Penn State University Libraries - Digitized Collections A to Z list

The Behrend Beacon Newspaper Behrend College's first student newspaper, the Nittany Cub, filled the bins a mere month after the campus, known then as Behrend Center, opened for classes in the fall of 1948. This digital content contains the issues from 1948 through 1989.

The Behrend Campus Collections

Bellefonte Central Railroad This exhibit draws upon the Special Collections Library holdings of Bellefonte Central Railroad photographs, postcards, documents, publications, memorabilia and cartographic materials to bring the history of the railroad to life.

Berks Campus Collections The Penn State Berks Archives currently houses the Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute Collection, the Dr. Harold W. Perkins Collection and the Dr. Ruth M. Freyberger Collection, as well as the materials documenting the Berks Campus History Project that culminated with the publication of We Are Penn State Berks: Celebrating Fifty Years 1958 – 2008. 

Birket Foster Exhibit Birket Foster was part of one of the great periods of book illustration in England. This is a virtual recreation of a 1998 exhibit in the Penn State Special Collections Library.

Central Pennsylvania Architecture and Landscape Architecture A growing collection containing over 1,000 images focusing on the buildings and landscape of central Pennsylvania. These pictures have been selected and photographed by experts in the unique architecture and landscapes of our region.

Centre Daily Times Obituaries Index, 1937-1995 & 2011 The Index includes obituaries or death notices included in the obituary section of the Centre Daily Times, 1937-1995 & 2010-2011. It does not include news stories about deaths that appeared in other sections.

Chestnut Blight Commission Collection Includes all reports from the Pennsylvania Commission on the Chestnut tree blight for the investigation and control of the disease (1912-1914). 11 documents reporting the research and work of the Pennsylvania Blight Commission.

The Civil War Collection at Penn State This page highlights Penn State's freely available digital collections relating to the Civil War era.

Conrad Richter This Web site provides visitors with a sense of Conrad Richter as an author that can not merely be gleaned by reading his many published works.

Darrah Collection of Cartes-de-visite The William C. Darrah Collection includes 62,608 cartes-de-visite. It was assembled systematically over a period of more than thirty years (1957-1988) by Mr. Darrah. Collecting was initiated in 1954 as part of a project to document, through examination of actual imprinted images, the existence of as many nineteenth-century photographers as possible.

1861 Digital Atlas of Centre County The earliest known map of Centre County.Click on any township or borough for a larger image that will open in a new browser window, or view maps by Township.

Digital Map Drawer Search all the map collections.

Eighth Air Force Archive Established within The Pennsylvania State University Libraries' Historical Collections and Labor Archives in 1991, the Eighth Air Force Archive acquires and preserves original primary source documentation and reference materials devoted to the history of this important strategic bombing group during World War II, and the role that 8th Air Force veterans played in defeating the Axis powers

Emilie Davis Diaries The Emilie Davis Diaries provide a unique opportunity to see the fascinating work of a free African American Woman living in Philadelphia during the Civil War era.

The Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biographies Biographies profile thousands of prominent Pennsylvanians who contributed to the development of the Commonwealth in many fields of endeavor. The online version offered by Penn State contains ONLY the volumes of the Encyclopedia known to be in the public domain (the first 14 volumes published before 1923)

The English Emblem Book Project The English emblem books scanned for this project are cultural artifacts frequently used in the analysis of reading practices, printing history, Elizabethan popular culture, the use of allegory, and the relationship of word to image.

A Few Good Women In 1969, President Richard Nixon created the Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities that marked the beginning of a successful initiative to recruit and train women for upper-level governmental positions.Preserving the memories and reflections of these women on their careers in government service, along with those of the men who were involved in the effort, make a significant contribution to the documentation of the history of women in modern American political life.

Forestry Education in Pennsylvania In May 1903, the governor of Pennsylvania established the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy in Mont Alto.  It was one of the first forestry schools in the nation along with the Biltmore Forestry School and the Yale Forestry School. Included in this collection are yearbooks are from the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy and the Pennsylvania State University School of Forestry, Mont Alto Branch.

