Augustana College Special Collections

05/19/2020

Boosting this post from our Tredway Library page! We in Special Collections are very, VERY proud of all of the members of Augustana's Class of 2020, but we are especially proud of the graduating seniors who have worked with us behind the scenes to keep our collections organized, preserved, and available for researchers to use. We miss you, and we hope you'll come back to visit us when this is all over so we can say congratulations in person!

---

The Tredway Library is so proud of the class of 2020 for finishing their college journey strong! All of our students rolled with the changes this year brought and made the best of a bad situation. However, we know that for the seniors it was especially difficult to end your time here like that. You've made Augustana College proud!

The Tredway Library is so proud of the class of 2020 for finishing their college journey strong! All of our students rolled with the changes this year brought and made the best of a bad situation. However, we know that for the seniors it was especially difficult to end your time here like that. You've made Augustana College proud!

05/04/2020

Just because we're closed doesn't mean you can't still enjoy our beautiful books and archival treasures! Check out our new digital exhibit, "Plants: Cultivators of Curiosity and Inspiration" for a dose of botanical whimsy. This is an adaption of an exhibit that we installed in our reading room right before the COVID-19 crisis hit, and we invite you to "stop by" for a virtual visit. Major thanks to our superstar senior student worker, Jessica Beyer, for her hard work in creating the original exhibit!

https://augspeccoll.omeka.net/exhibits/show/cultivatorsofcuriosity

11/01/2019

Ghosts and goblins and witchcraft, oh my! Did you know that Special Collections has an incredible rare book collection? Here are some Halloween-y selections from our stacks that curious souls are welcome to request in our reading room. (Pictured: The Ghost's Touch and Other Stories by Wilkie Collins; Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, illustrated by Arthur Rackham; Phantasmagoria by Lewis Carroll; and The Blue Laws of New Haven Colony)

10/05/2019

Special Collections staff had a great time yesterday welcoming back alumnae and active members of the Phi Rho sorority to celebrate their 100th anniversary! On display were two incredible scrapbooks made by founding members of Phi Rho circa 1919. Here's a photo from the 1990s, maybe someone in this photo is back on campus right now? We hope you all are having a wonderful Homecoming! (Photo ID # C-S00334) Augustana College - Illinois Augustana College Alumni Association Phi Rho Sorority

08/30/2019

It's Move-In Day in Rock Island, IL! Welcome to Augustana College, Class of 2023! We hope you'll enjoy these photos of move-in days of yore (by which we mean 1960 and 1966). You can find these and other fabulous photos in Special Collections at Thomas Tredway Library. We'd love to see your own move-in pics, if you feel like sharing! Use the hashtag so we can follow along.

Photograph ID #'s C-F00503, C-F00561, C-F00562, and C-F04183 in the Augustana College Photograph Collection.

Augustana College - Illinois Augustana College Alumni Association

04/05/2018

We love this effort by Augustana's Music Department faculty to bring a little piece of Augie history to life! The "Augustana Victory Song" was composed by Albert Olson, Class of 1924. If you'd like to see the sheet music shown at the beginning of the video, it is located in Box 18 of MSS 385, our Local history collection. Stop by the Special Collections reading room any time Monday-Thursday, 1:00-5:00 p.m. and we'll be happy to help you!

http://www.augustana.edu/about-us/news/faculty-twist-victory-song

https://youtu.be/-oteUw31rGg

In this video, nine Augustana music faculty take on the Augustana Victory Song by Albert L. Olson, 1923.

08/18/2017

Eclipse mania is nothing new to Augustana, as evidenced by this series of correspondence between Professor Harry E. Nelson and none other than Neil Armstrong! The former astronaut played a pivotal role in convincing United Airlines to work with Prof. Nelson and his associates to arrange a special eclipse-viewing flight for the solar eclipse that happened on February 26, 1979. For more information about the 1979 eclipse, see the links below for an article from the New York Times and a video from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

https://nyti.ms/2vLxVUo

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/from-the-cbc-archives-the-great-eclipse-of-the-sun-1979-1.2974587

For all kinds of information about the upcoming eclipse on August 21, 2017, see the following website provided by NASA:

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

Augustana College mathematics professor Harry E. Nelson was an avid eclipse chaser who traveled around the world to pursue his passion. This series of letters documents his efforts to arrange a charter flight to view the February 26, 1979 solar eclipse near Winnipeg, Canada. The role of famed astronaut Neil Armstrong in convincing United Airlines to cooperate is just one of many hidden surprises in the Augustana Special Collections! (Letters from MSS 90 Nelson (Harry) papers, Special Collections, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois)

08/18/2017

Augustana College mathematics professor Harry E. Nelson was an avid eclipse chaser who traveled around the world to pursue his passion. This series of letters documents his efforts to arrange a charter flight to view the February 26, 1979 solar eclipse near Winnipeg, Canada. The role of famed astronaut Neil Armstrong in convincing United Airlines to cooperate is just one of many hidden surprises in the Augustana Special Collections! (Letters from MSS 90 Nelson (Harry) papers, Special Collections, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois)