Finding Aid to UGA 92-196&185

CREATOR NOTE

John Dixon Bolton was born in Leslie, Sumter County, Georgia, on November 1, 1900. As a boy in Leslie, Bolton worked in his Father’s hardware store, and then in banks in Americus, Smithville, Chipley, and Atlanta. Young Bolton attended the Leslie High School and the Locust Grove Institute, in 1917, he went to work and took correspondence courses from three schools to pass the certified public accountant examination before a Georgia Board of Examiners in 1929. Several years later he became an examiner in the State Auditor Department under William Thrasher.

During the next two years he audited the books of the University, whose Treasurer and Registrar was the “Uncle Tom” Reed. As Bolton later maintained, Reed possessed an unorthodox system of keeping the books. Devoid of any accounting background, Reed just entered everything that “came in” in one ledger and everything that “went out” in another. For all practical purposes the system worked, but when Bolton divulged of the tricks of the trade, Uncle Tom Reed, highly impressed, invited him to take over. He did so in July, 1933 and became Comptroller in 1940.

Mr. Bolton, at the time of his death on August 1, 1965, had served the University of Georgia for thirty-two years. During this time he took an important in the development of the University of Georgia. He established sound and efficient routines in administering the important office which he headed at the University, and his administration was characterized by quiet and unostentatious efforts and effective results.

Bolton held memberships in both professional and honor societies being a member of Alpha Sigma Phi, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Beta Gamma Sigma, Delta Sigma Pi, Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Gridiron Club. Comptroller Bolton was also an avid sports fan who served as the treasurer of the Athletic Association for many years.

In addition to University work Bolton promoted and gave leadership to many organizations and institutions in Athens. He was a member of the Kiwanis Club for over three decades and served as its President in 1940. Other activities included membership in the Board of Directors of the Young Men’s Christian Association; chairman of the Board of Deacon’s of the First Baptist Church; President of the Athens Country Club; Director of the National Bank of Athens; Secretary-Treasurer of the Athens Masonic Temple, Inc.; one of the founders and President of the Clarke Federal and Loan Association; and a member of numerous other groups which were concerned with community improvement.

A NOTE OF ORGANIZATION

Work was started on the organization of the J.D. Bolton collection in October of 1979. After an examination of the 67 file drawers, 2 transfiles, 3 Record Containers and 1 Hollinger Box, and the materials which these diverse containers held, it was noticed that the collection had probably reached the Records Management Department/ Archives untouched (in terms of provenance) since removal from active service in the Comptroller’s Office.

It was also noticed that diverse document classification were retired piecemeal such that the inactive became merely a physical repository for documents. Although there were pockets of order here and there, there was no unifying organizational scheme which might have given the collection some coherency.

These observations having been made, it remained to decide whether to maintain the existing provenance of the collection or to reorganize the materials to make them more accessible to researchers. While it is true that the provenance as received could possibly have been maintained by the employment of an cross-referencing system, it was felt that the size (over 107 cubic feet) of the collection rendered the task of file-by-file cross-referencing unworkable. However, for those interested in examining the original provenance of file folders as received by this Department, Schedules I, II, & IV of the J.D. Bolton Papers-Organizational Materials Folder (in Hollinger Box 2) have been compiled to reflect the original state of the collection.

Once the decision to reorganize had been made, an organizational scheme had to be selected or fabricated and then applied to the collection. The structural framework which eventually emerged was chiefly derived from the system used by the Records Management Division of the Division of Business and Finance, University of Georgia. It was this source which provided the most basic divisions, which are as follows (1) Financial Materials (2) Administrative Materials (3) Personnel Materials (4) Board of Regents Materials.

Once these basic categories had been chosen, the unique character of the collection began to assert itself. Although J.D. Bolton was only Treasurer/ Comptroller from 1933-65, the temporal range of records runs as early as 1913, and as late as 1969. This temporal range encompasses the office of Bolton’s predecessor, Thomas Reed, as well as his successor, Joseph Broadhurst. An examination of these two extremes will give one a fair idea of the growth of the duties of Comptroller during Bolton’s tenure. In fact, the office became so complex that it became necessary to restructure and fragment its responsibilities under the Division of Business and Finance in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

As if dichotomy between the office (Comptroller) as it existed under Bolton and the office (Vice President for Business and Finance) as it exists today is not confusing enough, there are two types of documents in the Bolton Collection which are separate from the official papers of his office. These are his personal papers and materials from the Athletic Association. In the case of the former, the material was organized into a separate correspondence subject file, while the latter group was treated in the same fashion as the Comptroller’s papers, albeit separately.

Before concluding, a word should be said about the materials in the Hollinger Boxes and the blueprints. The reasons for each of the Hollinger Boxes are different. The contents of Box 2 are those documents essential to a full understanding of the Collection or else items of special interest which have been relocated for ease of access. The size prevented their integration into the main body of the collection. These records found on Box 7 were placed there as they are not university documents, merely state records from the tenure of Thomas Reed. In Box 4, one can find the few records not disposed of from the Voucher/ Deposit/Receipts section of the Financial Records.