The Fred Waring Collection Fred Waring, “the man who taught America how to sing,” was born in Tyrone, Pennsylvania in 1900, and was a Distinguished Alumnus and Trustee of Penn State University. Fred Waring’s America is a unique archive that serves as a rich source of primary source material on 20th century American popular culture.

Google Books Project at Penn State In June 2007, the Penn State University Libraries joined the other members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) in an agreement to digitize select collections across all its libraries, up to 10 million volumes, as part of the Google Book Search project.

Graduate Research Exhibition Archive

"Established in 1986, the Graduate Exhibition places special emphasis on communicating research and creative endeavor to a general audience and offers an unusual opportunity for professional development by challenging graduate students to present their work in clear, comprehensible terms to people outside their fields."

Hajjar Heritage A. William Hajjar, a member of the architecture faculty at the Pennsylvania State University in the 1950s and 1960s, challenged the conservative look of the State College community with his contemporary-style homes. In Fall 2004, the Centre County Historical Society showcased Hajjar's local architectural legacy in an exhibit. Robert E. Malcom assembled the exhibit, spending many months taking pictures, interviewing current and former owners, and writing the text. These web pages attempt to re-create this exhibit online.

The Hammermill Bond

Penn State Harrisburg's Online Archive of Student Newspapers (1969-2010) Originally published as The Roundtable , the Penn State Harrisburg college newspaper has provided an invaluable perspective on the events and people who have shaped the college over the past four decades. Despite frequent name changes, with titles such as The Capitolist, C.C. Reader, Capitol Campus Reader, Capitol Times, and The Capital Times, the student-run newspaper serves as a time capsule and can be used as a primary source for research about the issues and events that were important to Penn State Harrisburg students.

Hathi Trust The HathiTrust Digital Library brings together the immense collections of partner institutions in digital form, preserving them securely to be accessed and used today, and in future generations

Hazleton Collegian Newspaper Hazleton Collegian flourished from December 1937 to December 1954. The publication was published monthly through 1941, then became a weekly edition. The title changed to Highacres Collegian in January 1955 and is the current name of the student newspaper. This digital collection is through April 1994.

Henisch Collection of the History of Photography A valuable resource for the study of 19th-century photographic, social, and art history. Originally designed as a teaching collection, and international in character, the material includes virtually every type of photograph ever made

Historical Digital Collegian Newspaper The Daily Collegian and its predecessors serve as an important source for documenting student life at the Pennsylvania State University . Newspapers, and specifically, student-run newspapers, such as the Daily Collegian, often document university life better than any other source-through their pictures, their editorials, and their reports on student activities and interests.

Iconologia of Moral Emblems, Cesare Ripa Exhibit Emblem books are books of symbolic pictures accompanied by explanatory texts; the aim of the emblem itself is to give symbolic expression to a moral adage. Emblems are a genre of considerable interest to scholars and historians of both literature and the visual arts.One of the most famous handbooks of symbols and allegories in the history of art and literature is Cesare Ripa's Iconologia, first published in Italy in 1593.

Index of Abandoned Mine Maps in Pennsylvania This index to the maps of abandoned mines in Pennsylvania is intended to help in the identification and location of existing mine maps. The index was created in 1998 and represents over 11,000 abandoned mine maps available in repositories throughout the Commonwealth.

International Journal of Health Care & Humanities The International Journal of Health Care and Humanities is a peer-reviewed publication of the Department of Humanities in the Penn State University College of Medicine.

Internet Archives at Penn State The Internet Archive includes books texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities.

Irving L. Horowitz Transaction Publishers Archives The bulk of this online collection consists of correspondence and also encompasses a range of materials, including advertisements, photo images, catalogs, and reviews from the corporate archives of Transaction Publishers, a gift of Dr. Irving Louis Horowitz, chairman of the board of Transaction Publishers and the Hannah Arendt Distinguished University Professor (Emeritus), Department of Sociology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

The Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists The Jack Rabin Collection on Alabama Civil Rights and Southern Activists is a compact but highly complex, multi-layered compilation of documents, sound recordings, and visual images. Some of its components, including copies of records of the Montgomery Improvements Association (MIA) and many hours of oral history of the renowned cival liberties lawyer Clifford Durr, complement major holdings in other American archives.

