EMORY UNIVERSITY. OFFICE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Office of Business Management buildings and facilities files, 1927-1993

Restrictions on Access

Special restrictions apply: researchers must contact MARBL in advance to access oversized (XOP) materials in this collection.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Source

Transfer

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Office of Business Management buildings and facilities files, Emory University Archives, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Processing

Processed by Sean Suarez, September 2013.

Administrative History

The Office of Business Management was established in the fall of 1947, and the University appointed its first Business Manager to lead the office in April of the following year. The establishment of the Office of Business Management was part of a vast administrative restructuring in the postwar years, necessitated by the University’s rapid growth in enrollment, broadening mission, and increasingly complex operations. The Office of Business Management’s original mandate included oversight of the newly created Office of Student Housing, campus dining, a Buildings and Grounds Maintenance department, and Student Auxiliary Enterprises, which ranged from the Emory Bookstore and Student Laundry to Cap and Gown rental and vending services.

From the 1940s through the late 1990s, the Office of Business Management oversaw major expenditures related to the construction, upkeep, improvement, and renovation Emory University’s physical plant. In addition to executing transactions related to facilities construction and real property, the office established and administered budgetary and other operations for various campus enterprises, including student housing, laundry, and dining. Prior to the department’s reorganization in the late 1990s, the lead administrator in the Office of Business Management held the title of Business Manager of the University (1947-1961), and later Vice President for Business (1961-1999). Administrators who led the office under these different titles include Charles O. Emmerich (Business Manager 1948-1960); Orie E. Myers (Business Manager 1960-1961; Vice President for Business 1964-1989); and Robert Williams (Vice President for Business 1989-1999). After 1997, the office was reorganized into various units within Emory’s Division of Finance and Administration. Within that division, the Office of Business Management’s successor units, including Facilities Management, Planning Design and Construction, Transportation and Parking, and the Office of the University Architect, have fallen under the direction of the Vice President for Campus Services. Other operations that originally fell under the Office of Business Management have grown into units of their own, as in the case of Residence Life and Housing, or have been outsourced to private corporations, as in the case of campus dining.

Scope and Content Note

The records of the Office of Business Management include materials that antedate the creation of the office. The bulk of the collection, however, dates to the period after 1948. Materials include architectural specifications; correspondence of Emory University officials with architectural, contracting, and engineering firms; internal correspondence and memoranda related to the operation of auxiliary enterprises; and similar materials related to the acquisition, sale, construction, and improvement of University properties ranging from academic buildings and health care facilities to student housing and off-site research facilities such as the Yerkes Primate Research Laboratories. The collection consists of two series: (1) Atlanta campus and properties, 1927-1993, and (2) Oxford campus, 1949-1990. The collection includes records related to some properties not owned by Emory, but subsidized by the University. The latter include the Atlanta Southside Community Health Center, Grady Hospital, and other medical facilities, as well as the American Cancer Society Headquarters, Scholars Press, and Methodist Church properties in both Oxford and Atlanta.

Arrangement Note

Organized into two series: (1) Atlanta campus and properties, 1927-1993, and (2) Oxford campus, 1949-1990. Each series is organized alphabetically by building or project name.

Finding Aid Note

Finding aid available in the repository.