Archives & Special Collections

Learn more about IU South Bend and Michiana history through our Archives and Special Collections, which is home to four departments:

**University Archives:** The official home for records that document IU South Bend’s origins and development and the activities of its officers, faculty, students and alumni.

**Civil Rights Heritage Center Collections:** These collections tell the story of Michiana’s civil rights history, with an emphasis on African American, LGBTQ and Latinx experiences.

**Michiana Collections:** The papers of publisher Franklin D. Schurz and the records of the Torrington Company and UAW Local 590 are two highlights from our collections devoted to Michiana history.

**Rare Books and Special Collections:** Our distinctive collections include the Fink Autograph Collection (featuring Aaron Burr, Clara Barton and Booker T. Washington) and the Casaday Theater Collection.

We are open to the university community and general public Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in room 206 of the Schurz Library (the rare books room). Although appointments are not required, we recommend contacting us ahead of time to discuss your research interests. We invite and encourage all students, staff, faculty, researchers, and the general public to use our collections - whether the purpose is for teaching, research, or pure curiosity.

What are you looking for?

Campus Records Management

Learn more about IU South Bend records management policy

FAQ

Frequently asked question for Archives

Finding Aids Index

Finding aids for IU South Bend collections

Featured Digital Resources

IU South Bend: 200 Years in the Making

In 2019-20, we celebrated IU's Bicentennial with in-person and online exhibits telling the history of IU South Bend through text, photos, videos, maps and more.

**Students participate in the annual Titan Splash Color Run during Welcome Week 2013.**

South Bend’s Own Words

Drawn from the Oral History Collection of the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, the podcast South Bend's Own Words showcases the experiences of people who lived, worked and made South Bend their home, including members of the African American, Latinx and LGBTQ communities. More oral histories from the collection are available on Internet Archive.

Barton McLean and IU South Bend’s state-of-the-art Synthi-100 synthesizer. McLean was professor of music composition and theory from 1969-1976 and director of the university’s Electronic Music Center.

IU South Bend in the ‘70s

From the late ‘60s to the early ‘80s, Richard Feingold, camera in hand, was a ubiquitous presence on the IU South Bend campus, shooting cheerleading practices and poetry readings, building dedications and student protests. Negatives from his personal archive, digitized in 2017-18 with the support of the IU Bicentennial Office, are available on Image Collections Online.

University Records

Find digitized class schedules, commencement materials, assessment plans, Academic Senate records, Affirmative Action reports and other IU South Bend records on the Archives of Institutional Memory, a digital repository for disseminating and preserving official Indiana University records.

**Indiana University President Herman B Wells introduced the** **1941-42 South Bend-Mishawaka Center class schedule** **with a letter reading “in these days of national emergency…the youth who continue their studies are in a favored position.”**

Student Journals

**The 1983 issue** **of student arts journal *Analecta* (1972-present) features** **the short story “Penelope Speaks”** **by Philip Milner, which finds the title character coping with “the air in my house smelling greasy and sweet like a Ponderosa Restaurant.”**

IU ScholarWorks Open Journals features back issues of several IU South Bend student publications, including arts journal Analecta, gender studies journal New Views on Gender, the Graduate Research Journal, the Undergraduate Research Journal and the Undergraduate Research Journal of History.

LGBTQ History

The Civil Rights Heritage Center’s groundbreaking LGBTQ Collection tells the story of LGBTQ life in Michiana through the records of organizations such as South Bend Equality, which encouraged South Bend to adopt LGBTQ language in its Human Rights Ordinance.

**This undated poster** **was likely held by a supporter at community events held after South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg publicly came out as gay in June 2015.**

African American History

Civil Rights Heritage Center collections devoted to African American life in Michiana include the records of community center Hering House and the papers of community activist Helen Pope, attorneys J. Chester and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen, and the Streets family. Explore these resources and others on Michiana Memory.

**Barbara (Vance) Brandy and her dog,** **in a 1938 photo. Brandy was the first invited guest at the opening of the Civil Rights Heritage Center, formerly the Engman Public Natatorium, decades after she was turned away its doors because of her skin color.**

_{Last reviewed: 04/2024}