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This series contains materials pertaining to the Board of Directors and the administration of the Alumni Association, including founding documents, such as the charter and constitution. The earliest Board of Directors meeting minutes are bound volumes. By the end of the 1970s the minutes are loose notes belonging to specific individuals. The minutes may also include such supplemental materials as correspondence, agendas and financial papers. The annual report was available for the Annual Meeting, which was open to all Alumni Association members. Financial records for the Alumni Association are found in this series in ledgers, financial statements and Treasurer's reports. Loose items from bound volumes have been removed and stored in separate, appropriately labeled folders.

Series 2 contains records related to Alumni Association fund-raising activities. Please note that the bulk of the series is from the years 1963-1983 with the further majority of this within the decade of the 1970s.

This series document various events and subsidiary organizations of the Alumni Association. It is the largest series and records from the 1970-1980s comprise the bulk of the material. Two of the major annual events represented in this series are the Alumni Day/Weekend and Homecoming. There are materials documenting Alumni Day/Weekend for the majority of years between 1919 and 1996. The earlier years may only contain a program, while later year may contain correspondence, RSVPs, planning notes and photographs. Other events and symposiums are also included in the series. There are photographs, correspondence, and planning materials of clubs, committees and local branches. Correspondence and day files of Alumni Association staff, awards and scholarships processed by the Alumni Association, student directories and tributes to University Presidents comprise a substantial portion of the series. The Alumni Association offered group travel specials, discounts on insurance and commemorative memorabilia. Please note that some of the photographs are oversized.

This series contains correspondence as well as pamphlets and other materials distributed to alumni, predominantly for reunions and other key events. The earliest materials are from 19th Century jubilees and reunions of all classes on Alumni Day. Later alumni held reunions only for specific classes or campus organizations, such as the Potter Club or Pep Band, and this is reflected in the more targeted correspondence. Please see Series 1 and Series 3 for more materials related to Alumni Day, and Series 1 for communication to members of the Eastern Branch of the Alumni Association. The correspondence was retained with the group's meeting minutes and is therefore located in Administration.

This series consists of Alumni Association records related to building dormitories for students and the Alumni House Conference Center. Beginning in 1921 the Alumni Association created a Dormitory Committee/Residence Hall Building Fund with the goal of raising funds to purchase land and build dormitories, especially for women. In 1921 the College's only residential building was Syddum Hall, housing 29 female students. The great majority of students commuted from home, lived in boarding houses throughout the City of Albany, fraternity or sorority houses or at the YWCA. In 1935 Pierce Hall opened to house female students and in 1941, Sayles Hall opened for men.

The Benevolent Association of the New York State College for Teachers was incorporated in 1926 and its Board of Directors first met in Albany in August 1927. While the organization's constitution stresses that its main purpose is to "heighten and enrich the physical, mental, social and moral life of the students," the Benevolent Association was closely connected to the Alumni Association and an outgrowth of the original Dormitory/Residence Hall Building Committee. The Benevolent Association acquired property for dormitories and operated the College (and later University) resident halls until 1967 when they were sold to the State of New York. The Alumni Association also helped nominate the Benevolent Association Board which carried out the policies and recommendations of the Alumni Association. Both groups held their annual meetings at approximately same time.

The Theatre Alumni Association of the New York State College for Teachers formed in 1932 to bring alumni together through dramatics and debating. Initially, members were required to have been part of the advanced dramatics class in college, must have taken part in sufficient plays to satisfy the membership committee or have participated in at least two intercollegiate debates. However there are no subsequent records of this group and in June 1954 alumni of State College proposed an organization of former dramatics student to allow alumni greater opportunity for continued participation in the College's theatre activities. The Theatre Alumni Association officially requested affiliation with the Alumni Association of the State University of New York at Albany in 1963. The Theatre Alumni Association dissolved in 1974 with the goal of forming a new organization that brought together faculty, alumni and students in the Theatre Department.

This collection includes thousands of files previously maintained by the Alumni Association about individual graduates from the 20th Century. The contents of the files vary and range from simply housing an obituary to holding newsclippings, correspondence and other materials detailing a graduate's professional life. This often includes a ca. 1969 all alumni survey, class notes submissions and questionnaires targeted to specific graduating classes or campus organizations. At present time there is no master list of files, but they may be accessed by archives staff. Please contact the department with any questions.