The Board of Directors/Trustees served as Interlochen's official governing body from its beginning. Rather than being incorporated by the state legislature, Maddy, Giddings, and Pennington formed an association with themselves as members. The members and board were synonymous, but to satisfy legal requirements, the former met annually in advance of the board to add or delete from their number and hear reports. The board session which followed made the policy decisions. Members serving in their capacity on the Board were called Directors until 1944, when the Camp formally altered its name and bylaws, making them Trustees.
As long as Maddy was president, the Board remained relatively small, and much business, particularly in the early years, was conducted on an informal basis. In 1930, Tremaine replaced Pennington on the three person Board, and a year later, Howard Hanson was added. During the late 1930's and early 1940's, it expanded to seven members with the inclusion of Franklin Dunham (1938), Judith Waller (1941), and J. Joseph Herbert (1942), the latter representing the University of Michigan. In 1943, W. W. Charters replaced Hanson. When first Giddings and then Tremaine became less active, Maddy was able to shape the board more to his liking. Although newcomers were added, it remained less than a dozen members until Maddy's death.
Following Maddy's passing, the Board underwent a rapid expansion. At Haas' resignation in 1970, it had twenty-two members, and at Jacobi's retirement in 1989, forty-one. As the board grew, much of its work was done by committees. The first, an executive committee, was formed, apparently in the late 1940's, to act in the Board's behalf between meetings. Under Maddy's successors, the number of committees handling specific subjects proliferated.
The Trustee/Director records are by far the most extensive and complete of the three Interlochen Boards. They are divided into two sections:(1) correspondence and papers, 1928-1988, and (2) minutes and reports, 1930-89. The former includes some supporting documents, and the latter many reports used in decision making.
