Sherwin Badger

Sherwin Badger was born in Boston on August 29, 1901. He graduated from Harvard University in 1923. After two years with the United Fruit Company in Boston and Cuba, he joined the Boston News Bureau moving to New York with the Dow Jones Publications in 1925.  He served as editor of Barrons, the National Financial Weekly from 1932-1935.

Mr. Badger, in addition to his business activities, was a world champion sportsman, having twice represented the United States in Figure Skating at the Olympics. As a singles skater, Badger won five U.S. national titles from 1920-1924. He later became a pairs skater, teaming up with Beatrix Loughran to win national titles from 1930-1932 and a silver medal at the 1932 Winter Olympics. Badger also served as President of the US Skating Association for several years in the 1930s.

In 1940, Badger joined New England Mutual Life Insurance where he became a member of the Board of Directors in 1960 and Senior Vice President in 1964.

Badger was an active member of Boston’s business community as well other organizations in the Boston community. His affiliations included his position as Director and member of the Trust Committee and Executive Committee of the Old Colony Trust Company; Director and member of the Executive Committee, Mass. Business Development Corp.; Director of the Downtown Waterfront Corp; Director of Mass. Small Business Investment Company, Inc.; Director, Boston Opera Association; Trustee, Children’s Hospital Medical Center and New England Baptist Hospital; Trustee and member of Board of Investment, Charlestown Savings Bank; Member, Committee on University resources of Harvard University; Chairman, Finance Advisory Board, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and the Transportation and Communication Committee, US Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Badger joined the NEC Board of Trustees in 1953 and was elected Chairman in 1961. As Chairman, Badger secured major grants from the Ford Foundation in addition to other significant grants from national foundations including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Trust, and the Spaulding-Potter Charitable Trust. Badger announced his retirement from the board in November, 1971.He died shortly thereafter on April 8, 1972.

Source: New England Conservatory Alumni News, vol. 3 no.4, January 1972

Physical description

This collection consists of approximately 1.4 lin. ft, housed in two record cartons. All of these records are paper.

Provenance

The Sherwin Badger Papers consists of materials created by or belonging to Sherwin Badger who was the Chairman of the NEC Board of Trustees from 1961-1972. These records have been in storage since Badger’s tenure and were transferred to the NEC archives in 2004.

Access

Access to the Sherwin Badger Papers is granted by the Archivist. Appointments must be scheduled in advance. There may be some restrictions pertaining to this collection. Access will be determined on a case by case basis.

Copyright

All copyrights to this collection belong to the New England Conservatory. Permission to publish materials from this collection is granted by the Director of Libraries. This collection should be cited as:  NECA 2.2. Sherwin Badger Papers, New England Conservatory Archives, Boston, MA.

Scope & Content

The Sherwin Badger Papers are organized into six series:

1. Correspondence
2. Fundraising Records
3. Committee Records
4. Department Files
5. Subject Files
6. External Files

The Correspondence series consists of three types of correspondence: General, Trustees, and NEC. The General correspondence spans the years 1961-1971 and is organized chronologically. Correspondence of the Trustees (correspondence to/from Board members) dates from 1962-1971 and is also arranged chronologically. The Trustees correspondence does not include gift acknowledgements. The NEC correspondence encompasses NEC faculty, staff, and administrative correspondence, as well as correspondence to/from Gunther Schuller and NEC’s Friends organization. There are also letters of interest from former NEC president Harrison Keller, contained in the Administration/former administration file.

During Badger’s tenure as Chairman of the Board, a major fundraising campaign took place. The Fundraising records series documents all aspects of that campaign. The gift acknowledgements span the years 1963-1971. Also included are prospect lists, solicitation activity records, progress reports, gift records, gift lists, and campaign literature materials.  There is also one folder concerning federal funding, and another concerning the funding for Firestone Audio Library.

The Committee records document the activities of the various NEC Board committees that existed during Badger’s chairmanship. Also included are the board membership lists from that period and a questionnaire that was distributed to the trustees in 1969.

The fourth series, Department Files, basically contains records relating to two
Conservatory departments: Public Relations and the Preparatory Division.  The
Preparatory Division records document the operations, activities and costs of the division and its branches including the North Shore, Wellesley, and Castle Hill (Summer school) programs. The Public Relations files record the operations, budgets, and goals of the PR department during Badger’s time. These records document NEC’s association with two public relations consulting firms, Corporate Images and the Forrester Co. There is also one folder pertaining to the Undergraduate division.

Badger’s Subject Files cover a wide range of topics. The first deals with materials relating to F.S. Converse- both the fellowship in his name at NEC and the disposition of his manuscripts. The Long Range Planning file, the Hay and Associates file, and the Leinsdorf meeting file concern the future goals and direction of NEC.  The Facilities folder contains information regarding improvements to NEC’s recital halls and the renovation of Brown Hall. There is also a folder devoted to Jordan Hall.  Other subject files concern the establishment of NEC’s Pension Plan for faculty and staff, NEC’s involvement with the Fenway Urban Renewal project, the acquisition and disposition of the Warren Estate property in Essex, and the production of Gunther Schuller’s opera The Visitation. 

