Institutional and Department Records

These records contain information concerning administration offices, athletic and educational departments, campus buildings, etc. These records are spread out in several different “collections,” including the Archives Files, the Photograph Collection, the brown and grey archival boxes, and other filing cabinets in University Archives. There are also boxes with information about Board of Trustees and University Senate meetings, accreditation reports, and intramural sports.

University Publications

Past issues of LinC, The Crescent, and UE Magazine are all housed within University Archives. LinC  was the University’s award-winning, student-directed yearbook that ended with the 2016 yearbook. Issues from 1922 to 2016 are available online through the Internet Archive. The Crescent  is the University’s award-winning, student-directed newspaper/magazine, and is still in publication. Digitized issues from 1919-2009 are available online. Later issues can be found at https://crescent.evansville.edu/.  UE Magazine is geared towards alumni and publishes two issues a year. Issues from Fall 1982 to Fall 2023 can be found in University Archives.

Harlaxton Collection

Harlaxton, a manor located in Grantham, England, is UE’s study abroad center. This collection contains material such as budget reports from the 1990s, assorted Harlaxton yearbooks from the 1970s - 1990s, and information related to the Board of Directors and students from the 1990s.

Institutional History (Moores Hill, Evansville College, Evansville University)

The University of Evansville began in 1854 under the name Moores Hill Male and Female Collegiate Institute, whose name was later changed in 1887 to Moores Hill College. In 1917 the college moved to Evansville and was rebranded as Evansville College in 1919; finally, in 1967, the college was renamed University of Evansville. Files and information about these periods and transitions can be found in the Archives Files, the Photograph Collection, and the brown and grey archival boxes.  Two histories of the University of Evansville have been written and are available online:

• From Institute to University
• We Face the Future Unafraid

Mary Ross Ellingson Collection

Mary Ross Ellingson was a former professor of archaeology at the University of Evansville. The collection material includes photographs, copies of correspondence between Ellingson and her family, articles about Ellingson, and a copy of her dissertation. Dr. Alan Kaiser (professor of Archaeology) has published extensively about Ellingson in Archaeology, Sexism, and Scandal: The Long-Suppressed Story of One Woman’s Discoveries and the Man Who Stole Credit for Them (Rowman and Littlefield).

Photograph Collection

This collection contains several thousand photographs documenting the institution’s history, including periods relating to Moore’s Hill College and Evansville College. There are also photographs of athletic teams, educational departments, campus events, student organizations, faculty, and students throughout the years.

Plane Crash Collection

On December 13, 1977, when a plane carrying 24 members of the Evansville basketball team and staff crashed, taking the lives of all those on board. This collection contains photographs of the team; news releases from the university and other newspapers about the crash; information about various memorial and anniversary services, a memorial fund, and benefits; files on the victims; and expressions of sympathy.

James L Clifford Research Collection

The collection is composed of the working library of James L. Clifford, a noted Johnson scholar and Evansville native, and contains books, periodicals and reprints by and about Samuel Johnson and his era. The collection was donated to the University in 1981 by Mrs. Clifford.

Karl Kae Knecht Collection

A collection of original cartoons by Karl Kae Knecht, a long time Evansville Courier editorial cartoonist, was donated to the University of Evansville Archives by Knecht in 1962. He presented about 3,400 cartoons to UE, a small number of the over 18,000 Knecht produced throughout his 54-year (1906-1960) career at the Courier. Digital access to the cartoons is available online.

Orr Collection

Samuel L. and Robert D. Orr were involved in running Orr Iron Company, whose headquarters were in Evansville. Collection material is housed in three filing cabinets and twenty-two boxes in University Archives and includes correspondence with the Orr family; photographs; company ledger and payroll sheets; stock certificates; personnel files; and other miscellaneous files. Some files were labeled by the company (indicated on the finding aid).

United Methodist Church of Gary, Indiana Collection

Missionary trip artifacts from Japan, Philippines, China, Singapore, Africa, Malaysia, India, Portugal, Korea, Jerusalem, Bahama Islands, Peru, South America, and other unknown countries. Some items have attached cards with information about how the item was used and when it was obtained. Most items are delicate and/or fragile and should be handled with care.

Rare Books

The Rare Books Collection is housed partially in University Archives and partially in Acquisitions and Cataloging Department on the second floor of Clifford Library. Included are medical publications from the late 1800s and early 1900s, twenty volumes of Shakespeare’s works published in 1803, publications relating to philosophy, poetry, and the Civil War, general minutes of the United Methodist Church, and much more. Many of the items are fragile and in need of preservation and should be handled with the utmost care.