MC 41 Mary S. Irick Drexel scrapbook, 1917-1956, 1 volume

This scrapbook contains news clippings describing Mary S. Irick Drexel’s work as the Chairman of the Bureau of Canteen Service of the Pennsylvania-Delaware Division of the American Red Cross during World War I. read more >>>

UR 7.3, Men’s Basketball records, 1895-2001,  3.33 cubic feet

The collection contains a large series of newspaper clippings related to men’s basketball dating from 1953 to 1988; game and player statistics dating as early as 1895 through 1990; series containing media guides, game programs, calendars, and other printed ephemera; and a small set of slides from circa 1997.  read more >>>

MC 43 Kathryn Musser Smith collection, 1914-1966, .25 linear feet

This collection contains the papers of Kathryn Musser Smith, 1916 graduate of the Drexel Institute.  The collection which ranges from 1914-1966 consists of ephemera generated during Smith’s tenure as a student and includes commencement programs, dance cards, class schedules and correspondence.  read more >>>

MC 4 Howard Pyle collection, 1894-1940, .25 linear feet

Howard Pyle, noted American illustrator, was an art instructor who headed the Drexel Institute’s School of Illustration from 1894 to 1900.  This collection contains correspondence and pamphlets documenting Howard Pyle’s time as an instructor in the school of illustration at Drexel.  read more >>>

UR 10.8 Drexel historical films, 1937-1991, 8 reels and 6 tapes

This collection consists of eight historical films documenting the students, campus, athletics, and activities of the Drexel Institute of Technology.  The films were transferred to four 3/4″ tapes and two VHS tapes.

UR 5.2 Library records, 1929-2002, 32.33 cubic feet

The library and reading room of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry opened in 1892 under the direction of librarian Alice B. Kroeger. The first library was housed in the Main Building and was also responsible for running the library school until 1962. A new library, later called the Korman Center, opened in 1959, but planning for another new library began shortly thereafter. The W. W. Hagerty Library opened in 1983. This two largest components of this collection are drafts of the library building program for the construction of Hagerty Library, 1970-1978, and annual reports from the library and its departments, 1964-1997. Other records include subject files compiled chiefly by library director Richard Snyder, staff meeting minutes, some correspondence, and pamphlets pertaining to library events and exhibits.

This collection is unprocessed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.  Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist. See the university archives’ policy on access to records for further information.

UR 5.1 Early library records, 1891-1947, 2.66 cubic feet

The library and reading room of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry opened in 1892 under the direction of librarian Alice B. Kroeger.  Within its first year of operation, it had built a collection of nearly eight thousand volumes, chiefly through gifts and donations from Anthony J. Drexel and his business partner, George W. Childs.  The Drexel Institute library was also responsible for running the library school, which by 1900 was enrolling twenty students per year.  This collection consists of the minutes of the Trustees’ Committee on the Library from 1892 to 1917; accession and inventory books listing items received and withdrawn from the collection, 1891-1947; library circulation statistics, 1891-1923, and card catalogs.  It also includes a brief series of correspondence by library director Anne Wallace Howland, 1923-1930.

This collection is unprocessed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.

UR 4.1 Programs and invitations collection, 1892-1965 (bulk 1892-1915), 6.66 cubic feet

The collection consists of bound volumes and loose programs containing announcements, programs, and invitations to Drexel events.  The bulk of the events represented in the collection were sponsored by the Department of Free Public Lectures and Concerts, which served the school founder A.J. Drexel’s desire to “provide a liberal means of culture for the masses.”  Free lectures and concerts at the Drexel Institute began during the school’s first year of operation in 1892.  They were offered during the winter months and open to the general public until the abolishment of the department in 1915.  Other events were held by the Department of Fine and Applied Art, which was established in 1892; reached its zenith under the tenure of Howard Pyle, who headed its School of Illustration from 1894 through 1900; and was discontinued, with the exception of the course in architecture, in 1905.  The collection also contains programs of commencement ceremonies, the first of which was held in 1894; a program from the dedication of the institute in 1892; and invitations to an 1894 memorial service for institute founder Anthony J. Drexel.  Most of the programs date from the first twenty years of the operation of the institute, but the collection also contains a few programs and announcements from as late as the 1960s.

This collection is unprocessed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.

UR 4.6 Department of Performing Arts records, 1940-1990, 1 cubic foot

The performing arts at Drexel date back to 1892, when Drexel offered its auditorium as a rehearsal space for the Philadelphia Chorus.  The chorus was dissolved in the next year, and the Drexel Chorus was formed to replace it.  In 1897 Drexel formalized its choral music program by establishing a department that would later be called the Department of Evening Classes in Choral Music.  The department was abolished in 1909, but students continued to organize their own performing ensembles.  In 1942, Wallace D. Heaton, Jr., was appointed music director at Drexel, and over the next thirty-seven years he established the Department of Music and revitalized choral music at Drexel.  Clyde Shive joined the faculty as a professor for instrumental music and as the university organist in 1955.  A student dance ensemble was established in 1978.  The music department became the Department of Performing Arts when the College of Humanities and Social Sciences was founded in 1984.  More recently, the department has begun to offer a major in music industry and minors in dance, music, and theater, as well as sponsoring the dance ensemble and a number of vocal and instrumental music groups.  This collection consists of concert and recital programs, photographs, promotional materials, newspaper clippings, and correspondence related to concerts, tours, and festivals organized by the Department of Performing Arts and its predecessor, the Department of Music.

Finding Aid

UR 4.9 Nesbitt College of Design Arts records, 1894-1993, 7 cubic feet

Includes records of:

• Nesbitt College of Design, Nutrition, Human Behavior, and Home Economics
• College of Home Economics
• School of Home Economics
• School of Domestic Science and Arts
• Department of Domestic Science
• Department of Domestic Arts
• Department of Domestic Economy

The school that would eventually become Nesbitt College was present at Drexel when it opened in 1892, in the courses of study specifically intended for the education of women, such as cookery, millinery, dressmaking, and normal courses (teacher training) in each of these subjects.  The curriculum expanded over the years to include domestic science, home economics, dietetics, applied arts, textile merchandising, and hotel management.  The school went through many curriculum and name changes before becoming Nesbitt College of Design Arts in 1985.  The collection, which contains records dating as early as 1895, consists of reports, photographs, newspaper clippings, speeches, materials compiled about the history of the college, publications, and notebooks and recipe cards used during the early years of the college.

Finding Aid

UR 4.8 Graduate School of Library Science Placement Office alumni cards, 1895-1973, 3 cubic feet

Drexel’s Graduate School of Library Science (later the College of Information Science and Technology) was founded as the Library and Reading Room during the Drexel Institute’s first year of operation in 1892.  It was closed by President Hollis Godfrey in 1914 and reopened as the School of Library Science in 1922.  This collection consists of two alphabetical sets of index cards containing information about graduates of the library school from the 1890s to the early 1970s.  Each card contains an alumnus’s address, initial job placement, and subsequent jobs held.  The cards are arranged in two alphabetical sets: one from 1895 to 1914, and the other from 1924 to 1973.

This collection is unprocessed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.  Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist.  See the university archives’ policy on access to records for further information.

UR 4.10 College of Information Science and Technology records, 1892-2002, 16.33 cubic feet

Includes records of:

• College of Information Studies
• School of Library and Information Science
• Graduate School of Library Science
• School of Library Science
• Library School
• Library Department

What is now the College of Information Science and Technology (previously the Library and Reading Room, 1892-1914; School of Library Science, 1922-1954, Graduate School of Library Science, 1954-1978; School of Library and Information Science, 1978-1984; College of Information Studies, 1984-1995) was founded in 1892 when the Drexel Institute opened its doors.  This collection spans the entire history of the college, but the bulk of the material is administrative records (reports, faculty and staff meeting minutes, personnel files, grants, curriculum, etc.) dating mostly from the 1950s through the 1990s.  The collection also includes some student records; materials about specific deans, directors, and alumni; a series relating to the Rush Building; publications; publicity materials; photographs; and programs and memorabilia.  Some of the files contain letters by Guy Garrison, retired dean of the college, who was responsible for transferring the collection to the archives.

