University of St. Francis Library Archives

The USF Library Archives has processed and completed the Finding Aids of six new collections. We are happy to open the following collections for research: History of the University (10-117) City History (40-100) Diocese History (40-105) English Department (20-120) Speech & Speech Pathology Department (20-210) Foreign Language Study (20-135) See a complete list of our processed collections here . The USF Library Archives is open Monday-Friday, 9-4am.

The USF Library Archives will have the following schedule over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend: Wednesday, Nov. 25 - 8:00am-3:00pm Thursday, Nov. 26 - Sunday, Nov. 29 - Closed We will open again Monday, Nov. 30 at 8:00am and return to our regular hours. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

In 1939, the Great Depression was nearing an end and the U.S. had not yet entered into World War II, making this an era at CSF of lightheartedness and optimism. Seniors from the class of 1939 enjoy the spring weather out on the quad. (l to r) Evelyn (Mintert) Schanzle, M. Ruth (Kerper) Tofanelli, Margaret (Zabrowski) Palinski, Olive (Pommier) Ross, Patrice (McShane) Austgen, Marie (Ribordy) Fogarty, Novita (Moddrel) Crockett, Minola C. (Williams) Sturm, Elizabeth (Assell) Wallers, and Frances (Fencel) Fordyce. The USF Library Archives was fortunate to have help in identifying the people in this photograph. Mrs. Minola C. (Williams) Sturm (third from the right) celebrated her 70th class reunion this fall and kindly sat down to look through Archives photos from her time at CSF. Her information helped solve the mystery of "who?" in quite a few of our unidentified photos. Many thanks from the USF Library Archives.

The USF Library Archives submitted a book proposal to Arcadia Publishing in October. This book would be a part of Arcadia's Campus History Series and would visually chronicle the history of USF. We just received word that Arcadia has accepted our proposal! We will begin work soon and hope to have the book published and available by Homecoming 2010. Go Saints!

This year, Founder's Day at USF is on September 15. To find out more about the celebration please see my previous post or the USF website . For my part this year I've created three displays of materials from the USF Library Archives showing the history of the school and celebrating the Sisters who worked so hard to make the school what it is today. Please take some time to visit the displays around campus. Be sure to look for familiar faces and places as you "Walk the Gospel Road" through history: The Motherhouse - located in the display cabinets across from the Solutions Office on the 3rd floor down the hall from San Damiano Hall. This display focuses on the Sisters and the early years of their time at USF. The Library - located in the display case just inside the main doors, across from the Circulation Desk. This display focuses on Sisters and faculty with an emphasis on more recent years. Tower Hall: Moser Performing Arts Center Gallery - located in the po...

Founder's Day at USF is Tuesday, September 15th. This is the time when we celebrate our founding congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate. They gave so much of their lives to making the school what it is today. This year's theme is Walking the Gospel Road in Faith and the activities include: 10:30 am - Blessing of the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Quad. 11:00 am - Mass in St. Joseph Chapel, Motherhouse. Noon - Lunch in San Damiano Hall. That evening at 7:00 pm in San Damiano Hall Sister Margaret Eletta Guider, OSF will be speaking at the Fifth Annual Bishop Imesch Women in the Church Lecture Series. Her talk is titled The Wonders and Woes of Mother Moes: Life Lessons from the Foundress on Being a Woman in the Church and the World . Mother Alfred Moes The USF Library Archives will be displaying materials from the Archives that celebrate the Sisters and others who have been important in the history of USF. Please take some time to look at the displa...

As the new school year starts, I thought I would share some of the changes that took place over the summer in the USF Library Archives. 1) New Student Workers - Along with Sarah and James returning from last year, the Archives is happy to welcome Samantha. We have many projects and plans for this coming year and look forward to all the wonderful work that the students do. 2) New Online Collection - The LSTA grant project is done and the new collection is now online. Sharing Our Past - A Visual History includes images and materials from 1920 to the present covering faculty, staff, students, classes, buildings, activities, athletics and much more. Be sure to visit the collection here . 3) New Comfy Chairs - We now have three comfy recliner chairs in the Archives Reading Room. As you know, the materials in the Archives have more restricted use than the general collection. In order to provide a more comfortable and inviting area for using the materials and reading the books, we ha...

