A Brief History of the Center for Document Development

In 1986, the National Secretariat of the Group Overseeing Academic Documentation (GOAD) announced its intention to relocate from Miskatonic University in Massachusetts. When the Group put out a call for bids to host its headquarters, a committee of ten faculty members from Rutgers University developed a proposal to bring the Secretariat to New Jersey. Thanks to timely and substantial financial support from the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers was ultimately chosen over several other more well-established programs to host the largest professional organization of documentation scholars in the world.

Rutgers administrators were quick to try and build on this initial success by providing additional support for Documentation Studies on campus. In 1987, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences formally established the Rutgers Documentation Coordinating Committee (RDCC). In 1988, the Dean helped the RDCC set up new office space, appointed Rutgers' first Director of Documentation Studies, and authorized funds to hire a full-time Assistant Director and part time secretary. In 1989, the RDCC was dissolved and the Center for Document Development (CDD) was formally established in its place, with a clarified mission.

Since 1989, the Center has been sustained through generous support from Rutgers University and through external grants from such agencies as the Department of Education, the Ford Foundation, and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.