The External files primarily concern the meetings of the independent conservatories (one of which was held at Castle Hill), the planning for and development of a research study into the value of the independent conservatory in America, and efforts to attain funding as a result of this research. The group of conservatories eventually named themselves the Association of Independent Conservatories of Music (AICOM). These activities took place between 1965 and 1967.  Later an organization with a similar purpose was established in 1969 called the Council for Independent Professional Schools of Music (CIPSOM). The last of the external files relates to CIPSOM.

Container List

Series 1: Correspondence

Box 1
 
Folder 1 - Correspondence, General, 1961-1962
Folder 2 - Correspondence, General, 1963-1966
Folder 3 - Correspondence, General, 1967-1968
Folder 4 - Correspondence, General, 1969-1970
Folder 5 - Correspondence, General, 1971
Folder 6 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1962-1963
Folder 7 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1964
Folder 8 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1965
Folder 9 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1966
Folder 10 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1967
Folder 11 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1968
Folder 12 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1969
Folder 13 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1970
Folder 14 - Correspondence, Trustees, 1971
Folder 15 - Correspondence, NEC Faculty
Folder 16 - Correspondence, Staff
Folder 17 - Correspondence, Administration/former administration
Folder 18 - Correspondence, Students
Folder 19 - Correspondence, Schuller/Badger
Folder 20 - Correspondence, Friends
Folder 21 - Memoranda

Series 2: Fundraising Records

Folder 22 - Gift acknowledgements, 1963
Folder 23 - Gift acknowledgements, 1964
Folder 24 - Gift acknowledgements, 1965
Folder 25 - Gift acknowledgements, 1966
Folder 26 - Gift acknowledgements, 1967
Folder 27 - Gift acknowledgements, 1968
Folder 28 - Gift acknowledgements, 1969
Folder 29 - Gift acknowledgements, 1970
Folder 30 - Gift acknowledgements, 1971
Folder 31 - Campaign Kick-Off
Folder 32 - Campaign Literature – A Program for Music
Folder 33 - Campaign Literature – A Second Century of Progress
Folder 33b - Campaign Literature - Other
Folder 34 - Campaign Solicitation Records
Folder 35 - Campaign Prospect Lists
Folder 36 - Campaign Progress Reports
Folder 37 - Centennial Gift Records
Folder 38 - Centennial Gift Lists
Folder 39 - Gift Lists, oversize
Folder 40 - Federal funding - Leo Tonkin Assoc
Folder 41 - Firestone Library

Series 3: Committee Records

Folder 42 - Board Membership Lists
Folder 43 - Alumni Relations Committee
Folder 44 - By-Laws Committee
Folder 45 - Centennial Committee
Folder 46 - Committee on Space
Folder 47 - Development Committee
Folder 48 - Executive Committee
Folder 49 - Finance Committee/Financial projections, 1964-1965
Folder 50 - Finance Committee, Financial Prospectus, 1970
Folder 51 - Investment Committee
Folder 52 – Planning and Development Committee, Correspondence, 1962-1963
Folder 53 - Planning and Development Committee, Correspondence, 1964 and undated
Folder 54 - Planning and Development Committee, Reports and Minutes
Folder 55 - Ad Hoc Presidential Search Committee
Folder 56 - Public Relations Subcommittee
Folder 57 - Visiting Committee on Housing
Folder 58– Trustee Questionnaire

Series 4: Department Files

Box 2

Folder 1 - Preparatory Division, general
Folder 2 - Preparatory Division, North Shore Branch
Folder 3 - Preparatory Division, Wellesley Branch
Folder 4 - Preparatory Division, Community Services Dept
Folder 5 - Preparatory Division, Castle Hill Festival Series- Summer School
Folder 6 - Public Relations, January – July 1966
Folder 7 - Public Relations, July 1966- (The Forrester Co.)
Folder 8 - Public Relations, Newspaper articles / Press releases
Folder 8b - Undergraduate Division

Series 5: Subject Files

Folder 9 - Frederick Converse
Folder 10 - Facilities
Folder 11 - Fenway Urban Renewal
Folder 11b - Jordan Hall
Folder 12 - Leinsdorf meeting
Folder 13 - Long range planning
Folder 14 - NEC Pension Plan
Folder 15 - Schuller’s The Visitation
Folder 16 - Warren Estate
Folder 17 - Hay and Associates study on organization and staffing
 
Series 6: External Files
 
Folder 18 - AICOM Preliminary materials - Nelson Assoc
Folder 19 - AICOM, June – August 1965
Folder 20 - AICOM, September – December 1965
Folder 21 - AICOM, 1966-1967
Folder 22 - CIPSM, 1969-1970