Smith College Libraries

College Archives

---

Contact Information Collections/ Guides Image Gallery Digitized Collections

Access Donations/Transfers Exhibits

The College Archives documents the history of Smith College.

Location: The archives is located on Level A of Alumnae Gym (enter through Neilson Library) where it shares space with the Sophia Smith Collection (Smith's women's history manuscript collection).

Hours: The joint reading room of the College Archives and the Sophia Smith Collection is open for research use from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., Monday through Friday, and Wednesday from 10 A.M. to 9 P.M. Please inquire about Sunday and summer hours. The College Archives and Sophia Smith Collection are open to visitors from 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M., Monday through Friday.

Beginning June 1, 2001 the reading room hours for the College Archives change to:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Wednesday: 1 P.M. to 9 P.M.

Addresses and phone numbers:

Nanci Young, College Archivist, (413) 585-2976
E-mail: nyoung@smith.edu
Smith College Archives
Northampton, MA 01063

Aimee Brown, Archives Specialist, (413) 585-2975
E-mail:  abrown@smith.edu
Smith College Archives
Northampton, MA 01063

Karen Eberhart, Archives Assistant, (413) 585-2975
E-mail:  keberhar@smith.edu
Smith College Archives
Northampton, MA 01063

The College Archives houses an unusually rich collection of material documenting the history of Smith College from the 1860s to the present. The archives' mandate is to preserve official records of the college, but it also collects many other types of material documenting college history and student life. The holdings are an important resource for the study of the history of Smith College, women's education, student life, and subjects such as women's war work and landscape architecture. See the College Archives' image gallery for a visual summary of these subject strengths.

Under authority from the president, the College Archives is responsible for the identification and preservation of all office records of the college with permanent historical or administrative value, including college publications, and the records of administrative offices, academic departments, and of administrative and academic committees.

As early as 1908, the college began to preserve a less official record of the college experience by soliciting students' letters, diaries, course notes, photographs, and memorabilia. This personal material is augmented by records of student government and organizations, student publications, records of class activities and reunions, plus selected biographical information about alumnae. The result is an outstanding collection of primary sources dating back to the earliest days of the college.

The archives also acquires the personal and professional papers of faculty members and major administrators to document their teaching, scholarship, and service to the college. Records of the Alumnae Association and other organized alumnae activities testify to the importance of the alumnae in the life of the college. The changing campus is documented through such material as photographs and building and landscaping plans. Other material that fills out the record includes posters, films, videos, and tape recordings of lectures, conferences, demonstrations, and special events as well as oral history interviews with faculty, staff, students, and alumnae.

• Research Guides

The Smith College Libraries Special Collections, including the College Archives, are open to all interested users -- students, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumnae of the five colleges as well as outside scholars and the public. Staff provide individual reference service to readers in the reading rooms of Alumnae Gymnasium, give class and group presentations about the holdings and the use of primary sources, and answer inquiries by telephone, letter, fax, and e-mail.

A variety of reproduction services are available, including photocopies, photographic prints, slides, transparencies, and audio- and videotapes. Access to the collections and permission to copy from them depend upon the condition of the material, legal restrictions, considerations of confidentiality and privacy, and donor requirements. Permission to quote from manuscript material for publication purposes must be obtained from Special Collections as well as from the holder of the copyright. Please inquire about specific reproduction rates and restrictions.

Visitors are welcome to view the permanent and rotating exhibits mounted by Special Collections staff in the Alumnae Gymnasium, as well as those in the Collacott Room, the Mortimer Rare Book Room, and the front hall of the William Allan Neilson Library.

Special Collections staff is always interested in learning about potential additions to the collections. Prospective donors are invited to call, write, or visit to discuss donations. The Special Collections staff is happy to review descriptions of possible donations, if available, and suggest alternative arrangements if the material is already owned by the Smith College Libraries or does not fall within the scope of the sections' acquisitions policies.

College offices are required to review the contents of their files with the College Archives staff for disposal or transfer to the Archives.

The college cannot appraise donations or pay for appraisals.

Monetary contributions to the Sophia Smith Collection, College Archives, or Mortimer Rare Book Room may be made through the Friends of the Smith College Libraries, William Allan Neilson Library, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063. (413) 585-2903.