University of St. Francis Library Archives

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...