Congratulations to the class of 2008! The upcoming weekend will be a celebration of our newest graduates, as well as a gathering time for alumni of all ages. There will be two WESeminars–presentations open to all students, alumni, parents, and visitors–related to Wesleyan University history. One is “A History of Wesleyan Presidents,” a look back [...]

Wesleyan generally prides itself on its reputation for political activity. Recently, according to the November, 30th edition of the Argus, 50 student, faculty, and citizen protesters marched down to the Army recruitment office in Metro Square in protest of the war in Iraq.
Forty years ago, the University was in similar circumstances during the Vietnam [...]

NOW AVAILABLE AT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS & ARCHIVES
The official SC&A pencil for only 25¢
●Everybody did you know for the small sum of 25¢ you can buy a writing instrument that writes under water, in zero gravity and upside down!!!!!!!!!
●Thesis writers did you know a pencil can write 45,000 words.
●Art majors did you [...]

We recently posted a bunch of new finding aids (guides to collections) on our website
Benjamin Arthur Caleb Papers, 1851-1861
Laban Clark Papers, 1794-1935
Deutsche Verein Records, 1909-1960
Monday Club Records, 1892-1995
Dana Plante (Class of 1959) Collection, 1954-1960
Phyllis Rose Collection, 1977-1984
Beatrice Witkin Papers, 1949-1988
With the help of our great student employees, we’ll be putting more finding aids online throughout [...]

Next time you wonder when a Wesleyan building was constructed, or who this Davison guy was, or just how the Douglas Cannon came to be the unofficial Wesleyan mascot, stop by Special Collections & Archives and take a look at our Vertical Files. These are subject files where we keep clippings, memos, reports, notes, and [...]

We are testing an online repository for the theses and dissertations of Wesleyan students. You can browse the uploaded theses here. Why are we putting these online?
-Students’ work will be available around the world 24/7, not only at Wesleyan. Currently, paper copies of honors theses are only available in Special Collections & Archives during reading [...]

Wesleyan has a terrific tradition of student activism and participation in campus groups. In Special Collections & Archives, we want to collect materials that document student activities so that future researchers can find out what Wesleyan was like back in 2007 (and 2006, 2005, etc.)! The only way for us to gather this material is [...]

We now have an online finding aid for our collection of Nineteenth Century Administrative Records. A finding aid is like a super detailed catalog record, which gives you a description of the types of materials found in the collection, and a box by box description of where items can be found. Finding aids are a [...]

In addition to collecting materials about Wesleyan, we also have a good amount of Middletown, Connecticut items. These include books, maps, personal papers, photographs, and scrapbooks. Our most recent scrapbook accession were the Marion Vaine scrapbooks. Marion Vaine was a longtime Middletown resident and Wesleyan employee, and through the sharp eyes of a local resident, [...]

On this President’s Day weekend, we remember the architect Henry Bacon, who designed the Lincoln Memorial as well as Olin Library and Van Vleck Observatory, among other buildings on Wesleyan’s campus. Bacon worked with the Board of Trustees in the early 20th century to create a building development plan for Wesleyan’s future.
Special Collections & Archives [...]