The reasons for relocation of the oversized blueprints were (1) to allow for flat storage and preservation, and (2) to allow for ease of access in a central location.

In conclusion, perhaps the best way to get an organizational overview of the collection as a whole is by examining the outline which follows:

J.D. BOLTON PAPERS – ORGANIZATIONAL OUTLINE

I. Financial Materials

A. Budgetary Materials

1. Budget Amendments
2. Budget Materials (Bolton Office Classification)
3. Annual Budget
4. Departmental Budgets
5. Bound Budgets
6. Quarterly Budget Requests (I)
7. State Budget Allotment
8. Budget Analysis
9. Black Book Materials
10. Quarterly Budget Requests (II)
11. Budget Miscellany

B. Audit/Analysis Materials

1. Financial Reports
2. Audit Reports
3. Monthly Progress Reports
4. Sales and Services Reports
5. Sales and Use Tax Reports
6. Annual Reports
7. Balance Sheet Reports
8. Statements of Cash Position
9. Salary Analysis Materials

C. Deposits/ Vouchers/ Receipts

1. Miscellaneous Purchasing Correspondence

II. Administrative Materials

A. Contracts and Contractual Materials

1. Miscellaneous Contracts
2. Personnel Contracts

B. Departmental Administration

1. Agricultural Materials
2. Other Departmental

C. Miscellaneous Administration/ Administrative Correspondence Files

III. Personnel Materials

A. General Faculty/Staff

1. Miscellaneous
2. State Security Questionnaires/ Loyalty Oaths

B. Salary Materials

C. Personnel Subject File

IV. Board of Regents Materials

A. Physical Properties

B. State and/or Federal Agencies

C. Financial Institution Correspondence

D. Financial Aid

E. General Regents Administration

F. Oversized Blueprints and Plans

Special Collections

I. Athletic Association (organized accordingly to preceding organizational outline)

II. Personal Papers (organized as a correspondence subject file)

Scope and Content

This scope and content statement will examine briefly each of six series, focusing on items of possible interest. These six series are:

(1) Financial Materials- This document series is significant in that it examines the entire fiscal process of the university, from Budget Requests through final audit and financial reports for the fiscal year. Also present on this series are working papers, rough drafts, reports, support documents and related correspondence. These records are substantially complete from the late 1940’s through the early 1960’s, and reflect best the marked growth of the University and the Comptroller’s Office. Also present are copies of bound Proposed Budgets. The 36 cubic feet (nearly half the volume of the entire collection) which this series encompasses reflect that these papers formed the chief substance of Mr. Bolton’s responsibility.

(2) Administrative Materials- Within this series can be found two interesting subject files. The first of these, miscellaneous contracts, has an interesting cross-section of research contracts at the University from 1944-56. In addition, there are documents on personnel training agreements for World War I. The second subject file, Administrative Correspondence, has a wealth of correspondence, including a letter to Eddie Rickenbacker, letters from Sen. Richard Russell and J. Edgar Hoover.

(3) Personnel Materials- The most significant portion of this series is occupied by the STATE SECURITY QUESTIONNAIRES AND LOYALTY OATHS from 1954-59. There is also a subject file which encompasses 5 cubic feet.

(4) Board of Regents Materials- This series focuses on the Physical Plant aspects of the Comptroller’s Office, with special emphasis on the physical properties of the University. Of special interest is the documentation for the period of growth and expansion which took place at the University from the mid 1950’s through the early 1960’s. There is also a copy of a 1934 inventory of physical holdings of the University. Also, several oversized blueprints and plans have been compiled in one location for easy access (Plate A).

(5) Athletic Association- This discrete collection is organized along the same lines as the major holdings, and includes a complete financial record of the Athletic Association from the early 1950’s through the early 1960’s. The most important series here is the Administrative Subject File which contains a wealth of correspondence and materials from the 1940’s to the 1960’s. Two files of material on Sanford Stadium and 1 file of contracts 1913-60 have been relocated to Hollinger Box 2.

(6) Personal Papers- This 1.5 cubic feet of material has been organized into an alphabetizedsubject /correspondence file, and includes correspondence with the Bolton family and friends. There are also materials dealing with Mr. Bolton’s various affiliations; Kiwanis, Athens Country Club, Masonic Lodge, and various other professional and social groups. The balance of the papers is largely insurance, tax or property related , materials.

There are additionally two files of interest which can be found in Hollinger
Box 2. The first of these contains a photograph of Chancellor Sanford. The second file contains materials related to the attempts of Hamilton Holmes and Charlyne Hunter to attend the University of Georgia in early 1961. Included herein are financial documents and letters of removal from the University.