Indiana University. Comptroller

With the retirement of the Indiana University Bursar in 1936, the Board of Trustees created the new administrative position of University Comptroller to manage the university's financial operation.

As the university's business manager, the Comptroller had a number of duties including preparation and control of the budget, handling of student loan funds, collection of gifts and bequests and general charge of the physical plant. Ward Gray Biddle served as the first and only Comptroller because in 1942 the university underwent a reorganization and the Comptroller's duties were assumed by other positions.

From the description of Records, 1935-1946 1936-1942. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 51213527

Ward Gray Biddle was born on March 23, 1891 on a farm in Madison County, IN, to Charles W. and Nellie (Gray) Biddle. He graduated from Pendleton High School, in Madison County, in 1909 and immediately entered Indiana University that summer. His studies were prolonged over a five year period due to his employment as a teacher in Adams Township, where he taught in the same schoolhouse in which his mother had taught. This helped him earn the money which financed his university education. As a student Biddle actively participated in extra-curricular activities and held many prestigious student positions such as: treasurer of the Indiana Union Board, business manager of the Arbutus, and president of his social fraternity, Sigma Nu, to name a few. It was not until 1916 that he graduated with an A.B. degree in economics and began working in the banking business. A year later, on June 3, Biddle was married to Dona Ruth Roberts with whom he had 2 daughters: Elizabeth Ruth, born June 2, 1918; and Nancy Ward, born July 18, 1920.

In 1923, Biddle left the banking business and returned to IU to serve as manager of the university bookstore. Within two years of becoming manager of the bookstore he was able to prove its worth as a useful service enterprise and relocate the bookstore from the basement of the library, then located in Franklin Hall, to a separate, temporary structure between Maxwell and Owen Halls that would facilitate the growing needs of the students. He also sought interaction and cooperation with other university bookstores and was instrumental in organizing the National Association of College Bookstores. He served as president of the N.A.C.B. from 1930 to 1931, later serving as director in 1933. Between 1931 and 1932 the university bookstore moved into its permanent location at the newly constructed Indiana University Memorial Union Building. Since the bookstore had made such a substantial contribution to the memorial fund, Biddle was able to secure an entire wing of the new building for the bookstore’s operations. It was Biddle himself who did much of the designing and planning of the new bookstore wing of the Memorial Union and, when finished, it was called “the most beautiful college bookstore in the country” by the New York Times. Within ten years Biddle had transformed the bookstore from an unsightly, cramped three-room bookstore relegated to the library’s basement to one of the premier university bookstores in the country. Aside from the bookstore’s highly efficient operation, it also included such services as a post-office branch, a central ticket office for campus attractions, and check cashing as well as niceties such as a “Fireside Bookshop” where students could browse shelves of books and even discuss them with others over a cup of tea. Being a life-long appreciator of fine art, Biddle was able to schedule some of the best art exhibits to be displayed on the bookstore’s mezzanine floor.

By achieving such success with the university bookstore, Biddle was elected as the first Director of the new Union Building in 1932 in addition to his other duties as manager of the bookstore. He strived to make the new Union Building the cultural and social center of campus, not by just decorating its walls with oil paintings, but by inspiring an environment of hospitality, democracy, and community amongst its visitors. Biddle directed the operations of the Union in the same productive, efficient manner in which he managed the bookstore. With the retirement of Ulysses Howe Smith in 1936, who served as the University Bursar, the Board of Trustees created the new administrative position “University Comptroller” to manage the university’s financial operations. Biddle’s achievements with the bookstore and the Union were recognized by the university administration when he was elected to serve in this newly established administrative position.

When the Trustees established the position of Comptroller, they set out amongst his duties: business manager of the university; preparation of a university budget; operation and control of the budget; keeping of books of account; audit of university accounts; membership on the Board's investment committee; handling of student loan funds; collection of student fees; collection of gifts and bequests; insurance; purchasing; general charge of the physical plant; ticket sales to all events; inventory of all properties; signing of checks; supervision of the business administration of all self-supporting enterprises of the university, such as the Union, bookstore, food department, athletic department, and printing plant; and supervision of the financial affairs of the Medical Center in Indianapolis.

As he had done with the bookstore and Union, Biddle directed the office and operations of the Comptroller in a highly productive and efficient manner. In addition to his duties as Comptroller, he was elected “Secretary of the Board of Trustees” in 1937. He served as university Comptroller and Secretary of the Board of Trustees until 1942 when the university was reorganized and he was named Vice President and Treasurer. As Indiana University Vice President and Treasurer, his duties were: direct supervision of buildings & grounds, purchasing, service enterprises, non-academic personnel, new construction & remodeling, cashier & ticket manager, medical center business office, accounting & auditing, real estate & rentals, insurance, safety, and publications. During his service as Vice President and Treasurer, he oversaw the construction phase of the 1930s in which buildings such as Forest Hall and the School of Music were erected to be followed by another building phase in the 1940s when buildings such as Swain, Sycamore, and Beech Halls were erected.

What is widely considered as Biddle’s crowning achievement in regards to his lasting social, cultural, and educational impact on the university was his active role in the planning and construction of the Auditorium, which is widely considered one of the finest structures of its kind in the country. He was instrumental in bringing some of the greatest musicians and theatrical performers in the world to perform at the Auditorium including the Metropolitan Opera Company which had never previously performed at a college or on a university campus.

Another achievement of his which would have long term positive implications for the university and the surrounding state was his active involvement in the organization of the I.U. Foundation in 1936. He later served as a member of its Board of Directors and Executive Committee in 1937.

Biddle received many awards for his service to the university, most notable being the “Leather Medal for Service to Indiana University” awarded to him by Sigma Delta Chi in 1938-39 for “the most outstanding service to the University by a member of the administrative staff or faculty for that year.” He was also named National Vice Regent of Sigma Nu fraternity in 1939 as well as being a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary scholastic Business fraternity.

Aside from his accomplishments at IU, Biddle was active in many local Masonic organizations, holding such esteemed positions as that of 23rd degree Mason. He was also able to fulfill many of his political ambitions by being elected in 1930 to serve as a state representative from Monroe County and the following year he was elected to the state senate from Brown, Green, and Monroe counties. He served on numerous House committees, having been appointed Chairman of the Committee on Education as well as Chairman of the Finance Committee when he was in the senate.

After a prolonged illness, Ward Gray Biddle died on May 28, 1946 at Robert W. Long Hospital in Indianapolis.

From the guide to the Indiana University Comptroller records, 1935-1946, bulk 1936-1942, (Indiana University Office of University Archives and Records Management http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives)