building, and the growth of the Experiment Station. Within these respective categories the topics deal with specific issues such as budget requests, requests for raises, resignations, and loyalty to President Riggs dance clubs, the discipline of cadets, hazing, and epidemics construction of faculty housing, fires, maintenance of property, funding of the Y.M.C.A. The correspondence falls into the general categories of administration, cadet life, and institutional development.
WASHINGTON POST JM32 SERIES
The series is divided into two parts: correspondence, which is arranged chronologically, and collected material, arranged alphabetically. This series contains the records of the office of Walter Merritt Riggs, President of Clemson College 1909-1924. His body was returned to the college and buried on Cemetery Hill. while attending a land-grant college meeting. Riggs died 22 January 1924 in Washington, D. During Riggs' administration enrollment doubled and Clemson became generally acknowledged as one of the leading land-grant institutions. A department of student affairs was created in 1920. Department of Agriculture and allowed women to participate in some of the summer agricultural courses. He abolished the preparatory school, introduced architectural studies, enlarged the extension program through an agreement with the U. He also spoke to many groups in the state defending and promoting the mission of the college. He insisted on loyalty to the college from all of his subordinates and established a publicity department for cultivating good relationships with editors and the public. He strengthened the power of the office and consolidated authority by ending the practice of faculty, staff, and parents of cadets taking their requests and complaints to the Board of Trustees. While he was president Riggs created new efficiency in the operation of the college. Although reluctant to accept the position he was appointed the fifth president in March 1911. On 6 December 1909, Riggs was chosen acting president of Clemson College to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of P. Riggs established the South Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1900, and served as vice-president and president of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Riggs became intensely active in the life of the college from the start: he organized the Glee Club, organized and coached the first football team in 1896, and was later responsible for the college's hiring of football coach John Heisman. In 1901, he was appointed professor of electrical engineering and head of the engineering department.
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Riggs came to Clemson in 1896, as an assistant in the mechanical and electrical engineering department. He began his career at Auburn as an instructor in English and then physics. He received his undergraduate education in 1893, and the engineering and master of engineering degrees in 1894, from Auburn University. Walter Merritt Riggs was born 24 January 1873, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to Harpin and Emma Gowan Riggs. Riggs Presidential Records ID Series.0017 Date Bulk, 1910-1924 Date Extent 11.0 cubic feet Language English Repository Clemson University Libraries Special Collections Creator Clemson University.