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THE OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR
THE oldest existing record of the kind of work now done in the Registrar's Office is contained in the first catalogue of the University, which was published by the faculty of four men in 1843. In this interesting twelve-page booklet the students were listed by class, and a small numerical summary, the beginning of an uninterrupted series of enrollment tables, was also included.
The only faculty during the first nine years of instruction in Ann Arbor, 1841-50, was that of the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and the earliest official who had the duties of a registrar was the secretary of the faculty. It was in the spring of 1846, when the faculty authorized a permanent written record of its proceedings, that this office was created, and it was filled by the election of a different person every year, as was the position of president of the faculty. These two were the only officials in the University before the formation of the Medical School, with faculty officers of its own, in 1850. None of these were officials of the central University administration, as the term is now understood; they were under the authority of their respective faculties, and until the inauguration of President Henry Philip Tappan in 1852, the faculties were directly responsible to the Board of Regents.
The present registrarship, although a part of the central administration, evolved directly from the faculty secretaryship of the Department (now College) of Literature, Science, and the Arts. In the years 1863-72 that faculty elected both a secretary and a registrar, and the two offices were not held by any man simultaneously. With this exception, the officer known as secretary of the faculty until 1888 performed ex officio the services of a registrar. Likewise, from 1888 until 1925, the officer called the registrar sent out notices of faculty meetings and kept the faculty minutes.
Subject to the approval of the Regents, the faculty of the 1840's determined, or at least altered, the requirements for entrance and graduation. Presumably, such of its rules as were not expressly disapproved by the Regents were put into effect.
The rudimentary nature of the education offered by secondary schools made the problem of admissions difficult (see Part I: Branches) . It had been expected that the students who completed the work of the University's branch schools could make the transition into the University without special examination. But the Regents thought it wise to establish a special "preparatory school" in Ann Arbor at the time when they opened the University in September, 1841, so that if any students unprepared for even the freshman class should present themselves (supposedly from schools in other localities), they could make up their deficiencies (R.P., 1837-64, pp. 208, 212). It is revealed by a faculty discussion in May, 1846, that up to that time the University had admitted students from its branches without examination, but that the quality of their preparation had not pleased the faculty. One professor proposed a measure to require all students, "without exception," to pass the standard entrance examinations before being admitted, but action was postponed. Two months later several resolutions with regard to admission were passed, and the requirement thereby set up was that no student could be admitted into any class, freshman or higher, without examination satisfactory to the faculty. According to