Theodore P. Greene (AC 1943) Papers, 1940-2006
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Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Amherst, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Peter A. Nelson. 2010-04-01
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Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Theodore P. Greene (AC 1943) Papers
Creation of Theodore P. Greene (AC 1943) Papers
Time of Creation of Theodore P. Greene (AC 1943) Papers
Greene, Theodore, P., 1921-
Biographical History for: Theodore P. Greene (AC 1943) Papers
Biographical Note Theodore P. Greene (AC 1943), professor of history and American studies at Amherst College from 1952 to 1989, personified many of the traditional-but-progressive values of the college. Greene was especially proud of his role in the 1974 decision to make Amherst coeducational. He is also remembered as an outstanding teacher, lecturer and historian. Born in New York City in 1921, Greene spent his early years in New Britain, Conn., and attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, graduating first in his class. Although this distinction won him admission to Harvard, he chose instead to enter Amherst, following long family tradition. After graduating from Amherst, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II in Denver, Colo., where he met his future wife, Mary Jane "Jary" England. Greene pursued graduate studies at Columbia University before returning to Amherst in 1952. Over the next 37 years, he taught courses in American colonial, social, intellectual, frontier and diplomatic history. He retired in 1989 as the Winthrop H. Smith Professor of History and American Studies, Emeritus. A reserved New Englander, Greene set high standards for his own scholarship and the work of students. Between 1955 and 1969 Greene edited three "Problems in American Civilization" paperbacks produced by the college's pioneering American studies program. These were American Imperialism in 1898, Wilson at Versailles and Roger Williams and the Massachusetts Magistrates. Greene wrote another book, America's Heroes: the Changing Models of Success in American Magazines, and edited two local history books, Essays on Amherst's History and 250 Years at First Church in Amherst, 1793-1989. In 1974, Greene chaired one of the committees studying coeducation at Amherst, and wrote a 76-page final report of its findings. The conclusion bore the unmistakable stamp of Greene's Yankee practicality: "The question is not whether a significant college like Amherst can with justice continue to exclude women," he wrote. "The question is whether Amherst can remain as significant and vital a college in the future if it does not admit women." Hugh Hawkins, the Anson D. Morse Professor of History and American Studies, Emeritus, remarked at Greene's funeral service on Feb. 3, 2007 that "No one was more ready to see when the old ways didn't fit the new students." Hawkins also recalled that John William Ward once told the Amherst Student that Greene was the person who had most influenced him in his years as president of the college -- "that Ted knew more about where the college came from and where it ought to be heading than anyone else." Greene and his brother, Thayer Greene (AC 1950) were third-generation alumni whose father was the Rev. Theodore Ainsworth Greene (AC 1913) and whose grandfathers were both in the Class of 1882. Ten other family members also went to Amherst. Theodore P. Greene died of cancer in Amherst on January 15, 2007. [Source: "In Memoriam: Theodore P. Greene '43," by Douglas C. Wilson. Amherst, Winter 2007, pp. 5-6.]
Gift of Mrs. Theodore P. Greene, 2010.
Scope and Contents of the Collection Correspondence, writings, research and lecture notes, speeches and other papers primarily related to the history of Amherst College and higher education, generated by Greene as professor of history and American Studies, 1952-1989. The collection includes Greene's undergraduate writings, manuscript drafts for his book America's Heroes: the Changing Models of Success in American Magazines (1970), and occasional chapel talks delivered to Amherst College students. The collection includes a variety of research notes created for teaching, advisement to the Amherst administration, or scholarly publication on Amherst College topics such as the life of Charles W. Cole (AC 1927), military recruiting, parietal rules, Jeffery Amherst and charges of germ warfare, cultural diversity, coeducation and other topics. There are also papers related to his personal or family associations with First Congregational Church (Amherst, Mass.) and the town of Jaffrey, N.H.
There is no restriction on access to the collection for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Alumni Biographical Files -- Class of 1943 -- Greene, Theodore Amherst College Coeducation Collection"Study of the Achaean League" by Theodore P. Greene. 1943. Thesis Collection.
Processed in March 2010 by Peter Nelson.
Coeducation -- Massachusetts -- Amherst.
lcsh
Women -- Education -- Massachusetts -- Amherst.
Greene, Theodore P., 1921-
lcnaf
Amherst College -- History.
series
Series 1: WRITINGS, 1940-1971
Undergraduate papers ca. 1940-1943
Undergraduate history research paper [1942?]
Master's thesis 194-
America's Heroes - typescript draft (1 of 2) 1970
America's Heroes - typescript draft (2 of 2) 1970
America's Heroes - reviews, etc. 1971
Series 2: RESEARCH ON AMHERST COLLEGE HISTORY, 1973-1995
Class of 1943 notes
Student experiences in the 1960's 1973 (?)
"Piety and Play in Amherst's History" 1979-1992
Biographical research on Charles Cole (AC 1927) for article in American National Biography 1994-1995
Writings on Charles Cole (AC 1927) 1999
Preface to Black Women of Amherst [1999?]
Fine Arts 92.1 on the architecture of the campus 1996
Lord Jeffery Amherst and germ warfare (letter to President Plimpton) 1969
Series 3: SPEECHES AND TALKS, 1943-1998
American Studies - lecture notes, etc. 1980's
Talks 1943-1986
Talks 1955-1990
"The Crisis in the College and the Role of the Churches"; "The Changing Mission of the College and the Community" 1969, 1972
Chapel talks ca. 1957-1970
Memorial tributes to others 1974-1998
Series 4: COMMITTEES, 1967-1980
College Council - Military recruiting on campus 1967-1968
Advising president re: Cultural diversity, black student orientation, financial aid 1980
College Council report: "Women Visitors at Amherst" 1969(?)
Coeducation at Amherst - notes, drafts, etc. (see also: Series 5, Correspondence)
Final Report of the Amherst Visiting Committee on Coeducation- Copy 1 1974
Final Report of the Amherst Visiting Committee on Coeducation - Copies 2 and 3 1974
Series 5: CORRESPONDENCE, 1952-2004
Coeducation - correspondence 1974
Correspondence 1952-2004
Series 6: PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1948-2006
"Jaffrey [New Hampshire] - 200 Years: The Creation of a Pluralistic Community" by Theodore P. Greene (manuscript of a talk given at the Amos Fortune Forum in the Old Meetinghouse of Jaffrey Center on the 200th anniversary of the incorporation of the town) [1973]
First Congregational Church, Amherst, Mass. 1960-1961
Retirement proposal, other miscellaneous ephemera ca. 1948-1984
Obituaries 2006