Vanderbilt Aid Society Records

Historical Note

On February 27, 1894, soon after James Kirkland became the second Chancellor of Vanderbilt, the first meeting of the Ladies Aid Society for Students of Vanderbilt University  was held at the home of Mrs. Nathaniel Baxter on Spruce Street.(now 8th Avenue). Chancellor Kirkland had earlier proposed a women’s auxiliary to help raise money for worthy students, who otherwise could not remain enrolled in the university, and the Ladies’ Aid Society was the result. The first president of this organization was Mrs. Elizabeth Elliston, whose support of the Society lasted throughout her lifetime. By 1900 the name had changed to the Vanderbilt Aid Society by which it is still known today.

A quarter of a century after its founding in 1921 Mrs. E.W. Foster made this statement:

The purpose of the Society is to raise funds to assist needy and worthy students
to complete their education at the University.

Aid is furnished by the Society to students as a loan and not as a gift; interest is
charged on loans and someone personally interested in the student is required to
indorse for him.

In nearly all instances loans are paid back sooner, or later and in some cases much
more than the original amount has been returned to the fund.

If any test were needed the Vanderbilt Aid Society has abundant evidence of the
value of its work in the words of appreciation from hundreds of young men and
women who have been helped by its funds. Some of the best students of the
University have been enabled to go through college only by virtue of assistance
thus given.

In April of 1960 the Society’s historian Aileen Bishop wrote concerning the purpose of the Vanderbilt Aid Society that it was not created “as a social club, but as a working organization to benefit the youth of our community.”

Scope and Content Note

This small collection consists of  0.63 linear feet of materials relating to the founding of the Vanderbilt Aid Society, or the Ladies Aid Society for the Students of Vanderbilt University as it was called at the beginning. The collection contains correspondence, brief historical notes about the Society by various people connected with it, and the records that have been kept concerning the Treasurers’ reports and the loan fund reports, as well as the minutes from the meetings, 1894 - 1950.

Box Listing

Box 1

1. Correspondence—October14, 1932 - 1944
2. Correspondence—1945 - 1953
3. Correspondence—1954 - 1963
4. Report of Chancellor Kirkland; Constitution of the Ladies’ Aid Society; Full report and history with testimonials from students aided; Constitution and By-Laws
5. Constitution and By-Laws and Revisions to 1960
6. Constitution and By-Laws, 1967 (Revised)
7. Financial records, 1894-1962
8. Vanderbilt Aid Loan Fund Register—1924
9. Vanderbilt Aid Loan Fund Reports—May 1, 1937 - Nov. 1, 1939
10. Vanderbilt Aid Loan Fund Reports—May 1, 1940 - June 30, 1950
11. Vanderbilt Aid Loan Fund Reports—July 1, 1950 - June 30, 1959
12. Vanderbilt Aid Loan Fund Reports—July 1, 1959 - February 28, 1971
13. Report on the Vanderbilt Loan Funds, June 30, 1954
14. Correspondence—Vanderbilt Aid Loan Fund, 1960, 1962
15. Reports of the Treasurer, October 1937 - May 1, 1950
16. Reports of the Treasurer, 1943 - 1965
17. List of Students who received aid, 1935 - 1942
18. Membership List, 1954
19. List of homes in which the Vanderbilt Aid Society has met from 1894 -1964
20. Invitations to meetings, 1961, 1962, 1963; List of hostesses for Vanderbilt Aid Tea, 1961, 1962
21. Notice of yearly meeting—April 27, 1970; May 7, 1974
22. Letter mailed to friends on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vanderbilt Aid Society; Handwritten history
23. Brief History  (1921) by Mrs. E. W. Foster, President of the Ladies’ Aid Society of Vanderbilt; “Ladies Aid Society” in History of Vanderbilt by Edwin Mims (1946), pp. 253 - 254
24. Tributes to Mrs. Thomas J. Tyne; Mrs. Claude Waller given by Cornelia Keeble, October 20, 1943; Resignation of Mrs. Mary T. Orr
25. Article by Aileen Bishop (historian) “ The Funding of the Vanderbilt Aid Society” April 6, 1960
26. “67 Years of Service: The Vanderbilt Aid” photocopy of an article from Vanderbilt Alumnus, March-April, 1961
27. Articles—“Tea and Money” Vanderbilt Alumnus/ Summer 1977, v.62, n.4, p. 40;  “ Aid Society Marks 113th year with Talk on its History” Vanderbilt Register, May 3, 2007
28. Application for Loan form
29. Minutes of the Vanderbilt Aid Society, 1894 - 1911

Box 2

1. Minutes of the Vanderbilt Aid Society, May 26, 1911 - 1927
2. Minutes of the Vanderbilt Aid Society, May 26, 1927 - May 10, 1950

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