Maria Regina College had its origins in the Saint Francis Normal School for the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order of Syracuse, which operated from 1934 to 1961. The mission of providing religious members with associate's degrees in the teaching profession, in accordance with church and state requirements, expanded in 1962 to include lay women and a variety of occupational degrees. At that time, it was the first and only Catholic residential college exclusively for women in the Diocese of Syracuse, New York. The college was chartered by the University of the State of New York Board of Regents and was accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. In addition to a liberal arts associate's degree, students could obtain degrees in child development, business secretarial, library service, medical secretarial, merchandising, business management, occupational therapy, medical records, and physical therapy. Maria Regina College also provided cooperative extension teaching services for students of nursing schools at St. Elizabeth Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital, and students of Hancock Air Force Base Education Services. The college closed in 1988 due to significant declining financial support.
The Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order Syracuse has consolidated with three other Franciscan women-religious congregations since 2004, and is now known as the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.
Scope of Collection
The Maria Regina College Collection includes twenty-four digitized yearbooks documenting the students, faculty, administration, and activities of the school. An additional handcrafted commencement edition explains the origin of the college and documents the buildings, dorms and student services, as well as the first commencement ceremony. Examples of the influence that administration of a women's college by a community of religious women can have, is evidenced in Office of the President letters encouraging students to maintain curiosity and develop courage, and a photo essay titled "A woman's place means the world to us!". Researchers exploring the collection will notice a mix of old academia traditions such as the beanie ceremony for freshmen, and Catholic traditions such as "opening mass" at the beginning of semester. Although there isn't a direct statement of student contribution to the creation of the yearbooks on the title pages, students are identified elsewhere in the yearbooks as yearbook staff.
