Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1910-1998) was the recognized authority on the history of American collegiate rowing.

For thirty years Mendenhall reported on rowing events for the the Yale Alumni Magazine, and on the history of crew for The Oarsman. His books on rowing include Have Oar Will Travel: A Short History of the Yale Crew of 1856, A Short History of American Rowing, The Harvard-Yale Boat Race 1852-1924 and the Coming of Sport to the American College, and the forthcoming Coaches and Coaching.

Mendenhall received his B.A. at Yale in 1932, and went on to Oxford as a Rhode Scholar. There he was captain of the Balliol Boats, and back at Yale as a graduate student he rowed on the Berkeley College intramural crew. While teaching in the Yale History Department between 1937 and 1959 he served on the University's Rowing Committee. He also helped establish the Directed Studies Program. In 1959 Thomas Mendenhall accepted the position of President at Smith College. From this office, which he occupied until 1975, Mendenhall led Smith through what has been described as "some of the most turbulent times in American education." He also served as informal coach for the Smith rowers.

In 1975 Thomas Mendenhall retired to his home on Martha's Vineyard, and began actively working on his definitive history of the Harvard-Yale crew races, and other aspects of American rowing. The collected papers, correspondence, notes and assorted documents contained in this collection are the result of these years of dedicated research.