This collection consists of the administrative records of Herman T. Briscoe during his tenure as Vice President and Dean of the Faculties, 1940-1959. In addition to Briscoe's papers, those of his assistants, Robert T. Ittner and Ralph L. Collins, are also present in small numbers throughout the collection.

The Vice President and Dean of the Faculties records are organized into five series: Chronological subject files, General subject Files, Committee on Administrative Research, Chronological files, and Inter-University Committee.

The first series, Chronological subject files (1940-1957), is arranged chronologically by academic year and within, the files are arranged alphabetically by folder heading. The records primarily consist of reports, memos, meeting minutes, and correspondence reflecting Briscoe's activities as an officer of Indiana University serving on various committees, corresponding with the heads of departments and deans of I.U.'s various schools and divisions, and discussing personnel matters. In December 1942 Dean Briscoe was appointed to the War Manpower Commission in Washington D.C. and took two leaves of absence from IU. During these periods the university appointed an Acting Dean of the Faculties, Professor A. L. Kohlmeier of the History Department, from February to April 1943, and Professor Ford P. Hall of the Government Department during the 1943-1944 academic year. The records from the Dean of the Faculties Office during these years are present in this collection and reflect the continued activity of the office. Both Kohlmeier and Hall received and acted upon correspondence intended for Dean Briscoe and both corresponded with Dean Briscoe on university matters.

The second series, General subject files span 1944-1959 and are few in number. These files do not differ in content from the Chronological subject files but after the 1944-1945 school year, the office discontinued the practice of creating new subject files each academic year. Several files have been restricted due to a few sensitive documents in each folder, however, much of the material in these files contains research value and can be used if requested well in advance so that staff may remove the restricted materials.

The third series, Chronological files (1946-1959), contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, reports, memos, and some meeting minutes from the Dean of the Faculties Office. The materials are arranged by the month and year in which they were created. The majority of the records are from the period 1951-1957 and reflect the activity of all the members of the Dean of the Faculties Office. This series has been restricted due to a few sensitive documents in each folder, however, much of the material in these files contains research value and can be used if requested well in advance so that staff may remove the restricted materials.

The fourth series, Committee on Administrative Research (1944-1951), contains files from the Dean of Faculties Office while Briscoe, Ittner, and Collins were members of this committee: Briscoe as Chairman, 1944-1946; Ittner as Secretary, 1946-1948; and Collins as Chairman, 1949-1951.

The fifth and final series, Inter-University Committee, is comprised of the reports, statistical analyses, and correspondence files of Dean Briscoe during his involvement with this committee. The committee was directed by representatives of the four state schools: Indiana University, Purdue University, Indiana State University, and Ball State University. Its purpose was to calculate a budget formula that could be utilized by the Indiana State Legislature in apportioning funds to the four universities. Dean Briscoe chaired this committee in from 1951-1952. The series is arranged chronologically and alphabetically within each year.

Note: Restricted files are listed where they would fall in the intellectual organization of the collection but are physically located at the end of the collection in Boxes 13-23.