In a previous post , I explained that the USF Library Archives had won a grant from the Illinois State Library under the Institute of Museum and Library Services' Library Services Technology Act . This grant has allowed us to digitize approximately 3,000 items from our Archives' collections and create an online collection to showcase them. This online collection called Sharing Our Past, A Visual History is now complete and open for use. It includes materials from 1925 to the present, covering Sisters, Faculty, Staff, Students, Buildings, Activities, Athletics and much more. The Sisters of St. Francis and the University of St. Francis are deeply rooted in the City of Joliet and in Will County. The history of the school provides insight into the daily and scholastic life of college students in the area, showing the changes over time in educational and social norms. This online collection is a visual representation of that history. Please visit the collection at http://coll...

The USF Library Archives has been fortunate to receive donations of artwork from current USF students. A selection of art projects from the Spring 2008 semester are now on display in the Library. To view these pieces please visit the Student Artwork Display area on the 2nd floor of the Library. This area is outside the Center for Instructional Delivery (CID) offices, adjacent to the classrooms. Art in this display by: Jackie Marroquin, Robbyn Yuen, Ron O'neal, Ashley Kekelik, Tricia Whybark, Brad Bourg, Jackie Oliver, Matthew Mazurowski, and Kathy High.

The USF Library Archives is working to create a large online collection of items from the Archives' materials called Sharing Our Past, A Visual History . (to see more about the project view this previous post ). Before we share the new digital collection, I wanted to share some other worthy sites for viewing online images and information. National Archives and Records Administration - the Nation's repository for government records. The website is full of information about the holdings and links to databases for searching through electronic records. Library of Congress on Youtube - the Library of Congress video collection includes films dating from the earliest Edison film to the present. Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web - a one-stop shop database for finding online exhibits created by libraries, archives and historical societies. Updated by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, it contains over 3,000 links. CARLI Digital Collections - The C onsortium of A ca...

George Bull was a theologian and a defender of the doctrine of the Trinity who lived from 1634 to 1710. He was born in Wells, Somerset, UK and educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton, Devon and then at Oxford University. He was ordained in 1655 and rose successfully to become the Bishop of St. David's in 1705. After his death, his writings were published in the book The Works of the Right Reverend George Bull, D.D., Late Bishop of St. David's: translated into English by F. Holland, M.A. It was a multi-volume work published in London in 1730. The USF Library Archives has a copy of Volume II on display in our Rare Books Collection. If you would like to view the Rare Book Displays or other historical materials in the USF Library Archives, please visit us on the 2nd floor of the USF Library.

Born in London in 1882, John Drinkwater was an English poet and dramatist during the early 20th century until his death in 1937. He was also an actor and a promoter of repertory theatre in England. During his career he published several volumes of verse, critical studies, and historical plays. The John L. Raymond Special Collection in the USF Library Archives has 21 books by Drinkwater including his first full-length play Rebellion (1914). 4 of the books in the collection are signed by the author [ American Vignettes (1931), From an Unknown Isle (1924), Poems of Love and Earth (1912), and Swords and Ploughshares (1915)], and 3 of those 4 are first editions [ From an Unknown Isle (1924), Poems of Love and Earth (1912), and Swords and Ploughshares (1915)]. If you would like to view these books and other rare and exciting editions from the John L. Raymond Special Collection please visit the USF Library Archives on the 2nd floor of the USF Library.

The USF Library Archives has been awarded the Connecting to Connections Bookshelf Award from IMLS (The Institute of Museum and Library Services) and AASLH (American Association for State and Local History) . The IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf is a set of resources selected by conservation and preservation experts throughout the country. It contains informative, practical materials to help institutions sustain the country's heritage by improving the care of their collections. The USF Library Archives will be receiving books, DVDs, and other resources that address such topics as the philosophy and ethics of collecting, collections management and planning, emergency preparedness, and culturally specific conservation issues. The Bookshelf was awarded through a competitive, expert reviewed, on-line application process where applicants demonstrated an urgent need for this permanent resource. The USF Library Archives is excited to add these materials to our resource collec...

The USF Library Archives has been awarded a 2009 LSTA grant to complete the project titled "Sharing Our Past: Digitally Archiving the History of the University of St. Francis". We received word of our acceptance (and our giant check) in 2008 and have been steadily working on finishing the project. We are about 3/4 done and as we near the end, we have prepared a small article that describes the project and gives a quick overview of the history of USF. “Sharing Our Past: Digitally Archiving the History of the University of St. Francis” is a project that will create an online collection of digitized photographs, brochures, newspapers, posters, and other materials related to the history of the University of St. Francis, the City of Joliet , and Will County . This collection will provide access to information and materials that are an important part of the history of higher education in Illinois . It will also greatly increase the USF Library Archives’ current outreach ef...