Charters, bylaws, and agreements, 1883 - 2023

This subseries contains documents that formally define the functions and purposes of Barnard College and its Board of Trustees, as well as documents that were used to negotiate the terms of Barnard’s charter and its evolving relationship with Columbia University. Important 19th-century documents include Columbia Trustees’ rejection of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women’s petition for co-education, pamphlets that argued for women’s education, Barnard’s charter, and early bylaws of the College’s Board of Trustees. This subseries also includes drafts of proposed agreements between Columbia and Barnard regarding how the institutions would share financial and human resources, as well as amendments made to such agreements throughout the 20th century. A few of these agreements also include information about institutional relationships with Teachers College at Columbia and the Juilliard School. The most recent materials in this subseries are digital copies of the Board’s bylaws from 2020 and 2023.