The Johnstown Flood The material collect here is comprised of digital books composed of microfilmed images from the PA's Past: Digital Bookshelf collection and reflects reminiscences of the disaster, and varies greatly in style and attention to historical accuracy. The titles represent a rare gathering of affecting impressions of the tragedy, providing insight into the reception of the events and their understanding.

Jonathan W. White, Jr. papers, 1890-2000 The Jonathan W. White, Jr. Papers contains papers from Dr. White's sixty-year career in honey research. Dr. White also collected relevant research publications dating to the late 1890s.

The Joseph Priestley Collection Priestley's considerable talents as an experimental chemist led him to make discoveries about the properties of gases that revolutionized the science.He was a theologian, a historian, a linguist, and a writer of learned tracts on education, politics, literary criticism, oratory, grammar, psychology, perspective, metaphysics, electricity, and optics. He was above all a Christian minister of the Enlightenment, and his religious dissent made him a seminal figure in the history of modern Unitarianism.

Juniata County History Project The Juniata County History Project was a long term ethnographic research project dedicated to understanding the various forms of visual communication in Juniata County (Pa.). These exhibit panels showcase customary scenes from everyday life in central Pennsylvania, including agriculture, marriage, childhood, and the rural tradition of the estate auction.

La Vie Online La Vie, the Penn State University annual student yearbook, has been in production documenting student life continuously since 1890.The Online La Vie project, digitizing yearbooks beginning in 1890 through 2000, is a joint collaboration between the Penn State University Archives and the University Libraries Digitization and Preservation Department.

Lancaster Farming Newspaper Lancaster Farming is the third largest weekly agricultural publication currently being published in the United States.  It is the largest agricultural publication being published on the east coast.

FS Lincoln Photographs The photographs in this online exhibit feature views of 1930s Manhattan and New York Harbor; images from Lincoln’s travels in France; sculpture by the Japanese artist Isamu Noguchi; and photographs from the 1937 Paris International Exposition.

Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of PA The Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania is a graphic display of the literary history of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth. On the map you’ll find writers of novels, plays, short stories, technical manuals, legislation, children’s literature.just about anything you could imagine connected to writing.

Metalmark This collection consists of reproductions of out-of-print, public domain works that hold a significant place in Pennsylvania’s rich literary and cultural past.

Mira Dock Forestry Lantern Slides The Dock slide collection is comprised of 468 glass lantern slides from the collection of Mira Lloyd Dock (1853-1945), a renowned Pennsylvania environmentalist, botanist, and educator. The slides are primarily black and white pictures of tree and plant specimens, although a small number of the slides were meticulously and beautifully hand-colored.

Narrative History of Penn State Altoona This timeline contains documents and memorabilia from the early days of the Altoona Undergraduate Center (AUC) and some additional articles published afterwards.

Non-Reporting Drafted Men and Deserters This document contains physical, military and demographic information for nearly 30,000 Union soldiers who enlisted in the Union army and later failed to report for duty and were subsequently cited as deserters. The roster was compiled from monthly lists that were submitted to the Provost Marshal and Adjutant General between 1861 and 1865.

The Stones of the Obelisk Constructed in 1896, the obelisk, also called the polylith, stands 32.7 feet high and weighs 53.4 tons. This "pile of rocks" was created the same year the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (formerly the School of Mines) came into existence. The obelisk, built by State College stonemason Michael Womer, began as a kind of answer to all the requests the college had been receiving for information on stones.  On this site, move your mouse over the stones of the obelisk to see information about each stone.

O'Connor-Yeager Collection A collection of printed Pennsylvania town views, portraits, maps, and historical scenes. Through a combination of donation and purchase from the collectors John C. O'Connor and Ralph M. Yeager, this collection of 330 prints came to the Palmer Museum of Art in 1986. It includes lithographs, engravings, aquatints, photogravures, and woodcuts created by artists of the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.

The Ogontz School 1850-1950 For 100 years, the elite and prestigious school known as The Ogontz School for Young Ladies was a prominent force in female private education. In 1950 the school, campus, and facilities were given to The Pennsylvania State College, now The Pennsylvania State University.