Finding Aid

UR 4.2 Evening College records, 1948-1987, 29 cubic feet

The Evening School was one of the original departments established at the Drexel Institute during the first year of classes in 1892.  It offered purely technical, non-degree courses of study until 1950, when the Evening College earned accreditation to grant the B.S. degree.  The Evening College’s name was changed to University College in 1993, and it was briefly discontinued in 1993, when its programs were transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences.  The Evening College was re-established in 1997 as the College of Evening and Professional Studies.  The bulk of the collection comprises annual reports submitted to Drexel’s president by the dean of the Evening College, detailing the activities and accomplishments of each academic year from approximately 1950 to 1986.  The collection also contains a few other reports on topics such as student employment; a brief series of faculty meeting minutes from the 1930s and 1940s; lists of faculty and personnel directories; subject files; and faculty guides.

This collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory and partial folder list is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.  Because the collection may contain confidential information, portions are currently restricted pending review by the archivist.  See the university archives’ policy on access to records for further information.

UR 6.9 Commencement collection, 1894-2005, 3.33 cubic feet

Drexel celebrated its first school-wide commencement in 1894.  The collection includes programs, invitations, correspondence, speeches, and rosters related to commencement ceremonies at Drexel University and its predescessor institutions.  Records are arranged chronologically by date.

This collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory list is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.

UR 7.16 Men’s Lacrosse records, 1948-1988, 1 cubic foot

The collection consists of newspaper clippings, press releases, programs, statistics, and photographs.  Materials are all interfiled chronologically; for some years, they have been compiled into scrapbooks.

This collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory is available; for more information, contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu.

UR 7.5 Men’s Rifle Team records, 1946-1956, 3 folders

The records of the men’s rifle team consist of a small set of newspaper clippings from 1953 to 1956 and an athlete roster and report on the team’s performance in 1945-46.

This collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.

UR 7.7 Men’s Soccer records, 1948-1984, 0.66 cubic feet

The collection consists of newspaper clippings, press releases, rosters, programs, player data sheets, and some photographs.  All materials are currently interfiled chronologically.

This collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.

UR 7.6 Men’s Tennis records, 1946-1988, 0.17 cubic feet

The records of the men’s tennis team include newspaper clippings, photographs, statistics, match schedules, and athlete information sheets.  All materials are currently interfiled chronologically.

The collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory is available; for more information, contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu.

UR 7.10 Men’s Track records, 1946-1991, 2.33 cubic feet

The collection consists of press releases, newspaper clippings, meet programs, team rosters and schedules, statistics and score sheets, and photographs.  All materials are currently interfiled chronologically.

This collection is partially processed.  A preliminary inventory is available; for more information, contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu.

UR 8.2 Tau Beta Pi Pennsylvania Zeta Chapter records, 1926-1987, 6 cubic feet

Tau Beta Pi, a national honorary fraternity for engineering students, was founded at Lehigh University in 1885.  Drexel’s chapter, the Pennsylvania Zeta chapter, was established in 1930.  This collection documents the chapter’s activities and members from its founding through 1987.  It includes administrative materials such as the Tau Beta Pi bylaws, the Pennsylvania Zeta chapter charter, and publications and catalogs from the national office.  The bulk of the collection consists of chronological files that document the year-by-year activities of Drexel’s chapter; these files contain correspondence, surveys submitted to the national office, and records of projects sponsored in that year.  In addition, there is a set of index cards listing the names of Tau Beta Pi members, as well as a few un-awarded membership certificates and keys.

This collection is unprocessed.  A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.