Collections

Since 1983, the Grunwald Gallery of Art, formerly the School of Fine Arts Gallery (SoFA), has presented contemporary works by both professional and student artists in a special exhibition format. The records in this collection include exhibition publicity, audio and visual materials, and photographic slides spanning 1970-2015.

The mission of the Indiana University LGBTQ+ Culture Center, formerly named GLBT Student Support Services, is to provide information, support, mentoring, and counseling to members of the IU campus and the larger community. The IU LGBTQ+ Culture Center seeks to fulfill their mission through networks, collaboration, education, and outreach in an attempt to create a climate where all members of the community are encouraged to promote and defend diversity. The collection consists of records relating to campus programming, speakers and events, conferences, groups, and office administration. There are also scrapbooks documenting GLBT issues on campus and the LGBTQ+ Culture Center.

Maida Tilchen is an Indiana University alumna and activist who focused on LGBTQ+ and women's rights. This collection comprises .8 cubic feet and primarily consists of Tilchen's papers and collected materials documenting her life in Bloomington, Indiana and the local social justice initiatives of the 1970s.

The Handbook of American Folklore is an edited volume assembled by the Indiana University Folklore Institute in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Published in 1983, it includes many short, explanatory essays on the forms, methods, and theories that are of interest to folklorists, as well as guidelines for the interpretation, archiving, and presentation of research to public and academic audiences. Handbook authors were invited to contribute by the volume's editors, which include Folklore Institute founder Richard M. Dorson. This was one of Dorson's last major projects before his death in 1981.

The School of Business at Indiana University was established in 1920 as the School of Commerce and Finance, with William A. Rawles as dean. Eight deans have since followed to the present tenure of Dean Daniel C. Smith. Collection consists of correspondence, administrative files, and faculty announcements from Schuyler F. Otteson's tenure as dean of the School of Business, 1971-1982.

Dr. John W. Ryan was the fourteenth president of Indiana University, serving from 1971 until 1987. This collection is comprised of his speeches.

The records of the Vice President for Administration, incumbent Edgar Williams, comprises 27.4 cubic feet and spans the years 1971-1988. The correspondence in the collection is largely between Williams and other IU administrators, including Bloomington Vice President Robert O'Neil and Assistant Vice President for Administration H. Glenn Ludlow. The Subject and Committee files series document the administrative duties and tasks undertaken by Williams and includes records on a great variety of subjects and programs, such as affirmative action, computing, regional campuses, personnel, and scholarships and financial aid.

The Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics & American Institutions is an endowed ethics research center established in 1972 at Indiana University Bloomington. The collection consists of the Center's administrative files arranged by subject, documenting the creation and growth of the center and its programs and events. Materials include correspondence, reports, syllabi, program and seminar materials, video and audio tapes, and photographic materials generated and received by the Poynter Center.

Mary Ellen Brown is a Professor Emerita of Folklore whose research during the 1970s and 1980s focused primarily on the works of Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns. The collection consists of research notes and manuscripts related to Robert Burns.

Scott Russell Sanders taught in the Indiana University English Department from 1971-2009. He specialized in writing fiction, and also was heavily involved with the Wells Scholars program, serving as its director from 1997 to 2003. This collection consists of the teaching and faculty files of Dr. Sanders.

Construction of Indiana University's Forest Quadrangle was completed in 1965. Original plans included a dining hall, an 11-story men's unit and an 11-story women's unit, but after the 1966 school year, the university decided to use Forest for women's housing. It remained as such until 1996, when the dormitory went co-ed. Each year the dormitories would rely heavily upon Orientation Advisors (OA) to help during the new student orientation process. These OAs would work with Residence Assistants (RA) on planning events such as ice cream socials, dances, games, lemonade stands and information tables. The OAs also assisted in providing general campus information for the new students. This small collection consists of one cassette with music for a slide show and eight folders containing material from Freshman Orientation for Forest Quad. Nearly 300 photographic slides depicting student life in Forest Quad were transferred to the Archives photographs collection.

The Office of Affirmative Action was created to "provide leadership for the university's commitment and efforts to promote institutional equity and a diverse university community" and to provide "counseling, advice, and information to university administrators, deans, department heads, faculty, staff, and students in their efforts to create a diverse and inclusive learning and work environment free of discrimination and harassment." The collection consists of reports and reviews written by the Office, complaint files, and subject files.

The Early Music Institute was established as a part of the School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington in 1980, with Thomas Binkley serving as the founding director. The goal of the EMI was to address the needs of students who wanted to pursue studies and advanced degrees in professional performance of early music and collegium directing. Binkley and the EMI also established the Thomas Binkley Early Music Recordings Archive , which consisted of a vast array of sound recordings for the benefit of student performance and scholarship in early music. This collection consists of student, faculty, and project files and includes correspondence, files on curriculum development, events and publicity, and information on the development of the Thomas Binkley Archives.

