As college campuses revive with the activities of students moving into the dormitories, attending classes, and studying in every conceivable place, we wanted to share a resource for those searching for faculty, students, and other aspects of collegiate life over the years. One common type yearbook comes to mind when thinking of yearbooks, it is not the college yearbook.
This valuable resource should not be over looked because it has a wealth of information for historians, genealogists, and the curious observer! It helps one gain an understanding of the development of students as the pass from high school onto life on a college campus.
In the following college yearbooks, one will discover a place that is dedicated to educating not only to those who attended the classes, but also taught them. The Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center holds a number of yearbooks for colleges and universities in Davenport and surrounding areas.
St. Ambrose University- The Ambrosian & The Oaks
Turn the pages of this local Davenport university and step through time. We have yearbooks dating from 1941-1984 with some years missing. One may view the digitized St. Ambrose University by following the following link: https://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16810coll2/search
We found this neat map of the campus from 1984. Here is the digitized version: https://cdm16810.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16810coll2/id/6971/rec/50
Marycrest College
Marycrest College was another Davenport University, but unfortunately the school closed in 2002. Marycrest’s yearbook went by the name of the college and later Kaleidoscope. The yearbooks we have date from 1948-1978 with years missing. We hope we can house a complete collection one day.
Palmer College of Chiropractic- The Fountainhead Yearbook
We only have one Palmer College of Chiropractic yearbook in our collection. It dates from 1977-1978. If one was curious about this publications, one can visit the Palmer Archives and Special Collections or view the publications by following this link.
St. Luke’s School of Nursing- Hourglass
St. Luke’s Nursing Training School for Nurses was a well-known educational facility in Davenport. Many a young nurse maturated from its classes. We only have one yearbook book for the year 1964.
Coe College- The Acorn
Only two of this Cedar Rapids based college’s yearbooks are housed in the collection. They date from 1933-1934. Coe College has digitized its yearbooks here: http://coecollege.advantage-preservation.com/.
University of Iowa- The Hawkeye
To many of us in Iowa, Hawkeye means many things, but in this instance, we are referring to The Hawkeye the university’s yearbook. We house volumes dating from 1896-1986. The University of Iowa has the yearbook available for viewing here: https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/yearbooks.
Iowa State University- The Bomb
We have The Bomb dating from 1920 to 1992. Iowa State University’s yearbooks are viewable here: https://digitalcollections.lib.iastate.edu/islandora/object/isu:TheBomb and https://digital.lib.iastate.edu/bomb-isu-yearbook/1900s.
Augustana College- The Rockety-I
The Rockety-I from across the Mississippi River in Rock Island houses history of Augustana College’s students. The yearbooks in our collection date from 1949-1968.
We hope you find these resources as useful as we do!
(posted by Kathryn)
