Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives

The University Archives at Butler University houses all physical copies of the University’s student theses, including both graduate and undergraduate works. The theses previously held at Irwin Library were transferred in 2018 and appear in the Butler University Libraries’ online catalog under the location and collection name “Special Collections Theses Collection.” Science theses previously held at the Science Library in the Holcomb Building were transferred in 2021 and appear under “Special Collections Science Theses Collection” in the catalog.
Select digital copies—which include most contemporary, copyright-cleared, and public-domain theses—are available on Digital Commons, the University’s open access institutional repository: digitalcommons.butler.edu.

The Butler Collegian is Butler University’s student-run newspaper. Many of the publication’s issues have been digitized and are available for online viewing and are searchable. The issues from the following years are available online: 1886–1892, 1893 [incomplete], 1935 [incomplete], 1936–2004, and 2005 [incomplete]. The issues published between 1893 and 1935 are not available digitally but can be viewed in the Irwin Library on microfilm; many of the publication’s issues are available for viewing in the microfilm format. Physical copies of the publication are available in the University Archives, but viewing is limited for the preservation of the materials. Current issues are available on the Butler Collegian website: www.thebutlercollegian.com.

The Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection includes text materials (correspondence, documents, ephemera, publications), images (illustrations, photographs), and architectural plans relating to buildings and grounds owned by, used by, or associated with Butler University, circa 1855–present. These buildings and grounds were or are associated with one of Butler University’s historical—and present—campuses, including its first location at College Avenue on the near-north side of Indianapolis from circa 1855–1878 (13th Street and College Avenue), its second in the small town of Irvington just east of Indianapolis from 1878–1928 (approximately Emerson Avenue, Butler Avenue, and two railroads), and its current campus on the northwest side of Indianapolis (approximately Hampton Drive, Sunset Avenue, 52nd Street, and the Central Canal).

The digital collection includes access to images in the Butler University Buildings and Grounds Collection. Materials are continuously being added to the digital collection with the intent of having the majority of images from the collection available (excluding duplicates, repetitive content, images not in the public domain, or images under copyright by an institution other than Butler University). For more information on the collection, please see the collection guide, which is available under University Archives.

The Drift is Butler University’s yearbook. Many of the publication’s issues have been digitized and are available for online viewing and are searchable. The issues from the following years are available online: 1891-2013. Physical copies are available to view on-site in Irwin Library in Special Collections (3rd floor) and behind the Information Commons desk (1st floor). Three important notes include: 1. The Drift was not published every year so a missing year in the digital collection means a yearbook doesn’t exist; 2. The Drift went by other names during its history (The Gallery, Senior Book, Carillon), and these issues are included in the digital collection; 3. Yearbooks for Butler University’s predecessor institutions (Jordan Conservatory of Music’s Opus, Indianapolis College of Pharmacy’s The Mistura) are also available online in separate digital collections.

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 in 1922. Sigma Gamma Rho is a nationally and internationally known Black Greek letter organization, a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (commonly referred to as The Divine Nine), and is the only Greek organization founded at Butler University and the only sorority in The Divine Nine to be founded at a predominantly white institution.

The digital collection includes access to images and select text materials from the Sigma Gamma Rho Centennial Collection (MSS 084). This collection is held by the Department of Special Collections, Rare Books, and University Archives at Butler University, and materials were collected and donated by the Sorority from the Sorority’s past Grand Basilei (Sorority’s Presidents) for the purpose of documenting the history of Sigma Gamma Rho. The collection contains materials documenting nearly a century of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority’s history, predominately from 1946 through 2014.