Established in 1927, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) undertakes projects to help U.S. state education agencies develop and implement educational policies and advocates for educational reforms at the state and national levels. Dr. Fred Czarra was the Director of International Education and Specialist in Social Studies and Interdisciplinary Learning at the Council for Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) from 1986-2006. The collection includes CCSSO committee meeting minutes, grant projects and reports, correspondence, curriculum standards, lesson plans, and publications, as well as a small amount of Czarra's personal papers.

The Indiana University Arts Administration Program, part of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs on the Bloomington campus, was conceived in 1970 with the first students beginning the program in the fall of 1972. The program is of an inter-disciplinary nature, drawing on the cooperative efforts of SPEA, the Department of Theatre and Drama, and the Schools of Business, Music, Fine Arts, and Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, with the goal of providing a balance of artistic and business concerns, of theory and hands-on experience. The collection consists of conference and symposium files, correspondence, committee files, general administrative records, and files related to alumni and student projects.

Co-sponsored by the Indiana University Alumni Association and Indiana University Bloomington Continuing Studies, Mini University began in 1972 as a unique educational and vacation experience for adults. The collection consists of administrative files, directories and working papers, and visual materials.

The Folklore Students' Association (FSA) is a student run organization supported by the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Indiana University. The collection consists of correspondence, newsletters, meeting minutes and reports.

The Robert. A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program was established on the Bloomington campus in 1972 with the aid of a Lilly Endowment. It is now one of the largest and oldest programs supporting the interdisciplinary study of the Jewish people and civilization. The collection consists of the program's administrative and subject files documenting the creation and growth of the program and includes correspondence, reports, newsletters, videos, and photographic material.

Mary Jo Weaver served as a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University from 1975 until her retirement in 2006. Her teaching career, scholarly activities, professional service, and publications are represented in the contents of this collection.

The office of Vice President of Administration was established during the 1974 University reorganization and was responsible for the management of a wide range of University functions. The office's diverse duties included budgetary administration, management services, computing systems, and intercollegiate athletic programs. This collection consists of records created and collected during the tenure of Herbert Glenn Ludlow, who served as Vice President of Administration from 1975-1981. The collection is organized into three series: Correspondence, Committee files, and Reports.

The Ventriloquism Project was a planned collaboration of the Indiana University Folklore Institute and Radio & TV Services, who hoped to produce a documentary on the contemporary practice of ventriloquism in the United States. Ultimately, the project was not funded. This collection traces the history of the venture from its beginnings to its eventual shelving.

Collection consists of 1.7 cubic feet of records created by Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science chair Edward Grant. Prof. Grant served as department chair 1973-79 and again 1987-90. The two series, Subject files and Correspondence, provide a wealth of information on the happenings within the department. Included in the Subject files are departmental memos, meeting minutes, and budget information. Frequent correspondents in the Correspondence series are university administrators Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis and Morton Lowengrub.

The School of Business at Indiana University was established in 1920 as the School of Commerce and Finance, with William A. Rawles as dean. Nine deans have since followed to the present tenure of Dean Idalene Kesner. Collection consists of correspondence, administrative files, and faculty announcements from Jack R. Wentworth's tenure as dean of the School of Business, 1984-1993.

Ronald Richard Smith was a member of the Folklore faculty at Indiana University from 1978-1997. His research centered around traditional music, festivals, movement and dance, and religion within the African Diaspora, with a focus on Caribbean peoples. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at IU, Smith also served as associate dean of the Office of Research and University Graduate School from 1988-1996, headed the IU Ethnomusicology Program, and spent one year as director of the Archives of Traditional Music. This collection consists of Smith's papers and lectures, dissertations of some of his students, correspondence, committee files, and some classroom materials. Prominent in the papers are Smith's files on the Folklore Institute and department, such as teaching files, meeting minutes, and curriculum reviews.

The Kelley School of Business Dean's Advisory Council was established in 1973 and as of 2013, is still an active organization. The aim of the council is to offer advice on topics such as new programs, new trends in business and management, and changing needs in academic research and in teaching, as well as to increase interaction between the school and leaders in the business world. The collection consists of correspondence, meeting minutes, and biographical information about its members.

The Ethnomusicology Students Association was established at Indiana University in 1978. The goal of the organization was to develop and promote programs and activities for students interested in the field of ethnomusicology. The Collection consists of meeting agendas and minutes, program flyers and planning materials, and correspondence.

