The Matilda Wilson College Proposal of December 1956: The First Curricular Source for Oakland University

Abstract

In November 1956, Matilda Dodge Wilson and Alfred Wilson decided to donate their Meadow Brook Farms estate and $2 million to the state of Michigan for the purpose of founding an educational institution. One month later, an 11-page memo envisioning the nature of the future Michigan State University Oakland (MSUO) emerged from the office of the Michigan State University (MSU) Vice President for Academic Affairs, Thomas Hamilton. The document was the first conceptualization of an academic program for the new institution which became MSUO, although the author called it the Matilda Wilson College.