Butler University Archives
Service
Guidelines
The Department of Special Collections and Rare Books also
administers Butler University's Archives. Established in 1987, the
archives preserve the institutional, physical, scholarly, and, to
some extent, the personal history of the university, its programs,
facilities, and people. Butler opened its doors in 1855 as a fully
coeducational school. Much of the university's history is
intertwined with the growth of transportation, communication,
business, and cultural institutions in Indiana.
The archives hold a considerable amount of historical materials
that are of interest to local and regional historians, and to
scholars and biographers in general. Most holdings are cataloged
on-line. Many collections are augmented by detailed checklists and
inventories, which are available on-site and, as they become
available, via the Special Collections and Rare Books webpage.
Many Butler University faculty members, research scientists,
poets, or composers have achieved lasting fame beyond regional
boundaries. Published or unpublished books, papers, poems, or
compositions by Elijah Jordan, John E. Potzger, Michael Schelle,
Allegra Stewart, Emma Lou Thornbrough, Alice Bidwell Wesenberg, and
other scholars of note are kept in the archives. Papers by and
about Hilton U. Brown, of newspaper history fame, and Catharine
Merrill, appointed in 1870 as Demia Butler Professor of English
Literature, one of this country' s first full professorships
specifically endowed for a woman, are also available.
Also available to researchers are The Drift, Butler's
yearbook; the Collegian, the school newspaper (available
on microfilm); biography files (including faculty, staff,
students); and other university publications (including the alumni
magazine, class schedules, and bulletins). The Buildings and
Grounds collection contains articles and photographs documenting
the histories of Butler's campuses and buildings.
Listed below are some of the major collections in the archives.
Materials are described in the University's on-line catalog, and
some also have supplementary access lists; these are available in
the Special Collections and Rare Books Room and, as they become
available, via the Special Collections and Rare Books webpage.
For descriptions of the collections, appropriate search
strategies, and available access lists, click on the appropriate
links.
*Note: To view the PDF files, you will need to
have Adobe Acrobat Reader.
You can download a free copy from Adobe's website.