Amherst College Buildings and Grounds Collection

Finding aid first created by Ralph C. McGoun (AC 1927), Emeritus Professor of Dramatic Arts, and L. Ann Hopkins, 1985-1987. Updated by Janet Poirrier and Briana Cahill, 1995-1997. Revised and updated by Elaine Trehub and Mariah Leavitt, 2000-2017. Rewritten by Jennifer Bolmarcich, Chris Barber, and Rachel Jirka: 2018-2023.

Professor Emeritus Ralph C. McGoun (AC 1927), working as a volunteer in the Archives, created this artificial collection between 1984-1987 by gathering Amherst College records, correspondence, documents, ephemera and images from College departments—Facilities, the President's Office, the Office of Public Affairs, and others—as well as from existing collections and subject files in Archives and Special Collections.

Numerous small donations and transfers of associated materials were incorporated into the collection over the past thirty years (1987-2017). From 1997-2002, additions included Amherst College records from the Physical Plant/Facilities department. From 2003 onward, incoming College records from Physical Plant/Facilities have been kept separate to maintain their provenance.

In anticipation of Amherst College's 200th anniversary, this frequently-used reference collection was chosen for a full reprocessing to bring its arrangement and description in line with current standards. Substantial changes to prior arrangement include the following:

Wherever possible, Amherst College records identified during reprocessing have been returned to their record groups of origin. This includes College records from the Amherst College Campus Operations: Facilities Department from its creation in 1925 to the present day.