Laban Morey Wheaton, Secretary Board of Trustees: first volume of Minutes 1834 Ink on paper
Board of Trustees Records Marion B. Gebbie Archives & Special Collections 1979: Sent to the Archives by Marjorie Ford, Assistant to President Alice F. Emerson. The first meeting of Wheaton’s Board of Trustees was held at the home of Laban Morey Wheaton (now the President’s House) on November 17, 1834. Eight men, including L.M. Wheaton and his father Judge Laban Wheaton, several of their business associates, and three local ministers, had agreed to serve as Trustees of the female seminary. The minutes of this first meeting indicate several decisions regarding the organization and officers of the Board, including that Lemuel Perry would serve as Secretary, a role he never assumed. These minutes are, however, in Laban Morey Wheaton’s hand, as he recorded their initial discussions, and continued as the Board’s Secretary. A committee of three men was appointed to draft resolutions to establish the Seminary fees and calendar, and to regulate the Board. After some consideration, twenty-one resolutions were adopted. The four most important resolutions were to name the institution Wheaton Female Seminary, establish the officers and their responsibilities, set two academic terms consisting of twenty-two weeks with a tuition of ten dollars each, and to name Miss Eunice Caldwell principal. (A set of spoons presented to Caldwell by Laban Morey Wheaton is on display in the Hidden Treasures section of the exhibition.) The minutes further authorize her to hire assistants if the enrollment exceeded twenty-five students, all of whom had to be thirteen years of age or older. Today, the trustee’s minutes are still recorded by hand and kept in the Wheaton College archives
-Written by Raquel Inwentash, Class of 2013
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