PC 16, E. Lee Goldsborough photographs of Tidewater Granary fire, 1956, 47 items
The collection contains forty-seven photographs of the aftermath of the Tidewater Granary elevator explosion in March, 1956. The photographs show firemen working, damaged buildings, rubble, and several surrounding buildings still intact. One of the four surrounding buildings affected by the blast was Drexel’s Student Union Building, which was holding classes for the Evening College at the time of the grain elevator explosion. read more >>>
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of the Trustees’ Committee on the Library from 1892 to 1917; accession and inventory books listing items received and withdrawn from the collection, 1891-1947; library circulation statistics, 1891-1923, and card catalogs.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 4.2 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 4.3 Dean of the College of Engineering records, 1954-1969, 6 cubic feet
LeRoy A. Brothers was dean of the College of Engineering from 1958 to 1970. Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, he studied civil engineering at North Carolina State College and joined Drexel’s faculty as a professor of civil engineering in 1927. He left Drexel in 1942 to serve in the U. S. Air Force, and in 1944 he became chief of operations analysis for the war in south and east Asia. He left Drexel altogether in 1945, and in 1946 he became Assistant for Operations at the U. S. Air Force headquarters in Washington. After returning to Drexel as dean in 1958, he served briefly as acting dean of faculty in 1961 and 1962. The bulk of the records in the collection are files on academic departments and committees documenting the administration of the College of Engineering and Science from 1961 to 1965. One box of material consists entirely of records of the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEA) Engineering College Administrative Council (ECAC) Committee for the Analysis of Engineering Enrollment.
This collection is partially processed. 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 4.7 College of Engineering records, 1937-1979, 6.33 cubic feet
Three of the Drexel Institute’s original eleven departments taught programs that would eventually become part of Drexel’s early School of Engineering: the scientific department, the technical department, and the mechanic arts program. In 1914, President Hollis Godfrey consolidated these departments into the School of Engineering, which was the first school at Drexel permitted to grant a four-year degree (in 1915), first to implement a cooperative education program (in 1919), and, later, first to extend the cooperative course from four years to five (in 1925). In 1945, it became the College of Engineering. The college offered its first graduate degrees in 1953. It was briefly consolidated with the College of Science from 1964 to 1968, when it again became the College of Engineering. The collection consists largely of annual reports submitted by the dean of the college to the president of Drexel, as well as manuscripts of annual reports. It also includes the outgoing correspondence of college administrators and faculty members from 1967 to 1973, faculty and department head meeting minutes from 1937 to 1968, records on individual departments within the college, and other reports.
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 2.1 Board of Trustees and Executive Committee records, 1891-2005, 10.25 cubic feet
The Board of Trustees of the Drexel Institute was established in 1891 with the school’s founder, Anthony J. Drexel, as its president and his business partner, George W. Childs, as vice president. The institute was also governed by a separate Board of Managers, which merged with the existing board into a twenty-four member Board of Trustees when Drexel was incorporated in 1894. The Executive Committee was formed at the time of incorporation as a six-person standing committee entrusted with “the general charge and supervision of all the business of the institute.” This collection consists chiefly of the minutes of meetings of the Board of Trustees, the Board of Managers, and the Executive Committee from 1891 to 1995. It also contains reports and correspondence of the secretary of the board from 1896-1915, trustees’ and executive committee “board books” from 1985-1989 and 2000-2005, and a small set of administrative records, chiefly from the 1980s.
This collection is partially processed. A preliminary inventory is available in the archives; contact the archivist at archives@drexel.edu for more information.
PC 8 Events photographs, 1930-2005, 7.5 cubic feet
This collection consists of a series of files containing photographs of Drexel University campus and organizations’ events. Photos date as early as 1930 and as late as 2005; many are undated. The bulk of the photos are black-and-white or color prints, but files also contain a few negatives and contact sheets. Some photographs transferred from the Office of University Relations have captions or annotations associated with them, providing dates and additional information about the subject of the photograph.
Although the provenance of the photographs is not known, it is believed that most were originally transferred to the University Archives from the Office of University Relations. Archives staff have also occasionally added photos to this collection as they are found among unrelated records or accessioned.
Some additional photographs of campus locations and buildings are filed with campus plans, newspaper clippings, and other materials about the development of Drexel’s buildings and campus in UR 10.3, the Buildings and campus reference collection.
PC 3 Early photographs of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry, 1885-1931, 2.56 cubic feet
This collection consists of photographs of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry from 1891 to 1936. It includes photographs of the exterior and interior of the Main Building, men’s and women’s athletic teams, and students from various academic departments.
