Holyoke Community College Records
Archives Home About HCC Records Local History Resources
Holyoke Community College (HCC) records
Inclusive Dates: 1946-2018
Extent: 300 Boxes, 6 filing cabinets, 30 GB
Name of Creator: corporate name: Holyoke Community College
Conditions governing access: Unrestricted, except where noted.
Language: Mostly English, some Spanish.
Scope & Contents
This collection documents the functions, activities, and intellectual materials produced by members of Holyoke Community College. The various creators include: college administration, staff, faculty, students, and alumni. Material types include: meeting minutes, administrative records, published reports, e-mail correspondence, official publications, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia, video footage, oral histories, posters, brochures, and personal papers.
Administrative/Biographical History
In September of 1946, the Holyoke Graduate School was established as a municipal program providing night-school college classes to returning WWII veterans and other adults. In March of 1947, the Massachusetts General Court enacted legislation permitting municipal higher education programs to be called junior colleges, and on April 7, 1947, the Holyoke School Committee changed the name of the Holyoke Graduate School to Holyoke Junior College. Holyoke Junior College, known as "JC" or "HJC", flourished thanks to the perseverance of Dr. George Frost, the school's founder, and Ellen Lynch, his secretary, who were the only full-time employees until 1958. They shared a tiny office in a former cloak room in the Holyoke High School building. Together they scavenged chalk, erasers, and pencils for the part-time faculty, who hailed from Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and other area colleges. By 1964, Holyoke Junior College had grown to 690 full-time students. On July 1, 1964, Holyoke Junior College joined the state community college system and was renamed Holyoke Community College.
When Holyoke Community College's newly renovated building (the former Holyoke High School, in the block bordered by Sargeant, Cabot, Beech and Pine streets) burned to the ground on January 4, 1968, it was the resourcefulness and innovative spirit of the JC college students and Holyoke residents that enabled students to resume their studies in church basements, an armory, rooms above a restaurant, and other Holyoke locations, after missing only one day of classes. On January 9, a full page advertisement in the Holyoke Transcript Telegram urged everyone in the city to write and call Governor Volpe to insist that the school be rebuilt in Holyoke. On January 12, the Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges voted to rebuild the college in Holyoke, and exactly one year after the fire, the college moved into a new temporary building on Beech and Sargeant Streets.
Construction of the "new" campus on the Sheehan farm property on Homestead Avenue commenced in June of 1971, and spring semester classes began at the new campus on February 19, 1974. The new campus originally consisted of: "A" building (now Donahue) and "B" building (now Frost), and "D" building (now Marieb). In March of 1975, "C" building (Fine Arts) was finished. In 1981, "G" building (now campus center) was opened. In 2000, the Bartley Center for Athletics and Recreation was completed, and in May of 2006 the Kittredge Center for Business and Workforce Development, was dedicated.
In the spring of 1975, Dr. George Frost announced his resignation, and Dr. David M. Bartley, Speaker of the House of Representatives and a 1954 graduate of Holyoke Junior College, was appointed the second president of the college. President Bartley retired on January 1, 2004 and was succeeded by William F. Messner. President Messner retired in August 2016 and was succeeded by Dr. Christina Royal.
System of Arrangement
The collection contains 16 record groups:
- RG 01: Institutional Documentation (Governance)
- RG 02: Office of the President
- RG 03: Administration
- RG 04: Academics
- RG 05: Academic Support Services
- RG 06: Faculty & Professional Staff
- RG 07: Student Life
- RG 08: Student Success & Support Services
- RG 09: Buildings & Grounds
- RG 10: Campus Events
- RG 11: History of HCC
- RG 12: Slides, Negatives, Photographs, Digital Images
- RG 13: Moving Image, Streaming Media
- RG 14: Scrapbooks, Reference
- RG 15: Memorabilia
- RG 16: Massachusetts State Documents
.01 Dr. George Frost (1946-Spring 1975)
.02 David M. Bartley (1976-Jan 1, 2004)
.03 William F. Messner (2004-August 2016)
.04 Dr. Christina Royal (January 2017-)
.01 Academic Affairs Office
.02 Admissions Office
.03 Alumni Relations
.04 Business Office (Comptroller)
.05 Campus Safety
.06 The HCC Foundation
.07 Human Resources
.08 Information Technology
.09 Institutional Development Office
.10 Institutional Research Office
.11 Marketing & Communications Department
.12 Planning & Assessment Office
.13 Student Activities Office
.14 Student Affairs Office
.15 Student Records & Registrar
.01 Academic Divisions
.02 Academic Programs
.03 Catalogues, Course booklets, calendars
.04 Non-credit Programs
.05 Publications
.01 Academic Advising
.02 Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS)
.03 Library
.01 Awards, Honors & Prizes
.02 Biographies/Profiles, Personal papers
.03 Scholarship
.04 Faculty Lists (1946-1987)
.01 Athletics
.02 Ceremonies & Celebrations
.03 Clubs, Organizations, & Activities
.04 Handbooks and yearbook
.05 Honors, Awards, & Prizes
.06 New Student Orientation (NSO)
.07 Student publications
.08 Student Senate
.09 Student work (Scholarship)
.01 ALANA
.02 Career Development
.03 Disability & Deaf Services
.04 First Year Experience (FYE)
.05 Health & Wellness
.06 Moodle Environment Resource Consultants (MERC)
.07 Multicultural Academic Services (MAS)
.08 Marieb Adult Learner Success Center
.09 Pathways
.10 STRIVE
.11 Thrive
.12 Transfer
.13 Veterans Services
.01 Elmwood School
.02 Dedications
.03 Construction & Renovations
.01 Calendars of events
.02 General campus events
.03 Musical events
.04 Plays
.05 Screenings
.01 Anniversary Celebrations
.02 The Fire (January 4, 1968)
.03 Holyoke Graduate School (September 1946- April 7, 1947)
.04 Holyoke Junior College (April 7, 1947-July 1, 1964)
.05 Oral Histories
.01 Jack Scanlon Collection
.02 Photograph Prints
.03 Slides
.04 Negatives
.05 Digital Photographs
.01 VHS tapes
.02 DVDs
.01 Scrapbooks
.02 Newsclippings
.03 Newspapers
RG 15: Memorabilia
.01 Massachusetts Community College Consortium (MCCC)
.02 Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges (MBRCC)
.03 Massachusetts Women in Public Higher Education (MWPHE)
.04 Official State Publications
