As the institutional memory of Drexel, the Archives collects, preserves and makes accessible the records of the University. You’ll sometimes find us here in Hagerty Library, but just as often we’re in MacAlister or Curtis or Main, listening to faculty and staff tell us about what they do and the records they create. After one such meeting, a professor eloquently expressed the following sentiments:
“I have been wondering how I could preserve these bits of my office’s history for… posterity. I had not thought of the Archives. Now, that’s taken care of. Thanks.”
If you’d like to make sure the work of your lab, office or department is preserved for all those who follow in your footsteps (and make a little more room in your filing cabinet or hard drive), please contact us!
President MacAlister in his office. Click for larger image.
Archives often have backlogs of materials that have not been fully classified, described or indexed; these collections are called “hidden” because they are difficult or impossible for researchers to use. Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL) has received a grant from Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) for the PACSCL’s Hidden Collections Project. This two year endeavor will make accessible over 140 hidden collections at 24 different libraries and archives in the area. Drexel University Archives is one of them!
Three of the Archives collections will be processed as part of the PACSCL grant in order for researchers, scholars and students to have easier access to materials. The three collections are:
1: Library Records
This collection contains information on the construction of Hagerty Library, including building plans, annual reports from various departments within the library, as well as staff meeting minutes, correspondence, pamphlets of library events and exhibitions.
2. College of Engineering Records
The collection consists of annual reports, correspondence of faculty and administration in the department, staff meeting minutes, reports and other records pertaining to individual departments within the college.
3. Evening College Records
This collection is comprised of annual reports, details of the activities and accomplishments of the program, reports on topics such as student employment; faculty meeting minutes; lists of faculty and personnel directories; subject files; and faculty guides.
We’ll post updates about the processing on this blog as the project moves forward.
A new exhibition, Frank H.M. Williams, Half a Century of Mathematics Education, is now on view on the Lower Level of Hagerty Library. Drexel alumnus Don Williams shared these photographs of his father, Frank, who was a math professor at Drexel from 1918 to 1964. Each year the Drexel Math Department awards an undergraduate prize in his name to honor Williams’ forty-six years of service to the department and to Drexel.
Can’t make it to Hagerty? Check out the online exhibition here.
Don Williams, son of Frank Williams, visits the Math Department exhibition.
