Purdue to create archives documenting contribution of women
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The gift from Purdue trustee Susan Bulkeley Butler to Purdue Libraries was announced Saturday (Oct. 21) at the President's Council event in the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms prior to the Purdue-Wisconsin football game.
"Susan's planned gift for these archives, along with previous gifts to lift the aspirations of women, are stellar examples of her vision and leadership in celebrating our past and shaping our future. She sets an example for women leaders in philanthropy," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. "Leading by example is a hallmark of a great leader."
The Susan Bulkeley Butler Women's Archives will provide resources visitors can use to learn about Purdue history and the key roles women faculty and alumnae have played in the university's growth. It also will be a site for seminars and exhibits in its Stewart Center location.
The archives will include an oral history program featuring recorded interviews with key women leaders, an acquisition program to gain important materials through donations and purchases and a lecture series focused on women leaders at Purdue. The archives also will provide grants for researchers from around the country to come to Purdue to use the archives and provide support for a staff member specializing in women's studies to work in the archives.
"Purdue University will be increasingly distinguished among other academic research libraries around the world through its unique collections and through its recognition of the important research and contributions of our women," said James L. Mullins, dean of Purdue Libraries.
Purdue Libraries Archives and Special Collections is already home to individual collections on women such as aviator Amelia Earhart and professor Lillian Gilbreth, the real-life "Cheaper by the Dozen" matriarch who, with her husband Frank, pioneered the field of motion studies. Purdue Libraries leaders say that the new archives will attract collections of memorabilia of prominent Purdue women, including the papers of astronauts, writers, business and government leaders, deans and scientists.
"The archives have a few stellar collections on women, but there is a scarcity of primary source documents of key pioneering women faculty and alumnae," said Sammie Morris, Purdue Libraries acting head of archives. "This scarcity is now being addressed through the development of a program for acquiring archival collections and oral histories that are focused on the women who helped shape Purdue and society. Susan Butler's generosity will enable the libraries to increase its commitment to diversity by acquiring the papers of women at Purdue who succeeded in largely male-dominated professions such as engineering, technology, science and management. The new women's archives will enable researchers and the Purdue community to rediscover the contributions of women by highlighting their achievements throughout Purdue's history."
Purdue Libraries is celebrating Indiana Archives Month by launching the exhibit "Pioneering Women of Purdue, 1875-1935," which displays items featuring Gilbreth, deans of women Dorothy C. Stratton and Helen B. Schleman, plant geneticist Anne Mae Lutz, U.S. Department of Agriculture chemist Katherine Bitting and others. The free exhibit, located in Stewart Center's Room 279, is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday through Friday through Dec. 16.
Butler's gift continues her history of giving back to her alma mater.
Butler of Tucson, Ariz., a 1965 alumna of the Krannert School of Management, donated $3.65 million in 2004 to establish an endowed chair in the Center of Leadership Excellence at the Discovery Learning Center in Discovery Park. The chair and the center, which both bear her name, share the mission of increasing collaboration between corporations and academia with a particular focus on the needs of women and other underrepresented groups. Butler holds an honorary doctorate from the Krannert School of Management where she has endowed a chair and a scholarship for women student-leaders.
She is a leading member of Women of Purdue, a program within the Campaign for Purdue that encourages women's leadership in giving to the university. She also serves on the Purdue Research Foundation board, dean's advisory council at Krannert and is a past president of the university's President's Council.
Now retired, Butler was the first female partner at Anderson Consulting, now known as Accenture. The Abingdon, Ill., native heads the Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women in Tucson.
This year, Butler was named to the Purdue board of trustees and subsequently to the committee that is identifying candidates to replace Jischke when he retires as president in 2007. Butler also is the author of "Become the CEO of You, Inc.: A Pioneering Executive Shares her Secrets for Career Success."
"Women leading by example have the ability to impact young women who are training to be the leaders of tomorrow, as well as women who are realizing their potential at various stages in their lives," Butler said. "I'm dedicated to ensuring that academic opportunities are widely available for women so that they can dream and achieve their aspirations."
Provost Sally Mason said the expanded archives could attract increased governmental funding, serve as a resource for women's initiatives locally and nationally and increase interdisciplinary and financial partnerships on and off campus.
"Improving access to scholarly research on women will attract scholars from around the world," Mason said. "It will also improve Purdue's capacity to attract and retain nationally recognized women faculty members."
Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu
Sources: Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708
James L. Mullins, (765) 494-2900, jmullins@purdue.edu
Sammie Morris, (765) 494-2905, morris18@purdue.edu
Susan Bulkeley Butler, susan@sbbinstitute.org
Sally Mason, (65) 494-9709, sfmason@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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