Babson Documents: A Browser's Page of Sources on the History of Babson College

Babson Institute Announced

Accreditation

Early Catalogs and Handbooks

"Little Magazines"

Logos

Songs of the Babson Institute

Student Life and Culture

Theater

Charles D. and Marjorie J.Thompson Visiting Poet
 

Babson Institute Announced

We begin with the August 5, 1919 announcement of the founding of Babson Institute. Roger Babson inserted this special announcement in that week's issue of Babson's Report.  The intended student body was made up of the sons of Mr. Babson's clients.

The College has had an alumni magazine since 1924. The 1924-1929 issues have been scanned to PDF.  There are bound copies from 1929 through 1985 in the Babson Collection which is currently on the wall outside of Study Room 201. The Babson Collection includes the writings of Roger W. Babson as well as The Babsonian.  Issues from 1985 through 2006 are scheduled to be bound and added to the collection.  Check the Archives News link to the left for updates to our collections. 

In its early years, Babson Institute was as much about character building as it was about training men for business.  The 1937 Student Handbook gives an example of the behavioral expectations.

All institutions have rules, even graduate schools.  Check out the differences between the rules for graduate students in 1969 as compared to 2006/7.

The Babson Institute Library (now Tomasso Hall) was brand new in 1939. Compare the rules from 1939 with a recent Survival Guide.

Babson Institute produced a catalog for its first class entering in 1919.  Note the differences and similarities in courses then and now.

Since the late 1980s Babson College has offered its fiftieth anniversary graduates membership in the Half Century Club. This year's class graduated in 1958.

After World War II Babson Institute began grow dramatically and with the BSBA program it started to develop a more traditional undergraduate culture.  In 1948 at collection of Songs of Babson Institute was published. It is optimistically identified as volume one, number one.  Will a new collection of songs ever get published?

Accreditation

The new BSBA was first accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1950.

One of the legacies of Walter Carpenter was his tireless efforts to attain national accreditation for Babson.  The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business accredited the undergraduate program in 1980 and the graduate program in 1981.

Babson purchased the buildings and lands of the former Channing Sanitarium in 1952.

In 1968 Babson Institute produced a wide-ranging Master Plan which was, in part, responsible for the institution that we have today.

Ethics concern both business and education.  Babson's response to highly-publicized ethical failures at the highest corporate levels included a statement of concern written by Tom Sullivan, Director of Spiritual Life and Volunteer Programs. Various departments at Babson have policies and some of these policies overlap. Please note that some of the following pages may be restricted to those with Babson College computer accounts. The President's home page lists priorities and has a collection of speeches. Human Resources has a page with student employee policies & procedures, handbooks & guides, and our sexual harassment policy. ITSD has its Computer Code of Ethics and other IT use policies. Both Graduate and Undergraduate Student Handbooks discuss plagiarism, IT use, and expectations of student behavior.

"Little Magazines"

The need for self-expression causes people everywhere to devise ways to be heard. Students at Babson College have made several efforts at arts magazines in recent years. Options was published in 1992, 1993, and 1994. The Babson Journal was published 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000. The Babson Literary Magazine was started in spring 2003 with an issue called Unfiltered... and published a fall 2003 issue titled The Morning After... The spring 2004 issue is called Cock-a-doodle Blue.Two issues were produced in 2005: ...Why Not? and Suggestions...Seductions. Of This I'm Sure was published in Spring 2006. Green Lines, volume seven of the Babson Literary Magazine, was published fall of 2006. The first issue of the series without an issue title is published in Spring 2007.  Volume nine was published in Fall 2007. Spring 2008 saw the appearance of volume ten.

Babson Logos

Babson College has recently redesigned (log-in required) its logo. The well-known Babson Institute logo (seen on the cover of this 1949 Commencement Bulletin) represented the Institute in various forms until the Institute became Babson College in 1969. A new name in front of a new master plan required a new logo which represented the College through the 1970s. The 1980s brought more development, a new president, and the expansion of the School for Executive Education. A logo representing this tripos at Babson College (Undergraduate, Graduate, and Executive Education) was implemented for the 80s. Babson's traditional interest in global business was greatly enhanced in the 1990s and a logo was adopted that reflected this world view.

Babson has always had its sporting side. Baseball has been a varsity sport at Babson College since 1969. Professor Norm Govoni has begun collecting its history and putting it up on a website: www.babsonbaseball.com.

Theater

Babson College has had a long tradition of theatrical performance. Under several names (Babson Dramatic Club, Babson Theatre Guild, and the Babson Players) Babson students have produced musical theatre and plays for the community. The Babson College Archives doesn't have an extensive collection of the playbills for these shows but what we have follows: