The Powrie Vaux Doctor Collection consists of materials related to his work at Gallaudet College as an instructor and professor, editor of the American Annals of the Deaf, and as a member of the Nevil Trust. The collection also contains his personal papers.

The collection consists approximately 99,450 items dating from 1909 to 1979, but the collection contains photocopies of letters received from Amos Kendall from 1830 to 1852. The majority of the papers date from the 1940’s to 1971.

The bulk of the collection includes various addresses, correspondence, essays, grade books and scrapbooks. The collection is organized in the following series: American Annals of the Deaf (AAD), AAD Correspondence, State File, Foreign File, Essays, Conferences-Workshops, Gallaudet College, Nevil Trust, the World Federation of the Deaf, Colleges and Universities, Scrapbooks and Personal.

In the AAD series are addresses by Powrie V. Doctor, material related to the Conference of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf, General Correspondence, and International Congress on the Education of the Deaf. The AAD Correspondence, the State File and the Foreign File are arranged alphabetically. In those series one can find letters most relating to the American Annals of the Deaf.

There are also written essays by Powrie Vaux Doctor completed during his early years, some of which were published in the American Annals of the Deaf.

The collection includes information about conferences and workshops including the International Conference on oral Education of the Deaf, the Workshop on Interpreting for the Deaf, some religious workshops for Lutherans, Episcopalians and Catholics, Workshop on the Identification of Researchable Vocational Rehabilitation Problems of the Deaf and a workshop to Develop Guidelines for the Establishment of Rehabilitation Facilities for the Deaf.

The Gallaudet College series includes correspondence from various Presidents of Gallaudet College and members of the Student Body Government, reports of the Board of Directors of Gallaudet College and papers related to the Crotched Mountain Foundation. Also one can find some information about the Gallaudet Centennial Anniversary and Negro admissions to Kendall School.

The Gallaudet College series has 10 boxes which include Powrie V. Doctor’s work as an instructor and professor under the Departments of English and History and Political Science (presently Government), and the Graduate School. (The “Grade Books” are closed to the public. See reference staff for restrictions.)

The Nevil Trust series has only two boxes which are mostly photocopies of papers showing Powrie V. Doctor’s involvement as a member of the Girard Bank’s Advisory Committee. The papers of the World Federation of the Deaf include mostly papers related to the Fifth World Congress held in Warsaw, Poland in 1967. One can find abstracts of papers, general correspondence, and programs. Also there are the papers of the Sixth World Congress which was held in Paris, France in 1971.

The Colleges and Universities series includes papers related to the University of Kansas where Powrie V. Doctor graduated. In those folders are clippings, commencement programs, written essays and yearbooks. Powrie V. Doctor wrote his Master’s thesis on “A Comparison of College Entrance Tests” which is included in the folder for Gallaudet College. In one of the folders of The George Washington University, where Powrie V. Doctor studied history and political science, is his Master’s thesis entitled “French Public Opinion Regarding the American Senate”. The Georgetown University folders included correspondence, minutes, notebooks, and research papers relating to Amos Kendall’s political life which resulted in Powrie V. Doctor’s dissertation entitled “Propagandist of Jacksonian Democracy”.

Finally, in the Personal series one can find Christmas cards, convention pins, general correspondence, itineraries, postcards, and papers related to the Cosmos Club, fraternities of Delta Sigma Lambda, Kappa Gamma, Theta Chi and Theta Nu Tau, and items related to his European and world trips.

The Powrie V. Doctor is an excellent source for researchers doing biographical research or for researchers looking for information on important individuals. The arrangement of the collection allows for easy access by last name within several series.