 program. Hobart registrar 1947-53. Registrar of the Colleges 1953-1962. Member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Delta Epsilon, past president of the William Smith Alumnae Association.
Box Folder

Education 1910-1942 

Scope and Contents

Papers pertaining to education and college life.

William Smith College 
Box Folder

WSC class assignments 1 1914-1915 

 1 1

WSC class assignments 2 1915 

 1 2

WSC class assignments 3 1915-1916 

 1 3

Certificates and Awards 1959-1962 

Scope and Contents

Alumni/Alumnae Associations citation for meritorious servies.1962 Senior citizen of our colleges. 1959

 1 4

Plays 1910-1921 

Scope and Contents

Millan, Edna St. Vincent, Two slatterns and a king.1921 The rainbow kimona, presented by The Busy Bee Society, 5/27/1910 A Game of Croquet. Apologies to Lewis Carroll. undated

 1 5

HWS professional 1928-1992 

 1 6

WSC miscellaneous 1913-1962 

Scope and Contents

Small leather folder from Hobart College centenial. Correspondence, poems, report card. Alumni News, June 1962 Vol. XXVI, No. 4 , "Miss Durfee Retires", p.7-8.

 1 7

Post graduate work 1924-1942 

 1 8

Washington D.C. 1919-1924 

 1 9

Photographs 1910-1917 

 1

Family photographs 1894-1952 

 1 10

Framed photographs undated 

 1 11

Scrapbook undated 

 1

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Walter Hetherington Durfee (Dean, Provost, Acting President) 1908-1993 

Biographical/Historical note

Faculty, Department of Mathematics, 1921-1959 Acting Dean of Hobart College, 1937 Dean of Hobart College, 1938-1947 Acting President, 1947-1948 Provost, 1948-1959 Dean of Hobart College, 1955-1959
Box Folder

Photographs undated 

 1 12

HWS citations and Distinguished Faculty Award biography 1947-1993 

 1 13

re: his death Dec. 21, 1973 

 1 14

Testimonials and honors upon his retirement June 1959 

 1 15

HWS appointments 1921-1968 

 1 16

HWS correspondence and memoranda 1921-1959   2 envelopes

 1 17

Correspondence re:graduate memories for WSC history 1958 

 1 18

Baccalaureate thesis: Habit and instinct 1908 

 1 19

Salutatory June 17, 1908 

 1 20

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William Pitt Durfee (Dean, Acting President) 1884-1993 

Biographical/Historical note

Faculty, Department of Mathematics, 1884-1929 Dean of Hobart College, 1888-1925 Acting President, 1897; 1901-1903; 1912-1913; 1917-1919
Box Folder

Photographs 1884-1895 

 1 21

Correspondence 1885-1954 

 1 22

Resignation from Dean; Retirement 1925-1929 

 1 24

Distinguished Faculty Award and other Tributes 1925-1993 

 1 25

Death 1941 

 1 26

Miscellaneous 1896-1934 

 1 27

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