Accession Number: 20
Records, 1922-1987
29.2 Linear Feet
Online Catalog Record (BANC)

Overview & Series Description
History
Series I - Minutes of the Board of Trustees
Series II - Financial Records
      Subseries 1 - Trust Agreements
      Subseries 2 - Finacncial Summaries and Audits
      Subseries 3- Income and Disbursement Statements
      Subseries 4- Citizen's Fidelity Transaction Statements
      Subseries 5- Journal / Account Sheets
Series III - Chairmen and Trustees Files
      Subseries 1 - Edward O' Rear
      Subseries 2 - Ross Sloniker
      Subseries 3 - Francis S. Hutchins
      Subseries 4 - J. Farra Van Meter
      Subseries 5 - Henry H. Loomis
Series IV - West Correspondence
Series V - Lexington Subject Files
Series VI - Projects and Grants
Series VII - Homeplace General Correspondence
   1920s 1930s1940s 1950s1960s 1970s1980s undated
Series VIII - Homeplace Subject Files
Series IX - Photographs
Series X - Homeplace Rural Health Association
     Subseries 1 - Service Reports
     Subseries 2 - Personnel Records
     Subseries 3 - Miscellany
Series XI - Perry County Rural Telephone Company
     Subseries 1 - Record Book
     Subseries 2 - Correspondence
     Subseries 3 - Financial Records
Series XII - Oversize and Miscellany

Overview

These are the board meeting minutes, financial records, correspondence, and photographs documenting the founding of the E.O. Robinson Mountain Fund and its role in southeastern Kentucky agricultural, educational, health, and economic improvement efforts during the years 1922-1987.

Related Berea College Archives

Buckhorn Children's Center Records, SAA 45

Related References

Purcell, L. Edward, Good Neighbor to the Mountains: The Story of the E.O. Robinson Mountain Fund 1922-1987. E.O. Robinson Mountain Fund, 1988.

The minutes, correspondence, reports, proxy vote records, and orders of the Board of Trustees are the most essential series for documenting the Board's activities and detailing the principal programs and services the Board directly administered or made grants to from 1922-1974.

The minutes consist mainly of photocopies made from a minute book maintained in the Fund secretary's Lexington office. They are for the period 1922-1955 and are entered on consecutively numbered pages. Minutes for additional years were obtained from Francis Hutchins, J. Farra Van Meter, Henry Loomis, and Lula Hale and arranged to form a complete series. Minutes of individual meetings are usually from one to two typewritten pages in length and are frequently accompanied by correspondence, notes, and financial records.

At first the Trustees met at irregular intervals-- on average, only once per year in the period 1922-1951. However, following the adoption of a set of by-laws in 1951, the board began meeting more regularly, usually quarterly. Early minutes are worded rather informally. They include numerous direct quotes from Trustees and from Lula Hale which preserve an interesting sense of immediacy. Subsequent ones reflect the degree to which increased government regulation and the Fund's broadening focus forced the board to formalize the consideration of prospective projects and the oversight of funded programs. Committee reports and summaries of decisions become much more prevalent during the 1960's and early 1970's.

The minutes reflect especially the dominance of Fund chair Edward O'Rear during the 1930's and 1940's in his efforts to both realize Robinson's vision and evolve the Fund into a larger and more complex philanthropy. They also provide the most comprehensive characterizations of the administrations of Fund chairs Ross Sloniker (1954-1963) and Fred Bryant (1967-1972), and most fully document the contributions made by individual trustees to the year-to-year operation of the Fund.

Box 1

1. Minutes: 1922-1924; 1929-1930
2. Minutes: 1932; 1934-1935
3. Minutes: 1936-1940
4. Minutes: 1942-1945
5. Minutes: 1946-1948; 1950
6. Minutes: 1951-1952
7. Minutes: 1953-1954
8. Minutes: 1955
9. Minutes: 1956
10. Minutes: 1957-1958
11. Minutes: 1959-1960
12. Minutes: 1961-1962
13. Minutes: 1963-1964
14. Minutes: 1965-1966

Box 2

1. Minutes: 1967-1968
2. Minutes: 1969-1970
3. Minutes: 1971-1972
4. Minutes: 1973-1974
5. Minutes: 1975-1976
6. Minutes: 1977-1980
7. Minutes: 1981-1983

Box 3

1. Minutes: 1984-1985
2. Minutes: 1986-1988
3. Meeting Agendas 1976-1979
4. Meeting Agendas 1980-1984
5. Meeting Agendas 1985-1988
6. Deed: E.O. Robinson Forest
7. Deed: Kentucky Agriculture Experiment Station

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