LEA COLLEGE:

The idea for Lea College developed in December, 1963 when local doctors met with the Higher Education Committee of the Albert Lea Chamber of Commerce in hopes of preventing the closing of the Naeve Hospital School of Nursing. The Committee, cognizant of deficiencies in higher education in the area, began considering the establishment of a four year private college, which would absorb the Naeve nursing program. In January, 1964 the chamber of commerce invited Dr. Millard G. Roberts, President of Parsons College (Fairfield, Iowa), to speak on his experiences in turning Parsons College from the brink of bankruptcy into profitability, as well as on prospects for a new college in Albert Lea.

Roberts' talk inspired Albert Lea businessmen and thirty eight of them formed the Board of Trustees of Mid-Continent College, which was issued a charter by the State of Minnesota in February, 1964. Fund raising was begun and land for a campus was acquired two miles west of town on the shores of Lake Chapeau. The college thus established adopted its formal name, Lea College on Lake Chapeau, in December 1965.

Dr. William A. DeMeester, formerly of Parsons College, was installed as the college's first president in October 1965. Over the next year faculty and staff were hired and construction of campus buildings begun. While a campus academic building, containing two lecture halls, six classrooms, lounge, office and study space, and locker rooms was completed by the fall of 1966, the dormitory was not. The Hotel Albert in downtown Albert Lea was purchased and renovated as a dormitory.

It also housed a cafeteria, library, student center, business and registrar's offices, and a bookstore. The first freshman class of almost 500 students from 20 states arrived in early October 1966.

Lea College, modeled largely on Parsons College, adopted a sixteen-week trimester system, recruited average to below average high school students, and accepted no government funds outside of student financial aid. Its aim was to offer a college education to students who might not otherwise attend college. For several years the college grew, reaching a peak of 900 students in 1969. Several new buildings, including a dormitory (Christopherson Hall), were built and students were able to transfer credits to other schools, including the University of Minnesota.

In 1970, largely due to an unstable financial base, Lea College was denied accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges. By the spring of 1971, the college deficit approached $500,000. Faculty did double duty and took a 27% pay cut before the college was forced to issue them promissory notes in lieu of salary. The college placed a moratorium on all past due accounts. Dr. Fred Glassbruner was recruited as the college's fourth president in July, 1971, but his restructuring of the college and his ties with the business community were unable to halt the college's slide. Lea College stopped recruiting new students in September, 1972 and by the spring of 1973 the outlook was grim. A few seniors were allowed to finish course work during the summer of 1973 and on August 18, 1973 Lea College closed its doors for good.

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The President's Files are contained in the first seven boxes. They comprise two major series: subject files and development files. The subject files contain correspondence and committee reports, as well as various reports and proposals for new programs for Lea College. Minutes, bylaws, and other material concerning the Board of Trustees of Mid-Continent College Corporation and Lea College, while not complete, are present. Also notable are accreditation files concerning the North Central Association and Dr. Glassbruner's "President's Column," which appeared in The Albert Lea Tribune between December, 1971 and January 1973. The development files are subdivided into top firms, foundations, individuals, programs, and a general file. Each subseries is alphabetically arranged and largely contains correspondence on fund raising.

Records of the College Dean follow the President's Files. This subgroup also contains several series relating to accreditation (North Central), administrative matters, college academic departments, faculty committees, and miscellaneous course and grade data.

The Dean of Students records are a single series containing correspondence dealing with housing, financial aid, student organizations, student government, and student publications. Included here are copies of the campus newspaper, The Lancet, as well as scattered issues of other publications.

The Admissions Office subgroup contains reports and correspondence of admissions officers, as well as several folders of questionnaires completed by Lea students and documenting the reasons they chose Lea College. The Business Office records contain the surviving financial records of Lea College. This subgroup comprises several series: an alphabetical file, financial affairs file, a miscellaneous file, ledger sheets, and various journals. The financial affairs file contains trial balance sheets, operating account statements, and statements of income and expenditures. These statements do not appear to be complete and are only roughly arranged. More complete financial data appear in the general ledger sheets, found in boxes 18-20, and the journals found in boxes 21 and 22. Among the journals is an account journal (1967), a development office journal (1964-1967), income and expenditures journal (1966-1967), and a cash receipts and disbursements journal (1965-1967). Also of note are two folders of bankruptcy proceedings from 1973.

The Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds material contains information on campus buildings and an architectural plan for Lea College written in 1969. Also included are architectural drawings for the field house and Christopherson Hall drawn by local architect Adrian C. Hestness. The final group of Miscellaneous Material contains four folders of the weekly campus bulletin (1966-1973), newspaper clippings, photographs, brochures, six editions of the Lea College Catalog, and three editions of Chronos, the college yearbook.

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These papers are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Lea College Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,946

Processing Information:

Processed by: Richard Arpi, January 1993

Catalog ID number: 990017287320104294

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General files

Development files

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Accreditation

Administrative

Organizations

Departmental

Faculty Committees

Faculty: General

Course materials

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General files

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General files

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Alphabetical files

Financial Affairs

Miscellaneous

Ledger sheets

Pledge control files

Journals

Bankruptcy files

Cash journal

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General files

Architectural drawings

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

College facilities -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea.

College students -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea.

Private universities and colleges -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea.

Universities and colleges -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea -- Administration.

Universities and colleges -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea -- Evaluation.

Universities and colleges -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea -- Faculty.

Universities and colleges -- Minnesota -- Albert Lea -- Finance.

Organizations:

Lea College -- Buildings -- Drawings.

Lea College -- Finance.

Document Types:

Bookkeeping records.

Drawings.

School yearbooks.

Occupations:

College administrators.

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