Contributed by Wes Wilson, Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections
Collections of archival records and manuscripts are received nearly every day on the second floor of Roy O. West Library. That’s where the Archives of DePauw University and Indiana United Methodism is located. One example of the new collections in the Archives is the George Beswick family papers. Beswick was a Methodist minister in Indiana and father of Laura Beswick McKaig, one of the first four women to graduate from DePauw in 1871. The papers include a notebook belonging to George Beswick from 1835. The Archives also received scrapbooks for the DePauw band, 1931-58. These included news clippings, lists of band members and programs for the period. One of the most recent additions to the collection is the records of the DePauw Women’s Club. The Archives records for the club go back to the 1950s.
Once in a while, DePauw-related items appear on eBay. One such item that the Archives became aware of was a football program for the Old Gold Day game against Hanover, October 20, 1934. After discovering that the football collection lacked that program, a bid was placed. The Archives subsequently became the high bidder, eventually winning the program at a very reasonable price (our acquisitions budget is not large) to add to the football collection. Another football program became available a few months later, a game against Purdue in 1893. Bidding went very high for this program, probably because of its age and the fact that the opponent was a major college. The Archives had to drop out of the bidding for this one and it sold for over $500.
Besides being the archives for the University, the Archives is also the official repository for the United Methodist Church in Indiana, so occasionally United Methodist churches send us their records. Last fall, the Archives received the records for Baker Chapel located at DeGonia Springs, Ind. near Boonville. What is remarkable about this is that the church building was destroyed by a tornado in 2005, but the records survived their storage in the building’s furnace room. The members decided to place them in the Archives following the disaster.
After new collections are received, a description is entered into a database and it becomes the foundation for a catalog record and collection inventory. The catalog record is located in the PALNI database accessible through the OPAC while the inventory is published on the Archives website.
The Digital Library contains over 30,000 objects including photographs, publications and other artifacts spanning the history of DePauw University, Putnam County, and Indiana United Methodism. Highlighted collections include The DePauw student newspaper digitized from 1932, art from the University’s permanent art collection, and photographs from Greencastle photographer, Ralph Taylor. New content is added continually.