The Leigh Family Papers include materials created by Robert D. Leigh, President of Bennington College from 1928-1941. The collection is comprised primarily of the papers of Mr. Leigh. The collection also includes a small amount of materials created by his first wife, Mildred Boardman Leigh, and their youngest daughter, Virginia Leigh. Series 1 contains the papers of Robert Devore Leigh, and includes his articles, speeches, and other writings, biographical materials, correspondence, and subject files created by Mr. Leigh. Series 2 comprises the papers of Mildred Boardman Leigh. This series includes her articles and other writings, and a small amount of correspondence. Series 3 consists of the papers of Virginia Leigh, and includes examples of her early work at Bennington College. Please see individual series and sub-series notes for additional information about scope and content for each series and sub-series. Historical/Biographical Note: Robert Devore Leigh was born in 1890 in Nebraska and grew up in Seattle, Washington. He earned his undergraduate degree at Bowdoin College in 1914. While an Everett Fellow from Bowdoin at Columbia University in 1914-1915, he met Mildred Boardman, who he would marry in 1916. Leigh taught in the Political Science department at Reed College from 1915-1917. During WWI, he served as assistant educational director of the V.D. Division of the U.S. Public Health Service. After WWI, he taught at Barnard College and Columbia University. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree at Columbia University in 1926. Prior to his appointment as President of Bennington College in 1928, Dr. Leigh was Hepburn Professor of Government at Williams College. As the first and organizing president of Bennington College, Dr. Leigh was responsible for shaping and implementing the College’s educational vision. While on leave from Bennington College in 1939, Mr. Leigh served as Acting Dean of Bard College to reorganize and develop Bard’s financial and educational structure. After resigning from Bennington College in 1941, Dr. Leigh worked as a special adviser to the National Resources Planning Board (19411942), as director of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service of the Federal Communications Commission (1942-1944), and as director of the Commission on the Freedom of the Press (19441946). From 1947-1950, under the auspices of the Social Science Reserve Council, Dr. Leigh directed an inquiry into the role of public libraries. This position would stimulate Mr. Leigh’s interest in library work. In 1950, Dr. Leigh was appointed to the faculty of the Columbia University School of Library Service. In 1954, Leigh served as Acting Dean of the School, before being appointed Dean in 1956. He retired from his position in 1959, but continued to be active in the library world. After the death of Mildred Boardman Leigh in 1959, Mr. Leigh married California State Librarian Carma Russell Zimmerman in 1960. Mr. Leigh died in 1961, en route to a conference of librarians. Mildred Adelaide Boardman was born in 1892 in Rochester, New York. She graduated in the Teacher Librarian Course from the Geneseo Normal School in 1912. She earned her bachelor’s degree Teachers College at Columbia University in 1915, and a M.A. in English Literature and Education from the same institution in 1920. She taught English at Bennett Junior College, the Hebrew Technical School, and a number of public schools prior to her marriage to Robert D. Leigh. After the couple married in 1916, she taught at Reed College. While Mr. Leigh taught at Williams College, Mrs. Leigh took the lead in organizing the Williamstown League of Women Voters and is recorded as the first female member of the Williamstown Board of Education. During Mr. Leigh’s tenure as President of Bennington College, from 1928-1941, Mrs. Leigh served in an unofficial partnership role in College administrative and social affairs. According to the Leighs’ daughter Helen, Mrs. Leigh, who had studied education under William Kilpatrick and Edward Thorndike, had helped to shape Mr. Leigh’s educational plans for Bennington College (see Thomas Brockway, Bennington College: In the Beginning, p. 39). After a period of illness, Mildred Leigh died in 1959. Robert and Mildred Leigh had two children. The first, Helen Devore Leigh, was born in 1918 in Portland, Oregon. Helen began attending Bennington College in 1935 and graduated in 1939. Later that year, Helen married Calvin Stillman. The Leighs’ younger daughter, Virginia Boardman Leigh, was born in 1922 in New York City. She began attending Bennington College in 1939 and graduated in 1943. In 1945, she was married to H. Terhune Herrick, Jr. She was working as a librarian at the Fairfax County Library in Annandale, Virginia when she died in 1964. Collection Organization: The Leigh Family Papers are arranged into three series. Folders in all series are arranged alphabetically by folder title. Materials within folders are arranged chronologically. Series 1 contains the papers of Robert Devore Leigh. This series is divided into four sub-series – Articles, Speeches, and Other Writings; Biographical Materials; Correspondence; Subject Files. Series 2 comprises the papers of Mildred Boardman Leigh. Series 3 consists of the papers of Virginia Leigh.