This collection contains records from the Alumni Affairs organization (sometimes known as Alumni Services or Alumni Relations) on the St. Cloud State University campus. The items date from 1962 to 1991, with the greater number of items dating from the 1970s and 1980s. Additions to this series may be ongoing.
The majority of materials in this collection are pieces of correspondence between the Alumni Affairs office with former students. These items make up the bulk of the collection and the biographical files are arranged in alphabetical order. These files include a myriad of items, including photographs, correspondence, newspaper articles, donation histories, funeral programs, and obituaries. Some of the biographical files are very large whilst others are quite sparse.
There are a few former prominent students that the Alumni Affairs office kept extensive information on in their offices. These students include Cyril Plattes, Ralph Heimdahl, US Congressman Nick Begich, and Dr. Richard Green.
Cyril Plattes was the Benefactor of the Friedrich Scholarship Fund. This scholarship was set up in the name of a science professor at St. Cloud State that would grant money to students studying environmental issues. For many years Plattes wished that his name be kept anonymous and not linked to the memorial fund. In 1973 the first scholarship in conservation from the George Friedrich Memorial fund was presented to five students.
Ralph Heimdahl graduated from the St. Cloud State Teacher’s College in 1930. He was an art teacher at the State School for the Deaf in Faribault, MN. Later he joined the animation department at Walt Disney Studios, and in 1948 he originated the Bugs Bunny comic strip for Warner Brothers. Heimdahl won the SCSU Distinguished Alumni Award in 1966. An endowed scholarship was established by his widow after his death in 1981 to provide financial assistance to students studying art.
Nick Begich graduated from St. Cloud with the class of 1952 and went on to become a US Congressman in Alaska. On October 16, 1972, he lost his life on a plane flight in Alaska along with U.S. Majority Leader Hale Boggs. The Nick Begich Memorial Commission was established by the St. Cloud State College Alumni Association in 1973 in tribute to the life and work of the former student. The purpose of the Commission was to establish a scholarship fund at St. Cloud State College which would enable political science majors to serve internships in Washington with members of Congress and for other political science scholarships. (2)
Another prominent alumnus included in the files is Dr. Richard Green. He graduated from St. Cloud State College with an MS in Special Education in 1968 and received his doctorate in Educational Administration from Harvard. He worked as Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools, beginning either in 1980 or 1981. Dr. Green was the recipient of the 1981 Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1988 he was hired to be the Chancellor of the New York City Schools.
The collection also includes miscellaneous materials on events, a slideshow narration, The St. Cloud State College Magazine, and the position descriptions for the head of Alumni Affairs.
The slideshow narration, Instructional Guide for Filmstrip on St. Cloud State College, was prepared for the Alumni Affairs Office by Doreen M. Keable. The script (sans actual slides or audio cassette) is dated March 13, 1970. According to the script, there is a series of forty color slides that are accompanied by a taped narration. The length of the presentation was approximately ten minutes. Some of the objectives of the slideshow include welcoming alumni and friends of the school to homecoming and other alumni functions.
