Students, faculty, and other researchers are welcome to use the resources housed in the Carleton College Archives. Access to material is provided only through the assistance of Archives staff. Users must complete a brief registration in order to use archival material, and personal identification may be required. All material must be handled with care to ensure its preservation. All material must be used in the reading room: the collections do not circulate. Photocopying and other duplicating services are available.
The Carleton College Archives houses a wide variety of primary sources related to the College, members of its community, and related topics. These materials not only reflect the history of Carleton itself, but also reveal the way Carleton has been impacted by, and reacted to, changes and events in the broader society. Carleton faculty interested in using the College Archives for a class should contact the College Archivist, Tom Lamb, directly at tlamb@carleton.edu or 507-222-5300.
The College Archives is available by appointment only Mondays-Fridays, 8am to 4pm. Visits can be arranged by emailing archives@carleton.edu or calling 507-222-4270.
Numerous topics may be researched completely or in part through resources available in the Carleton Archives. Records date from the college’s founding in 1866, and touch on subjects ranging from educational policy to gender issues to fundraising; athletics to oratory to town-gown relations; biography to demography, multiculturalism to missionaries, student traditions to student protest; campus development to campus religion to campus politics.
Access to certain records is restricted for specified amounts of time by federal law, college policy, or donor stipulation. In other respects, use of the collection is open to all persons equally, whether affiliated with Carleton College or not. Faculty and students are especially encouraged to utilize the archives as an educational resource where under-graduates may be exposed to techniques of research in primary sources. Students have successfully used the Carleton Archives in connection not only with history courses, but also in such fields as English, religion, botany, geology, economics, art, music, American studies, political science, education, sociology, environmental studies, Asian studies, African American studies, and women’s studies.
Institutional records which are especially rich in information include:
- proceedings of the Board of Trustees and subordinate committees
- records of the President’s office and of the various deans and other administrative officers (including correspondence, memoranda, annual reports, and subject files)
- minutes of the faculty, college committees, and task forces
- reports from the office of institutional research
- financial reports
- press releases and subject files from the Carleton News Bureau
Other frequently used material includes:
- biographical files concerning alumni, faculty, and administrative staff
- copies of most college publications (administrative and student, official and “underground”)
- records of student government and organizations
- maps and architectural records
- recordings of campus events such as convocation lectures, some concerts, or symposia
- and extensive photographs of campus life
Certain researchers will also wish to make use of the following:
- past student honors theses
- oral history interviews
- scrapbooks, diaries, and memorabilia
- or specialized collections such as:
- papers of specific faculty members
- records pertaining to the Carleton-in-China program
- the Thorstein Veblen collection.
The archives also maintains a file of student research papers written on Carleton topics.
The Carleton College Archives was established in 1967, as the college was concluding the celebration of its centennial year, with the appointment of Ruthmary B. Penick as the first College Archivist. Its mission is to gather, preserve, and make available documentation and information pertaining to the work, history, and development of Carleton College, or about programs, policies, activities, events, persons, or groups associated with the College.. To that end it serves as the repository for all non-current official records of the college that have enduring and significant historical, administrative, or informational value. It also actively solicits and collects additional records, papers, publications, photographs and other relevant material from student organizations, faculty, alumni, or other persons outside of the college’s administrative structure.
Basic to the central functions of the Archives are the following core responsibilities:
- To determine the ultimate disposition of Carleton’s institutional records. Specifically, to select for archival preservation College records of enduring and significant informational value, and, conversely, to approve the timely disposal of those records without sufficient continuing legal, fiscal, administrative, or historical usefulness to justify the costs of maintaining them.
- To solicit and collect, within the parameters of the Archives’ written collecting policy, additional records, papers, publications, photographs, and other relevant material from student organizations, faculty, alumni, or other persons outside the College’s administrative structure.
- To establish and maintain systems of physical and intellectual control over archival collections, such that the records are physically protected and preserved against environmental and other hazards, as well as efficiently retrievable for reference and research use.
- To provide an array of informational and other services to all users, minimally including:
- opportunity to consult archival records (within the parameters of the Archives’ written policy on access),
- assistance and guidance as to the probable locations of desired information or as to the use of particular records, and
- responses to queries concerning the nature, extent, or content of archival records, or for specific pieces of information which are locatable in archival records without an excessive expenditure of staff time.
- To support the institutional mission of Carleton College by accommodating, where staff resources permit, special requests for active assistance in the preparation of institutional publications, programs, studies, exhibits or presentations, or in the undertaking of research to satisfy administrative informational needs, or in the planned instructional use of the Archives as an educational resource where students may be exposed to techniques of research in primary sources.
- To communicate knowledge and promote awareness about aspects of the history of Carleton College, especially among members of the Carleton community, but also in society at large, and to broaden knowledge and awareness about the College’s archival resources among potential users or donors of material.
Collection Policy
Documentation and information managed by the College Archives can come in the form of print, digital, photographic, audiovisual materials, or physical artifacts. These materials are made available for institutional reference as well as public research.
We receive transfers of records from offices within the college at regular intervals, in fulfillment of legal requirements and as outlined in our records retention schedule. In order to make the best use of our limited physical space, we collect digitally-created records in their original electronic format whenever possible, unless the materials in question were created to be distributed in a specific physical format, such as printed publications or posters.
In addition to these regular records transfers, we also actively solicit donations of materials from members of the Carleton community, especially from students and alumni, whose voices are largely absent from administrative records. These materials provide a unique documentary perspective and help us preserve the most comprehensive record possible of the College’s history and character. We are especially interested in collecting records created by or about groups that have historically been underrepresented in archives at Carleton and elsewhere, and we work to promote the use of such materials when possible.
When receiving new materials, we may refuse, return, or discard any duplicates of items we already hold in the archives, or new materials that cover people and events that have already been thoroughly documented in existing collections. We develop workflows that allow us to check incoming records for duplicates as effectively as possible. Following established standards for archival appraisal, we carefully remove materials that we determine do not have significant and enduring historical value in order to actively manage the growth of our physical and digital holdings. In the case of especially large or fragile sets of materials, we consider whether the archives has the physical space and staff capacity to adequately store and conserve the records prior to accepting them. When processing electronic records, we balance digital preservation best practices with the environmental and cost benefits of converting files to smaller compressed formats.
We actively and continuously manage our collections with targeted reviews of selected materials. Through these reviews, we seek to maximize our use of physical space, enhance the description of collections to increase accessibility, and ensure that all materials have appropriate storage for long-term preservation. These ongoing collection management projects decrease duplication and redundancy of holdings and facilitate the utilization of specialized storage in the most efficient manner possible.
Record transfers from within Carleton College
- The Records Retention schedule outlines the College’s policies for the management and transfer of documents to the Archives.
- Materials not covered in the schedule may still be appropriate for transfer to the Archives.
- Archives staff are available to consult with other College staff and answer questions about records management, storage, and transfers.
- In most cases, the Archives prefers to receive digital rather than printed records when those records have been created or circulated in a digital environment.
- In the case of materials that have been created for distribution in a specific physical format, such as printed publications or posters, the Archives may prefer to receive items in physical rather than digital form.
- We may refuse, return, or discard any duplicates of items we already hold in the archives, or new materials that cover topics that have already been thoroughly documented in existing collections.
- In general the Archives does not accept materials related to a student’s curricular or academic work, and will typically remove those materials from records received as part of a larger records transfer.
- By law, the Archives cannot provide general access to a student’s curricular or academic work during that student’s lifetime. Given these restrictions, as well as the volume of student work produced at Carleton, the Archives does not accept such material.
- Exceptions may be made for curricular or academic work that is related to a Carleton topic that falls within the Archives’ collecting scope, when the student responsible for creating the work has donated it to the Archives personally and completed the appropriate Instrument of Gift form, allowing the Archives to provide access to their work.
- The Archives has historically accepted transfers of student Honors theses from the Dean of the College’s Office, as well as a small number of comprehensive examination (comps) projects directly from academic departments, however additions to these collections are no longer being accepted. Student comps and Honors projects are instead submitted to the Carleton Digital Commons repository, which is managed by the Library.
Donations from students alumni, or others
- The Archives accepts donations of material related to the history of the College and its community, including records of contemporary events, from any source.
- Any donation from outside the College must be accompanied by a completed and signed Instrument of Gift form (provided by the Archives).
- The Instrument of Gift form allows the donor to specify any access restrictions on the donated material, including restrictions on online access.
- The Archives reserves the right to refuse any offered donation.
- The Archives will retain donations that fill gaps in its collection, enhance the depth of its collections, or bring a new or under-represented perspective to its holdings.
- We may refuse, return, or discard any duplicates of items we already hold in the archives, or new materials that cover people and events that have already been thoroughly documented in existing collections.
- In most cases, the Archives prefers to receive digital rather than printed records when those records have been created or circulated in a digital environment.
- In the case of materials that have been created for distribution in a specific physical format, such as printed publications or posters, the Archives may prefer to receive items in physical rather than digital form.
- Materials donated to the Archives become the property of the College.
- As outlined in the Archives’ Instrument of Gift form, donating materials grants the College non-exclusive usage rights to those materials, but it does not transfer copyright to the College.
- Contact the Archives to determine whether a donation of materials is appropriate, and to arrange the transfer.
The Carleton Archives will support remote learning and is available to assist with the use of our collections and to answer many of your reference questions. However, because of the nature of our materials, remote access may not be possible for many items.
Please contact us for more information:
- Tom Lamb: College Archivist & Head of Special Collections and Archives
- Eric Hillemann: Librarian & Senior Associate in Archives
- David Bliss: Digital Archivist
General Contact
archives@carleton.edu
Telephone: 507-222-4270
Carleton College Archives
Gould Library
One North College Street
Northfield MN 55057 (map)