Special Collections & Archives at Wesleyan University
A place for news and information about rare books, manuscripts and university archives.
Special Collections & Archives holds a rich collection of documents and photographs related to the Wesleyan’s first period of coeducation, 1872-1912, and it has been recently digitized and is fully available online. The Coeducation Collection finding aid has been updated to provide links to the digital files. You can also browse the collection. This is … Read more
Here is the Browning Society, 1873-1874. I do not know anything about this group other than that is what is written and typed on the back of the photograph. During the late 19th and into the 20th century, clubs and societies formed to study the work of Robert Browning. The Wesleyan Argus has several references … Read more
Freshman beanies, a 1927 letter sweater, a 1970 “Strike” arm band, a 1985 Feminist House T-shirt, and more—this exhibition includes items of student apparel that were (or could have been) worn on a day-to-day basis, and those that were not are evocative of key social and academic aspects of student life. The show is on … Read more
SC&A doesn’t just contain the textual and photographic record of Wesleyan’s history, we also have some sound recordings — from speeches and lectures to cds of recent student groups, such as the Wesleyan Spirits, the New Group and Quasimodal. If your group has produced a cd, please consider depositing one copy with SC&A (for safekeeping) … Read more
This morning the Introduction to Environmental Studies class (E&ES 197) taught by Helen Poulos visited Special Collections & Archives to learn about artists’ books that address environmental issues. It’s a large class, so students were split into two groups. Their backpacks and other paraphernalia more than filled our closet! Making an artist’s book that expresses … Read more
As part of my internship at SC&A I created finding aids for three collections. The most notable among these is the finding aid for a collection that I processed during my internship dealing with Wesleyan President James L. McConaughy, his wife Elizabeth, and son James Jr. The collection entitled, McConaughy Family Papers, details important aspects … Read more
Pictured above is the earliest known photograph of the Wesleyan campus, a view of South College taken in 1865. In front is what is believed to be part of the graduation ceremonies held 150 years ago for the Class of 1865. Our best wishes to the Class of 2015!
A Spatial History of Wesleyan University combines geographical and quantitative analysis with archival and oral history research to interpret the past in place. It is the product of the Spring 2015 course in Digital History at Wesleyan taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of History Amrys O. Williams, part of the university’s Digital and Computational Knowledge … Read more
One hundred and fifty years ago, William North Rice, class of 1865, wrote the above in his diary on the day that President Abraham Lincoln died. Rice would devote his life in service to Wesleyan, becoming the university’s first professor of geology and serving three times as acting president. Below is the diary opened … Read more
We’re not exactly sure what’s going on here–a concert? a play? spirit photography?–but these members of the class of 1872 look like they’re having some fun. They’re standing in front of the old gymnasium, which once stood on a site on present-day Andrus field behind the Chapel. Left to right, Silas William Kent, Samuel Greenleaf … Read more