The Chi Chapter of Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society for library and information studies, was established at Indiana University in 1971. Collection consists of administrative files that were created by various officers of the Chi Chapter from the first years of the group's existence through 2010.

After a long career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Irvin K. Owen joined the staff of Indiana University in 1970, where he served as Special Assistant to the President of Indiana University for Safety Affairs before becoming Director of University Safety, a position he held from 1971 until his retirement in 1977. This small collection contains material pertaining to an article he authored entitled "What about Dumdums?" Included are research and lecture material, correspondence, and copies of the article.

The Indiana University School of Business 50th anniversary in 1970 generated interest in documenting the foundation and history of the school. School of Business faculty decided to create an oral history series called "An Oral History of the Origin and Development of the Indiana University School of Business" that was recorded on videotape. This collection contains these tapes, which are also digitized.

New Horizons was an independent community center founded in 1975 that intended to serve the increasingly open LGBTQ+ population in Bloomington. It did so by providing a physical space for the community to meet and gather, as well as supporting programming such as classes, organization for protests, and dances. This collection consists of newsletters and flyers produced by this organization.

Founded in 1972, the Program for Advanced Studies in Institution Building and Technical Assistance Methodology (PASITAM) was supported by a grant by the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) and represented Indiana University's major contribution to that program. PASITAM's mission was to to acquire, develop, and disseminate information about project design and implementation. Collection is organized in three series: Project, containing files maintained for use in developing their training materials and newsletters; Analytical Skills Workshop, containing files pertaining to PASITAM's major project which produced a series of training modules; and Reports, consisting of PASITAM's annual reports.

Completed in 1955, the Center was originally known as the Smithwood Center and intended as a new dormitory for female students. In 1960, the Center was renamed Daniel Read Residence Center to honor the late professor of ancient languages who taught Indiana University's first female students. The Council is made up of representative groups from within the Center, including center staff. It oversees any aspect of center life affecting students and staff and serves as an open forum for staff and students to proactively address center issues, to create center programming, to efficiently use community resources, and to help sponsor events. The collection spans the years 1975-2002 and consists primarily of minutes from Council meetings but also includes handbooks and manuals related to the Council and residence hall living. The folders, and the materials in them, are in their original order.

The Polish Studies Center was established at Indiana University on October 30, 1977. The purpose of the Center was to promote activities such as lectures, discussions, academic courses, and an exchange program with Warsaw University that would increase the knowledge and cultural awareness of Poland and Eastern Europe, while bringing the areas closer together. The collection consists of a wide-variety of information pertaining to the various programs, events, lectures, and conferences formed by the Polish Studies Center, along with administrative materials that show the growth and development of the center.

The groundbreaking feminist scholar and literary critic, Susan Gubar, began teaching at Indiana University in 1973 and retired as Distinguished Professor Emerita of English in 2010. This collection contains teaching and research material; material related to professional activities such as conferences, workshops, and committees; an extensive collection of news clippings with reviews and interviews; Gubar's publications and information related to the development of those publications, and both personal and professional correspondence.

Established in 1975 as the Annuitants' Association of Indiana University, the Indiana University Retirees Association is an organization for retired IU employees. Its primary purpose is to make information on retirement funds and on local social activities available to its members. The IU Retirees Association records contains correspondence with university administrators, minutes of the board, membership rosters, and copies of the association's newsletter, Newswatch.

The Indiana Communities Folklore Project was a joint effort between the Folklore Institute and Oral History Research Project of Indiana University which spanned 1980-1982. The aim of the project was to expand beyond the University to meet the growing requests by the community for aid in works pertaining to oral and folkloric activities and history, such as surveys and directories, collections, and festivals. The collection consists of materials that trace the development of the project. These materials include the project proposal, a list of the various community residencies undertaken for the project, conference and evaluation papers, and drafts of a resource handbook.

Danilo Orescanin was a long time administrator associated with Indiana University in a variety of administrative roles. This collection contains speech files from his time as Chancellor of IU Northwest between 1976 and 1983.

Thomas Ehrlich served as the 15th president of Indiana University, from 1987 to 1994. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, serving in several legal and academic posts before his appointment as IU president. The collection consists of administrative files and correspondence related to the performance of duties as IU president.

Formed in 1977, the Indiana Religious Studies Project (IRSP) brought Indiana secondary teachers to Indiana University to improve how the study of religion was taught in high schools. The collection consists of participant information (applications, course projects, correspondence), sample lesson plans, and a variety of records that pertain to the growth, successes, and shortcomings of the project over its seven year existence. The project's funding ended in 1984.

