UASC Home

This collection contains ephemera from graduating classes of Cumberland Valley State Normal School, Shippensburg State Teacher’s College, Shippensburg State College, and Shippensburg University. Included are event programs, news clippings, daybooks, obituaries, notes and correspondence, reunion programs, alumni directories, poems, invitations, photos, playbills, song lyrics, menus, dance cards, student lists, student committee minutes, student identification cards, student handbooks, class notebooks, student schedules, sports schedules, and correspondence relating to the organization of class reunions and alumni gatherings. Also included are letters and holiday cards written from Shippensburg students and alumni who served in World War II (1941-1945) and during the Korean War (1950-1953). A number of objects are also included in the collection, including a class ring, reunion commemorative pen, napkin ring, harmonica, and felt patches. The records are chronologically arranged in 15 archival document boxes and one scrapbook box starting with 1873 and continuing to 2007. All items are filed in the class year to which they pertain, which is not necessarily the year the documents were created.

This collection contains scrapbooks compiled by students, alumni, and staff of Cumberland Valley State Normal School, Shippensburg State Teachers College, Shippensburg State College, and Shippensburg University. A majority of the scrapbooks in the collection are books termed “yearbooks,” which contain a variety of invitations, programs, clippings, dance cards, menus, minutes, schedules, and membership lists pertaining to specific academic years. The creators of these yearbooks are unknown. The entire collection ranges in date from 1883 to 2001. Other scrapbooks in the collection are photo books, herbaria compiled by botany students in the 1890s, scrapbooks compiled by known alumni commemorating their years spent at the school, and scrapbooks compiled by class offices about the experience of the collected class while at Shippensburg. Two additional series contains photos, clippings, and scrapbooks compiled by long-time staff members Ada V. Horton and Rodger Goodling. The records are arranged in 7 series. Series include 1) Class Scrapbooks, 2) Academic-Year Scrapbooks [unknown creators], 3) Photo Books, 4) Alumni Scrapbooks [known creators], 5) Ada V. Horton scrapbooks, 6) Herbaria, and 7) Rodger Goodling scrapbooks. The contents of each series are arranged chronologically.

This collection contains oral history interviews conducted by a Shippensburg State College professor and students for a Sociology Popular Culture course from 1977-1981. Included are cassette recordings, interview summary and biography sheets, transcripts, release forms, resumes, photographs, brochures, letters, and newspaper articles. All interviews were conducted by students and course instructor Elizabeth J. Thompson at either the College or in a location of importance to the interviewee (for example: home, business, or workplace). All interviewees are connected to the Shippensburg area. Subjects discussed in the interviews include, but are not limited to: teaching, artistic expression, local politics, social work, business owners, local history, museums, and communication.

This collection contains materials created by Shippensburg University undergraduate students in Dr. Steven Burg’s Theory and Practice of History classes between 2009 and 2012. Additional materials were collected by the Shippensburg University Center for Applied History. Included are oral history transcripts, audio recordings on CD, recollections of former students, student papers, and release forms. The records are arranged in 4 series: 1) Civil Rights Oral Interviews, 2) Residence Hall Project, 3) Student Papers, and 4) Release Forms. The contents of each series are arranged alphabetically. Subjects discussed in the interviews include, but are not limited to: impact of the Civil Rights movement on Shippensburg’s campus, residence hall and student experiences from the 1960’s to the 2010's, African-American student experiences and campus involvement, race relations, the women’s rights movement, town life, teacher and employer experiences, and evolution of the university.

Pi Nu Epsilon is a national honorary music fraternity that was active at Shippensburg State College and later Shippensburg University from 1955 through 2016. The bulk of this collection consists of governing documents, scrapbooks, and photographs documenting Pi Nu Epsilon Delta Chapter’s activities at Shippensburg State College and Shippensburg University. Also included in this collection are constitutions, by-laws, and meeting agendas for meetings of the national Pi Nu Epsilon organization, and correspondence related to the national organization’s efforts to expand to other schools in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The records are arranged in 3 series. Series include 1) Scrapbooks, 2) Administrative Files, and 3) Photographs. Series 2 contains four sub-series to distinguish files created by different functions or officers of the Delta Chapter. Contents of all series are arranged chronologically where possible.

This collection documents the scholarship of John Taggart. Included are publications with his poems; reviews of his poems; Taggart’s reviews of other artists’ work; and materials related to poetry readings and conferences he attended such as programs, pamphlets, notes, and flyers. Taggart is a renowned poet and was Professor of English at Shippensburg University from 1969 to 2001. He has been published widely in literary magazines alongside notable contemporaries such as Allen Ginsberg, Susan Howe, and Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge. He has also been published and spoken internationally in Italy, Portugal, France, and Spain. He has authored more than a dozen collections of poetry, including Is Music: New and Selected Poems (2010), Pastorelles (2004), and Dodeka (1979).

The bulk of this collection is comprised of Richard McLeod’s (SU History Professor 1969-1996) research and draft materials for his unpublished manuscript, Working With Their Hands: Artisans in Philadelphia 1800-1850. This manuscript is a revision and expansion of his doctoral thesis, The Philadelphia Artisan 1828-1850, which was completed in 1971. Working With Their Hands is an analysis of the early nineteenth century urban artisan and intends to clarify the distinction between the terms “artisan” and “working class.” He anticipated to combine economic, political, and social history studies into one complete manuscript and placed his work into the sub-field of “new labor history.” Included are McLeod’s research materials for Working With Their Hands: Artisans in Philadelphia 1800-1850, which consist of reference materials, annotated research notes, directories, bibliographies, drafts, and computer files. The collection also contains his doctoral thesis, The Philadelphia Artisan 1828-1850 and master’s thesis Development of Superior Wisconsin as an Industrial and Transportation Center 1854-1900. A small biographical file includes professional and personal photographs, a resume, obituary and remembrance files, and donor correspondence.