The LSU Libraries Special Collections has recently added the University Archives Digital Collections to the LOUISiana Digital Library.  Consisting of the University Archives Photograph Collection and the University Archives Printed Materials Collection, these materials provide a rich look into the University's past.

Items include photographs of buildings, the campuses, students and student life, athletic teams, bands, faculty and administrators, clubs, classes, and laboratories.  Also included are printed materials such as programs from anniversaries and commemorative events, promotional brochures, campus maps and plans, sheet music, and a seismogram.  More items will be added to both collections over time.

The University Archives Photograph Collection currently consists of 662 images dating from 1862 through 1936, focusing primarily on the period from 1885 to 1925. These include athletics (football, baseball, tennis, track and field, fencing, basketball, and playing fields) from 1894 to 1936; classes, classrooms, and laboratories (biology, bookkeeping, chemistry, entomology, zoology, veterinary science, English, drafting, civil engineering) from c. 1890 to 1936; graduating classes from 1871 to 1906; individual students and student groups from 1862 to 1918; faculty and administrators from 1862 to 1916; the Audubon Sugar School from 1887 to 1907; cadet life (drill, cadet bands, rifle and artillery firing) from 1890 to 1916; and the buildings and grounds of the downtown campus from 1887 to 1925.

Currently consisting of twenty items, the University Archives Printed Materials Collection includes programs commemorating campus events from LSU’s “semi-centennial” (fiftieth anniversary) in 1910, the dedication of the present campus in 1926, the fiftieth anniversary of coeducation at LSU (1956), Centennial events in 1959-1960, and April 30th at LSU: A Bicentennial Convocation Observing the 50th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Present Campus in 1976.  Also included are maps of the downtown campus from 1895 to 1908, maps of Williams Plantation (the land that became LSU’s present campus) from 1920 and University property in 1940, plans of the quadrangle from 1936 and 1975, a planimetric (horizontal features only without regard for topography) map of campus created in 1958, and a topographical survey of the Mississippi River created by the LSU Department of Civil Engineering in 1909. Other items include sheet music entitled L.S.U. Semi-Centennial Waltz composed for LSU’s fiftieth anniversary in 1910, promotional brochures entitled Louisiana State University Views and Activities 1936,

This Is LSU (1959), and a seismogram registering ground movement on October 8, 1988 caused by the cheering crowd after LSU’s game-winning score against Auburn in the “earthquake game” in Tiger Stadium.

The photographs can be searched by keyword and by such topics as athletics, cadet life, clubs and student activities, and college presidents and faculty, as well as by colleges and departments and campus buildings.  The printed materials are searchable by keyword.

Both collections can be viewed at: https://lib.lsu.edu/special/archives/digital/.