The IU Axolotl Colony, started in 1957, was a National Science Foundation -funded breeding colony of Mexican axolotl located in the Department of Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington. The colony supplied axolotl embryos, larvae and adults to laboratories for use in genetic research and to classrooms until the colony was moved to the University of Kentucky in 2005. Collection consists of newsletters.

Martha M. McCarthy is the Chancellor's Professor Emerita of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Indiana University. McCarthy's research focuses primarily on Education Law. Collection includes publications, drafts, teaching materials, grant proposals, and project reports. Also included are materials relating to McCarthy's involvement in professional organizations, conferences, and research data.

The Columbian project was a grant-funded, multi-sited, ethnographic research project organized by Indiana University's Folklore Institute and undertaken between 1987 and 1990. Titled "Hispanic Folk Poetry in Performance," the project focused on the influence and persistence of Spanish forms of folklore in Latin America five centuries after the landing of Christopher Columbus and subsequent conquests. Folklore researchers from IU and elsewhere completed fieldwork for the project, which occurred in tandem with the quincentenary of the Columbian voyage.

Esther Thelen (1941-2004) was a professor of psychology at Indiana University Bloomington and a well-known researcher in the field of developmental psychology. She is known for applying the dynamic systems theory to the study of infant motor development; this has since become the dominant theoretical viewpoint in the field. Much of Thelen's research was done at Indiana University Bloomington's Infant Motor Development Laboratory, which she established and directed. This collection contains personal files and correspondence; documents related to public speaking appearances, publications, and roles in professional organizations and committees; educational materials from psychology courses taught by Thelen; and materials related to Thelen's research, including handwritten notes, drafts of studies, and videotapes of research subjects.

Joy Unspeakable is a 1981 documentary that was produced by Indiana University Folklore Institute researchers and film crews from IU's Radio & Television Services. Examining the spiritual lives of Pentecostals living in Bloomington—especially women—the ethnographic film earned academic and public accolades. It also represented an early success in the research career of Elaine Lawless, an esteemed folklorist whose 1988 book God's Peculiar People: Women's Voice & Folk Tradition in a Pentecostal Church undertook a broader exploration of southern Indiana Pentecostalism based partly on the materials gathered in this project.

The Bloomington Gay Alliance was an umbrella organization that coordinated many smaller activist and social groups of the Bloomington LGBTQ+ community during the 1970s and 80s. This collection consists of ten newsletters the group published.

The Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife was first held in 1967. This festival brings together craftspeople, musicians, dancers, and other folk artists from every region of the United States and from scores of American ethnic communities. The 1987 festival was attended and documented by students in the Indiana University Folklore Department. Students photographed and recorded (video and audio) the presentations at the 1987 festival.

In 1981, Robert Cochran was named Indiana University Bloomington's Director of Administration and Assistant to the Vice President, serving under Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Bloomington Chancellor. The collection consists of Cochran's general administrative files and records relating to the reviews of non-degree granting units on the IUB campus.

Established as the Regional Economic Development Institute in 1984, the Indiana University Institute for Development Strategies is a university-wide program that focuses on research to promote economic development, and in particular the links between globalization, entrepreneurship, and the strategic management of regions to promote economic development. Directors of the Institute have included Charles Bonser, 1988-1997, and David Audretsch, appointed in 1998. Bonser also served as the first endowed Chair of the Ameritech Fellowship Program, which was established with a grant from the Ameritech Foundation. Research projects funded by this grant targeted major issues related to the new and emerging economies of mature economic regions with emphasis placed on the American Midwest. This collection consists of correspondence, research proposals and reports, publications, annual reports, working papers, committee files, conference and workshop information, and project records. Prominent in the collection is the Director's correspondence series, organized into two sub-series by incumbent, and records relating to the research projects funded by the Institute. The collection also includes files related to the establishment of the Institute, located in the Administration series.

The Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Project was a documentary production undertaken by Indiana University's Folklore Institute and Radio and Television Services between 1981 and 1983. The grant-funded project allowed a team of folklorists and film crews to attend the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Festival, a long-running celebration of classic cars and automotive heritage in Auburn, Indiana, 23 miles north of Fort Wayne. The collection consists of materials that trace the evolution of the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Project from planning to debriefing and includes project participants' activities researching and filming the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg festival.

The Commission on Multicultural Understanding was established in 1982 at Indiana University. The organization strove to make IU an environment in which students could feel safe and at home, regardless of race, age, religion, ability, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. The collection consists of minutes, reports, and correspondence regarding the yearly operation of the organization as well as details audiovisual and other educational resources on topics such as race, religion, gender identity, sexual identity, sexuality, and rape awareness.