Purdue University College of Liberal Arts records
Scope and Contents
This collection contains administrative documents from the College of Liberal Arts as well as records from individual departments and programs within the college.
Dates
- Creation: 1925 - 2019
Creator
- Purdue University. College of Liberal Arts (Organization)
Access Information
This collection is open for research.
Copyright and Use Information
Copyright held by Purdue University. Consult with Purdue University Archives and Special Collections prior to reproduction of materials
Historical Information
The Purdue University College of Liberal Arts first started as specific courses in communication, social sciences, and humanities, which later grew into departments within the School of Science. Then, it became the School of Science, Education, and Humanities (SEH) after these departments grew further.
Later, it was renamed to the School of Humanities, Social Science, and Education (HSSE) when it split from the School of Science in 1963 to become its own "school". Within a decade, it had become the second largest school at Purdue, after Engineering. It was also during the 1960s that graduate and interdisciplinary programs were established, including women's studies and African American studies.
In 1989, the School of Education split from the School of HSSE to become its own entity, and another name change was required. The name chosen was the School of Liberal Arts, submitted by Ralph Webb, a professor of communication. In 2004, the School of Liberal Arts, along with six other schools, were renamed from "Schools" to "Colleges." As of 2024, the College of Liberal Arts had 11 academic departments and 14 interdisciplinary programs.
Extent
5.10 Cubic Feet (One cubic foot box, three full-width letter-size manuscript boxes, one full-width legal-size manuscript box, and two flat boxes.)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into two series by creator.
- Administration
- Department records
Acquisition Information
A portion of these records were transferred from the College of Liberal Arts in 2014. The majority were donated by Joan Marshall and Emily Strudeman in 2016.
Separated Materials
The following items were removed from the collection: Theatre records, Joan Marshall collection, Council on the Status of Women materials (moved to MSP 49), Graduate Council minutes (1996-2001), University Senate minutes (2015), an undergraduate student retention report (1993-1994), Honors College theses, Runkel PhD thesis, photographs of homecoming lawn displays, photos of courdoroy pants, photos of Purdue landscapes, a newspaper clipping about a giant mushroom, and various patriotic materials from the 1950s.
Processing Information
All materials have been housed in acid-free folders and acid-free boxes.
- Duplicates of collection material were deaccessioned.
- Title
- Purdue University College of Liberal Arts records
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Sarah Kenny
- Date
- 2019-04-12
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
- Edition statement
- First edition.
Revision Statements
- 2019-05-05: Collection was rehoused in archival folders and boxes by Sarah Kenny.
- 2020-05-14: Collection description updated by Adelle Rogers.
- 2023-11-06: Added and linked websites from Archive-It to finding aid - Ben Parnin
- 2024-01-30: Historical Information note was updated to reflect entire collection by Emily Jones.
Repository Details
Part of the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections Repository
504 Mitch Daniels Boulevard
West Lafayette Indiana 47907 United States
765-494-2839
archives@purdue.edu