Research Collections
Institutional Records
Institutional records generated directly by Indiana State University offices and departments.
Personal collections
Collections created or organized by students, alumni, or faculty members.
Archival research
Archives houses a wide variety of university records, student memorabilia, and more. These unique collections provide a first-hand account of ISU's operations and campus life to today's researchers. To see what collections Archives holds, look through the finding aids linked above.
ISU Archives follows archival practices by organizing each collection by its creator, that is, deposited collections are kept with the records created by the same office or individual. With most collections, efforts are made to retain the original order the creator(s) organized the records. Patrons researching a specific subject should expect to review several collections from a variety of creators since archives are not organized by subject.
Review the finding aids or ask staff for assistance in determining which collection might best meet your research needs.
Online Collections
Sycamore Scholars
Wabash Valley, Visions & Voices
A growing number of university publications, photographs, and memorabilia are now available online on the above two links.
Finding Aids
Finding aids are tools created by Archives staff to assist your research. Much like a library catalog record or the inside cover of a book jacket, finding aids tell you what you can expect to find in an archival collection. Due to the unique nature of each collection, each finding aid may be a little different though there are basic similarities with each other and between another archive's finding aids.
Finding aids describe what materials are in a collection, who created/organized the collection, and how the collection is organized. Some finding aids may provide a high level of detail describing every item whereas other finding aids may only give a list of folder titles or the names of major records series within the collection. The detail of a finding aid depends on the amount and variety of materials within a collection.
Finding aids are designed to give you general information to more specific information further into the finding aid. At the beginning (example), you can expect to see the following:
- Who created the collection
- What year/s the collection covers
- How big the collection is
The middle part (example) of the finding aid contains a number of descriptive notes regarding the collection. Every collection will provide a Scope and Contents note and an Access note.
- Scope and Contents-A written written narrative of the types of materials in the collection, how they are organized, how the materials may have been originally used, and/or specific subjects covered by the collection.
- Access-Any restrictions on viewing the collection
The last part (example) of a finding aid is an inventory listing the records contained within the collection, how the collection is organized, and which boxes the items are stored in.
Viewing Collections
We recommend arranging an appointment with Archives staff so we can have your requested collection on hand when you visit.