Northwestern University Archives
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[edit] Address and Contact Information
Address:
Northwestern University Archives
Charles Deering Library, Room 110
1970 Campus Drive Evanston, IL 60208-2300
Phone: (847) 491-3354
Fax: (847) 467-4110
E-mail: archives@northwestern.edu
Web page: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/
Online Finding Aids: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/findingaids/index.html
[edit] Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:30am – 5:00 pm
Saturday – Sunday: Closed
Closed on major public holidays
[edit] Collection Summary
The Northwestern University Archives, established in 1935, holds over 25,000 cubic feet of material pertaining to every aspect of the history of its host institution, Northwestern University. The University Archives serves as the repository for both non-current official University records and a wide variety of other material including the papers of individual faculty members, the records of student organizations, holdings which pertain to individual students and alumni, photographs, and artifacts. The University Archives' holdings are open for research and reference use and are non-circulating.
The collection includes an array of over 1,300 separate University-generated serial publications, from newsletters of student organizations to official departmental reports to catalogs and bulletins from each of Northwestern’s schools and colleges. Of particular research value are complete runs of the Daily Northwestern, the school newspaper, and the Syllabus, the student yearbook.
The University Archives also contains a vast collection of over 10,000 files of biographical materials relating to Northwestern faculty, staff, alumni, and others associated with the University. The department also contains a considerable volume of material relating to campus culture including a collection of approximately 600,000 photographs documenting all manner of school activities. Student diaries, scrapbooks, and curricular materials are well represented. The University Archives holds thousands of motion picture films, videotapes, and audio recordings of Northwestern events.
Some of the notable bodies of official University records and manuscripts held by the University Archives include the papers of celebrated anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits (1895-1963), and renowned Chicago pediatrician Isaac A. Abt (1867-1955). Observational and administrative records of the Dearborn Observatory are valuable sources relating to the history of science. The papers of Foster G. McGaw (1897-1986) reflect the life of a noted philanthropist. Corporate records of McGaw’s business, the American Hospital Supply Corporation, also are held by the University Archives.
Court records addressing the well-known Leopold and Loeb trial of 1924 are found in the papers of psychiatrist Harold S. Hulbert (1887-1949). Other matters at law are documented through the files and correspondence of Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals Judge Robert A. Sprecher (1917-1982), of Chicago Municipal Court Chief Justice Harry Olson (1867-1935), and lawyer Nathan W. MacChesney (1878-1954) as well as through the papers of Northwestern School of Law faculty Fred Inbau (1909-1998), Nathaniel Nathanson (1908-1983), and John H. Wigmore (1863-1943). The papers of Northwestern political scientist Kenneth W. Colegrove (1886-1975) form a particularly important source for the study of U.S. foreign relations during the mid-20th century. Other significant manuscript collections include the papers of journalist, social critic, and philosopher Baker Brownell (1887-1965), and poets Lew Sarett (1888-1954) and Dennis Brutus (1924- ).
The University Archives also holds the voluminous records of the Northwestern University Settlement Association, a venerable Chicago social welfare organization; the papers of philosophers George Coe (1862-1951) and Eliseo Vivas (1901-1993); of noted chemist Vladimir Ipatieff (1867-1952); painter George Cohen (1919-1999); historian Richard W. Leopold (1912-2006); physicist Henry Crew (1859-1953); economist Robert Eisner (1922-1998); English professor and television personality Bergen Evans (1904-1978); writer Leon Forrest (1937-1997); chemist Fred Basolo (1920-2007); German professor Erich Heller (1911-1990); historian Robert Wiebe (1930-2000); astronomer J. Allen Hynek (1910-1986); anthropologist Mary Douglas (1921-2007); architectural historian Carl W. Condit (1914-1997); 19th century Alaskan explorers Robert Kennicott (1835-1866) and Henry M. Bannister (1844-1920); Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ernest Samuels (1903-1996); author Cyrus Colter (1910-2000); and historian Clarence L. Ver Steeg (1922-2007). Among other collections related to Northwestern are the Records of the Woman's Club of Evanston and the Records of the School for Domestic Arts and Sciences.
Other important former faculty members whose papers are held by the University Archives include composers Anthony Donato (1909-1990), M. William Karlins (1932-2005), and Gui Mombaerts (1902-1993); Wallace Bacon (1914-2001), Lilla A. Heston (1927-1984), and Lee Mitchell (1906-1988) of the School of Communication; Curtis MacDougall (1903-1985), Richard Schwarzlose (1937-2003), and Kenneth Olson (1895-1967) of the Medill School of Journalism; engineering professor Paul Klopsteg (1889-1991); and Africanist Gwendolen M. Carter (1906-1990).
The holdings of the University Archives are far too expansive to itemize and many very important collections have not been noted here. Visitors and inquiries are welcome.
