Unexplored collections

The first building erected on IWU’s campus is referred to as Old North and was built in 1856. The purpose of this post is to clarify confusion about its location on campus. People often say that it was located where … Continue reading →

There’s been a plan to demolish Gulick Hall for the last few years to make way for the Petrick Idea Center. One of these times, in the fall of 2022, I prepared a poster for the current students of Gulick … Continue reading →

Back in 2015, I asked one of the archives’ student assistants to research and write a blog post about the gate at the West entrance to IWU’s Quad that is known as the Founder’s Gate. The South pillar of the … Continue reading →

A recently donated framed document revealed a hidden record of campus personnel and Civil War service. It is our practice in the archives to remove and dispose of frames/glass to lessen the chance of injuring people or damaging the artifacts … Continue reading →

More than a decade ago we transferred photographic formats like negatives, contact sheets and slides from offices and storage areas in Holmes Hall. This kind of old collection transfer is new-to-us in the sense that researchers and the campus community … Continue reading →

This year IWU Homecoming was all in person for the first time since 2019! That means we were able to resume support from the University Archives’ collections for the museum tradition that started out in a tent on the Quad … Continue reading →

Long before Title IX, two IWU students, sisters Grace and Rachel Green, were invited to Millikin to participate in a tennis tournament in 1917. It seemed almost certain that this was not a sanctioned event of the Little Nineteen Conference … Continue reading →

It’s been 21 years since the steps to the Ames Library first rose up from the ground level. It sure isn’t pretty right now but safety for our community is the goal! Crews are working to resolve the buckling issues … Continue reading →

In the last post, I announced that our work making a collection of Chinese art available was complete. I am pleased to announce that due primarily to efforts by current students we now have more information to share about these … Continue reading →

In recent years, Class of 1970 alumnus Mark Sheldon donated eight works of Chinese art that he acquired over his 40 year career, mostly in the 1980s, while teaching at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and serving as Director … Continue reading →

Curious about what changes have taken place to IWU’s campus over the years? Interested in exploring locations related to campus lore? The University Archives is pleased to offer a few insights on an interactive map. Pandemics can’t keep us down! … Continue reading →

This photo shows a large crowd gathered on November 5, 1921 to place the cornerstone in the Memorial Gymnasium. Look to the left of the man standing below the tip of the flag and you will see a small box … Continue reading →

The expansive collection of musical compositions by retired professor R. Bedford Watkins is now catalogued and available for use at IWU’s Archives & Special Collections. R. Bedford Watkins, an exceptional keyboardist, composer, and educator, was a prominent faculty member of … Continue reading →

Several years ago I co-presented on IWU women’s history during a Council for IWU Women Summit with Claudia Brogan (’77), Stephanie Davis-Kahl. I gamified my findings on the topic up to that point by using PowerPoint. Recently I updated it … Continue reading →

Even though thousands of photos have been taken of theatrical performances, due to issues surrounding intellectual property rights, very few of them have been recorded and saved. In fact, the University’s archives has only six known films of performances. They … Continue reading →

There’s a new addition to the University’s special collections! It doesn’t all live in The Ames Library but we are going to be administering it in the same way that we handle all materials Tate Archives & Special Collections. That … Continue reading →

What we now know as Veterans Day was first celebrated as Armistice Day, the day that active hostilities during World War I ceased in 1918. President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the focus of the day in 1954 “In order to … Continue reading →

For quite some time I have marveled at all the prominent human rights speakers who have visited campus. I’ve done physical exhibits in the library on this topic but have also wanted to be able to share this information online … Continue reading →

Check out this compilation of sources in a timeline of the currently known events in IWU’s multicultural history.* *Note: Records by and about student groups and events are sparse after the 2010s. If you have information to share, contact archives@iwu.edu!

That’s the title for a Paramount Newsreel film describing IWU’s unique tuition exchange program that helped keep students enrolled during the Great Depression. In 2018 I submitted that work to a call for proposals to SourceLab, a digital humanities project at … Continue reading →