On April 1, 1864, Swarthmore College was chartered as a corporation by action of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, with authority to establish an educational institution. To accomplish this goal, the Act of Incorporation authorized the College governing body, the Board of Managers, to raise funds ($50,000 and up to $300,000) for the College through the sale of shares of stock in the Corporation. Once $50,000 was subscribed, the College was authorized to begin the process of land purchase, building construction, and hiring faculty. Swarthmore College opened to students in October 1869.

On April 14th, 1870, the Pennsylvania State Legislature approved A Supplement to the Act of Incorporation of Swarthmore College, which authorized further sale of capital stock in the Corporation, to the limit of $500,000 (an increase of $200,000). The amendment also included a requirement that 16 of the 32 members of the Board of Managers were to be women, a formalization of the de-facto Board membership. Other amendments in 1889, 1893, and 1894 increased the maximum capitalization of the Corporation and the maximum value of real estate holdings. In 1908, in order to qualify for funds under the Carnegie Corporation plan for faculty pensions, the College secured a Charter revision, which eliminated the requirement that members of the Board of Managers be members of the Religious Society of Friends.

In 1910 application was made to the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County for a revision of the Charter to annul stock support of the Corporation. On October 22, 1910, the decision of the Court to this effect was issued thus changing the character of the Corporation. This Charter amendment eliminated the Swarthmore Stockholders Association and the Stockholders of Swarthmore College, required the return of stocks held by those groups to the Swarthmore College Corporation, and declared the College as an Educational Corporation under full control of a self-perpetuating Board of Managers, numbering thirty-two members.

At the time of the 1827/28 Hicksite-Orthodox Separation in American Quakerism, the Orthodox branch retained control of many educational institutions, including the college preparatory schools Westtown School in Westtown, Pennsylvania, and Nine Partners Boarding School in Duchess County, New York. Haverford College was founded in Haverford, Pennsylvania, by Orthodox Friends in 1833. For a decade, members of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Hicksite Friends had discussed the need for a boarding school to educate their children. On October 28, 1860 the first of several informal meetings to renew the discussion was held at the Baltimore home of Martha Ellicott Tyson. At this meeting, a committee was formed to support the project.

By 1861, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends (Hicksite) appointed members to undertake formal planning for a joint institution of higher education. The group that first met wrote a constitution to establish the Friends’ Union Boarding School Association which would plan and raise funds from the three Yearly Meetings for a school. In 1862, as the project grew to include a college-level program to train teachers for Friends schools, the Boarding School Association changed its name to, the Friends Educational Association. Current members of the Friends’ Union Boarding School Association became automatic stockholders in the Friends Educational Association. Friends from each of the three founding yearly meetings formed an Executive Committee to solicit subscriptions to the Friends Educational Association and elected a Board of Managers. Finally, on April 1, 1864, with the Act of Incorporation, by the Pennsylvania State Legislature to establish Swarthmore College, a new corporation was established. The Friends Educational Association was merged into Swarthmore College Corporation by resolution approved at the Yearly Meeting held in Philadelphia on December 6, 1864.

Under the terms written by the Incorporators in the Swarthmore College Charter, all current members of the Friends Educational Association automatically became stockholders of the new Swarthmore College Corporation. At its last annual meeting on December 6, 1864, the Friends Educational Association approved a formal resolution to confirm this merger. Other individuals could become new stockholders of Swarthmore College by a subscription of $5.00 towards the capital of the Corporation. Each stockholder was entitled to one vote at the annual meeting of the Corporation. The Stockholders of Swarthmore College met annually, following the annual meeting of the Board of Managers of the Swarthmore College Corporation. The primary function of the Stockholders was to elect members of the Board of Managers.

On April 14th, 1870, the Pennsylvania State Legislature approved an amendment to the Act of Incorporation of Swarthmore College in which the College was authorized to increase capital stock to $500,000 and allow the Board of Managers to borrow up to $100,000 for the purposes of the College. The amendment also included a requirement that 16 of the 32 members of the Board of Managers were to be women, a formalization of the de-facto Board membership.

On December 1, 1908, in order to qualify for funds under the Carnegie Foundation program for faculty pensions, the College secured a revision of its Charter eliminating the requirement that members of the Board of Managers be members of the Religious Society of Friends. This action eliminated the only official link to Quakerism.

In 1910 application was made to the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County for a revision of the Charter, to annul stock support of the Swarthmore College Corporation. On October 22, 1910, the decision of the Court to this effect was issued, thus changing the character of the Corporation. This revision required the return of stocks held by the Stockholders of Swarthmore College to the Swarthmore College Corporation and declared the College as an Educational Corporation under full control of a self-perpetuating Board of Managers, numbering thirty-two members. The last meeting of the Stockholders of Swarthmore College took place on December 6th, 1910, at which time the stockholders’ association was dissolved. All shares of stock were then surrendered to the Swarthmore College Corporation.

The Swarthmore Stock Association, also known as the Swarthmore Stock Trust Association, was established in 1887 with the purpose of keeping Swarthmore College under the control and management of members of the Religious Society of Friends in sympathy with the objectives of its founders, and promoting the educational interests of the Society of Friends. All members of this Association were required to be members of the Religious Society Friends, to sign its Constitution, and to contribute to the Association at least twenty shares of the capital stock of Swarthmore College. The Board of Managers were pleased with the establishment of this body and recommended to the stockholders that they donate their stock to this newly established body.

In 1892 at the stated meeting of the Swarthmore Stock Trust Association it was resolved that a committee of three be appointed to co-operate with similar committees from the Board of Managers and the Corporators to propose a plan to amalgamate the Stock Trust Association with the Board of Corporators. At the same time, a similar resolution was passed by the Board of Corporators and a joint committee was formed.

In 1893 at a meeting of the Swarthmore College Stock Trust Association, a report from this newly appointed joint committee recommended that the Stock Trust Association transfer all stock held by them to the Board of Corporators. The Constitution for the Swarthmore College Stock Trust Association was hence amended on March 10, 1896 adopting a new name for the group: The Swarthmore College Trust Association. The old name, however, Swarthmore Stock Trust Association, continues to predominate in the minutes of the group. This group met before meetings of the Stockholders of Swarthmore College to nominate a slate of Quaker candidates to the Board of Managers. As majority holder of the shares of stock in Swarthmore College, this group was able to dominate the nominations of members to the Board of Managers.

On December 22, 1903, the Swarthmore Stock Association was incorporated by the Court of Common Pleas, No. 5, for the County of Philadelphia. The purpose of this group was to receive, hold and execute trusts of property of and for The Swarthmore Stock Trust Association. The surviving Trustees of the property of the Stock Trust Association were directed to assign, transfer and set unto the Corporation all of the stock certificates of the College for the same uses and purposes that were in their names at the time, as Trustees. After 1910, when a change in the College Charter eliminated the stockholders and the stockholders provision and transferred fiduciary responsibilities to the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College, and until its demise in 1924, this body was essentially a fund-raising support group with no governing powers.