Digital Image Collections
Butler University Libraries work to digitize and provide access to photographs and documents housed in our Special Collections & Archives so as to make them available to scholars worldwide.
The Eliza Blaker Collection
This collection includes photographs and speeches relating to the life and work of Eliza Blaker, as well as records of the Teachers College of Indianapolis. Blaker founded the Teachers College, which became affiliated with Butler University in 1929, and is now the College of Education.
View the Eliza Blaker Collection
The Butler Collegian Archive
The student newspaper of Butler University was first published as The Collegian in 1886, and this online archive currently covers the years 1886-1892, 1936-2004 along with a few issues from 1893, 1935, and 2005. Current issues may be found at The Butler Collegian.
Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection
The Buildings and Grounds Collection includes photographs and documents of Butler University’s buildings and grounds on the current campus as well as on the two former campus locations. Additional images and documents are being added as time allows.
View the Buildings and Grounds Collection
Butler University Department of Theatre 75th Anniversary
Butler University’s Department of Theatre 75th Anniversary Exhibit shows some highlights from the Department’s founding and more recent history. Topics include predecessor institutions, productions, faculty, student organizations, spaces, and special programs and collaborations. The exhibit also contains links to more information for your own research or browsing.
View the Butler University Department of Theatre 75th Anniversary Digital Exhibit
The Butler University Yearbook Collection
Published primarily as The Drift, but also as The Gallery and The Carillon, Butler University’s yearbooks are reproduced in full in this collection. Issues from 1891-1931 have selective availability, but all issues from 1934-2013 are available.
View the University Yearbook Collection
The Friesner Herbarium Collection
The Friesner Herbarium Digital Collection contains images of plant specimens from the Butler University Friesner Herbarium which began as the personal collection of Dr. Ray C. Friesner, Professor and Chair of the Botany Department (1920–1952). The digital collection includes more than 43,000 images of specimens collected in Indiana from the 1870s to the present day.
The Friesner Herbarium (Non-Indiana Specimens) Collection
The Friesner Herbarium (Non-Indiana Specimens) Digital Collection contains images of plant specimens from the Butler University Friesner Herbarium collected throughout 25 countries. However, the majority of the specimens were collected within the United States. Currently, this digital collection contains over 1,500 images of plant specimens and spans 200 years with the earliest specimens collected in the 1820’s through the present day.
Jordan College of the Arts Collection
Butler University’s Jordan College of the Arts Collection currently contains a selection of School of Music programs from performances which took place during the 2018-2019 academic year as well as productions from the Department of Theatre over a 75 year period. We are continuing to add items as time permits.
View the Jordan College of the Arts Collection
The Jeanette Siron Pelton Botanical Print Collection
The Pelton Botanical Print Collection contains 71 original plates from herbals, plant histories, and botanical magazines published in the 15th through 19th centuries, created by a gift of Dr. John F. Pelton and the Jeanette Siron Pelton Memorial Fund in 1969.
View the Pelton Botanical Print Collection
Ovid Butler Collection
This collection will eventually contain all of the letters written by Ovid Butler from 1862 to 1866. These letters are bound in a letterbook which is in the Butler University Archives. Letterbooks were used to keep copies of letters written to and from individuals or businesses as a way to keep track of their correspondence. The letters discuss family life, Scott Butler’s service in the Civil War, business dealings, land holdings, taxes and more. The last few pages contain an index of the letter recipients in reverse alphabetical order.
View the Ovid Butler Collection
AMCA Lab Collection
The Butler University Ancient Mediterranean Cultures and Archaeology Lab Collection will eventually contain items in a variety of formats that are held by the AMCA Lab.
Sigma Gamma Rho Centennial Collection
The Butler University Sigma Gamma Rho Centennial Collection is a digital collection created in partnership between Butler University Libraries and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and its members to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Sorority’s founding at Butler University in 1922. The collection contains materials documenting nearly a century of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority’s history, predominately from 1946 through 2014.
View the Sigma Gamma Rho Centennial Collection
The University Art Collection
The University Art Collection will eventually cover a wide variety of objects from Butler University’s art collection. Initially, though, it contains 3D digital objects created with funding from a Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) Innovation Grant and a partnership between Butler Libraries and the Center for Academic Technology.