WCU Digital Archives   Tags: archives, history, local_history, special_collections, university_history  

Use the tabs at the top of the page to access and to find more information about the digitized collections. 

The Archives and Special Collections of West Chester University began digitizing materials to increase access and to promote the preservation of the fragile and highly used items in the collection.  Creating digital images of fragile historic items is the preferred method of preservation; by creating images of an item, a researcher can intimately examine the item without physically handling it, thus slowing deterioration. The digitization work completed thus far has been made possible through two seperate projects.

First, West Chester has collaborated with the Keystone Library Network (KLN) Digital Collections.  The KLN represents the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and other affiliated libraries in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Bloomsburg University, Kutztown University, Millersville University, Slippery Rock University and West Chester University currently each contribute to the Keystone Library Network of Pennsylvania Digital Collections.

The second project was made possible through a collaboration with the Internet Archive using University Performance Funding in conjunction with a special grant from the Sloane Foundation to Lyrasis.  This project included a mass digitization of all of the University's yearbooks, course catalogs, and two written histories.

As funding becomes available, the Special Collections and Archives plans to continue digitization and preservation projects, focusing on the fragile and the highly used materials in our collections.

 Please contact the Special Collections and Archives for more information.

Pathfinder/Serpentine: West Chester University yearbooks from 1910-2008

Course Catalogs: West Chester University course catalogs from 1871-2008

Philips Autograph Collection: Inscriptions and autographs from a variety of well-known authors, collected by G.M. Philips, principal of West Chester State Normal School from 1880-1920

Letters of General Anthony Wayne: Digitized collection of letters to and from Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War general and friend of George Washington

Historic Postcards: Late nineteenth and early twentieth century postcards depicting West Chester, Chester County and West Chester University.