Welcome! This page lists the digital collections that are held by the Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections. Click on the titles or images to visit the collections.

Check out our new interactive Purdue University history timeline

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• Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids
• George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers
• Amelia Earhart at Purdue
• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Collection
• The Helen Gougar Collection
• Krannert Magazine
• Charles Alexandre Lesueur
• Medieval Manuscripts
• Purdue Alumni
• Purdue Athletics
• Purdue Buildings and Campus Scenes
• Purdue Colleges and Departments
• Purdue History
• Purdue History in Photographs
• Purdue Oral History
• Purdue University Administrative and Associations
• Purdue University Faculty
• Purdue University Newsreels
• George Winter Collections of Writings and Paintings

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• George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers

  

  Correspondence, photographs, creative writings, printed material, scrapbooks, personal belongings and ephemera relating to the life and career of aviator Amelia Earhart.

• Purdue History

  Purdue's history. Check back often, because we have more collections planned! The RSS Feed for Purdue History combines the updates for all of the collections in this section.

  You may browse the entire Purdue History collection at once or browse an individual collection

  • Purdue Athletics

    Images and documents from Intercollegiate and Recreational athletics at Purdue.

    • Baseball

      

      From 1888 Purdue has fielded a Baseball team. Purdue's first player to make it to the major leagues was Clyde Goodwin. He broke into the major leagues with the Washington Senators.

    • Basketball

      

      1896 marks Purdue's entry into the Basketball arena. Purdue has had several undefeated years. Purdue notables include John Wooden, Ward "Piggy" Lambert, and Rick Mount.

    • Football

      

      Purdue has engaged in Football from 1887. In 1892 they had a season score of 320 points and their opponents scored just 24 points. It was that team that earned Purdue the nickname, Boilermakers!

  • Purdue University Administrative and Associations

    

    Documents and photos that are the history of Purdue University administrative units and organizations associated with Purdue.

  • Purdue Colleges and Departments

    • Agronomy

      

      Established as a department in the Agricultural Experiment Station in 1908, the Purdue Department has a long rich heritage. Agronomy studies Indiana soils and field-crop production. The images that are collected in this collection go back as far as the early 1900s.

  • Amelia Earhart at Purdue

    

    A Collection of documents and photographs recording Earhart's association with Purdue University.

  • Krannert Alumni Magazine

    

    This is the complete collection of the Krannert Alumni Magazine, from the first publication (spring 1969) to the present. The Krannert Alumni Magazine provides an account of the school of management’s efforts to address ever-evolving issues of management education, often addressing social concerns of the time. The result is a unique and in-depth history of one of the nation’s premier management programs.

  • Purdue Alumni

    

    Purdue alums are found worldwide in a great many fields of endeavor. Internationally recognized for their accomplishments in the humanities, sciences, and engineering, many of Purdue's accomplished graduates came from just down the street. George Ade, born in Kentland, Indiana, was a noted author and playwright. His friend, John T. McCutcheon (South Raub), was known as the dean of American political cartoonists. And David Ross of Brookston invented the modern steering gear for automobiles.

    Today our famous alums include more than 20 astronauts. Wherever man is exploring frontiers, Purdue alums will be involved.

  • Purdue Alumni Astronauts

    

    Purdue is proud of its long history in the fields of aviation and astronautics. Beginning with Purdue's support of Amelia Earhart the university has had a strong research program in the field. In addition to the collection we have an electronic exhibit.

  • Purdue Buildings and Campus Scenes

    

    This photograph shows the campus of an earlier era. It is a view of Memorial Mall from inside the Agricultural Experiment Station, now Agricultural Administration.

    Visit us often, as our online collection of campus photographs grows. We have more than 2,000 images of buildings that we will be adding to this collection.

    If you are interested in high quality reprints or digital copies contact the Libraries Archives and Special Collections.

  • Purdue Faculty

    

    Photos and papers of Purdue Faculty through the years from Michael Golden to our current faculty.

  • Purdue Students

    

    A collection of images of Purdue students in various activities over the years.

  • Purdue History in Photographs

    

    This collection showcases some of Purdue's great traditions and icons from years past, from the Tank Scrap of the early 1900s to the Boilermaker Special of today.

  • Purdue History in Print

    

    Publications that report on the History of Purdue University. The first publication celebrates Purdue's 75th Anniversary.

  • Purdue Oral History

    

    Purdue Oral History Program

  • Purdue University Newsreels

    

    Archives and Special Collections in cooperation with the Purdue Alumni Association brings you 51 Purdue Newsreels spanning more than 70 years of Purdue History. The first newsreel produced in 1935 chronicles a young Purdue with only 7,000 students and 74 buildings. In the 50's students arrived at Purdue via train!

    Come and see the face of Purdue change.

    To purchase a newsreel, contact the Purdue Alumni Association at (800) 414-1541

• Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids

  

  Archival institutions routinely create detailed inventories and guides that describe the collections of primary source materials under their control. These inventories and guides, commonly called archival finding aids, provide more complete information about a collection than is available in the Purdue Libraries Online Catalog.

• Charles Alexandre Lesueur Collection of Works of Art on Paper

  

  The Charles Alexandre Lesueur Collection (circa 1800-1846; 42 items) contains twenty-five pencil, pastel, charcoal and watercolor sketches on paper by Lesueur. Many of the sketches document life in New Harmony, Indiana, and these works are most likely dated according to Lesueur’s stay in Indiana, from 1826 to 1837. The collection also includes seventeen pencil and watercolor sketches attributed to Virginia Dupalais, Lesueur’s niece and pupil who lived with him in New Harmony, or Lucy Sistare [Say], a fellow artist teaching at New Harmony.

• George Winter Collection of Writings and Paintings

  

  As one of Indiana’s best known artists, George Winter is credited with documenting the forced relocation of Native Americans from Indiana in his artwork. Purdue's Archives and Special Collections has partnered with the Tippecanoe County Historical Association (TCHA), owner of the George Winter Collection, to digitize key pieces.

• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Collection

  

  Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were pioneers in the field of industrial management. Filmed time-motion studies were one method they used to attempt to find the "one best way" to do a myriad of tasks in industrial, office and domestic settings. Frank Gilbreth took over 250,000 feet of 35mm film and was able to increase the efficiency of repetitive tasks in these settings.

• The Helen Gougar Collection

  

  An argument in the Superior Court of Tippecanoe County, Indiana; Judge F.B. Everett, presiding. January 10, 1895.

• Medieval Manuscripts

  

  Selected Medieval Manuscript pages from the Archives and Special Collections.

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