PA's Past: Digital Bookshelf The Pennsylvania history collection represents the nucleus of the Libraries’ strong collection in Pennsylvania. The collection consists primarily of Pennsylvania county histories, atlases, and Civil War regimental histories

Penn State Electronic Schreyer Honors Theses Archives This archive consists of Penn State Schreyer Honors College electronic honors theses (eHTs) submitted since Fall 2009.

Penn State Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archives This archive consists of all Penn State electronic theses and dissertations (eTDs). The Graduate School has been accepting theses and dissertations electronically since 2000.

Penn State Libraries Photo Archive This photograph collection is one of the most heavily utilized collections in the Penn State University Archives. The collection contains approximately 500,000 images: black and white prints, color prints, oversized photos (larger than 8”x10”), color slides, photographic negatives, digital scans, and postcards.

Penn State Romance Studies A peer-reviewed monograph series, Penn State Romance Studies offers the best and latest scholarly research in the languages, literatures, and cultures of the Romance languages simultaneously in print and online in Open Access mode. The series covers a wide range of topics across a lengthy period of time. It also spans a broad spectrum of genres, including monographs, reference resources, translations, and editions of critical works.

Penn State University Park Campus History Digital Archives This digital collection of primary source materials focuses on the design and planning of the Penn State University Park campus. The development of the campus from the 1870s to the 1970s is documented by a selection of maps, photographs, construction drawings, specifications, statistical information, and news releases and articles.

Pennsylvania 15 minute series topographic maps The 15 minute topographic maps are a medium scale (1:62,500) series of topographic maps for Pennsylvania. All of the maps for the series have been scanned and are currently available for viewing. Download capabilities will be available at a future date.

Pennsylvania Ag Extension Project In 1911 Pennsylvania State College president Edwin E. Sparks requested money from the state legislature to begin a system of county agricultural agents to act as conduits of information between the School of Agriculture and practicing farmers.The bulk of this collection contains the county extension agents' narrative and statistical annual reports of their activities, 1912-1988.

Pennsylvania Bridges The collection contains photographs of railroad bridges in Pennsylvania, mostly in the Pittsburgh area, 1891-1915; photographs of technical drawings produced by the Pennsylvania State College, Civil Engineering Dept. depicting structural details and complete designs of modern railroad bridges, 1903-1904; and lantern slides of railroad bridges, 1884-ca. 1904.

Pennsylvania Civil War Regimental Histories The full-text of accounts from the collections of the Pennsylvania State Library. The regimental histories provide unit rosters and biographies, chronicle life in the military, and record the regiment's role in the sectional conflict.

Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspapers This collection contains all words, photographs, and advertisements from selected newspapers published during the pivotal years before, during, and after the U.S. Civil War.

Pennsylvania County Historic Newspapers The Pennsylvania Center for the Book provides avenues of exploration into the world of Pennsylvania writing. Select the county for which you want to retrieve newspaper records.

Pennsylvania Digital Newspaper Project Information about current efforts to provide digital access to historically significant newspapers published in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that are preserved on microfilm.

Pennsylvania Geology This collection contains materials relating to the geology and water resources of Pennsylvania as published by the PA Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and others.

Pennsylvania German Broadsides and Fraktur This collection includes over 250 images from the holdings of Rare Books and Manuscripts in the Special Collections Library.The collection includes broadsides (sheets of paper printed on one side only, such as commentaries on religious texts and political events) and fraktur, a type of German printing similar to old English Gothic. The term fraktur today refers to drawings on paper made with pen, ink, and watercolor, using fancy penmanship and illustrations such as birds, hearts, flowers, and angels.

Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies is a quarterly journal that publishes the best of current scholarship on the history of the Commonwealth and the region. In addition to regular articles, the journal features annotated documents, book reviews, and reviews of museum exhibits, films, and historical collections. Published since 1934, Pennsylvania History is the official journal of the Pennsylvania Historical Association (PHA).

The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (PMHB) is a quarterly scholarly journal and one of the country’s most prestigious state historical publications. Published since 1877 by The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, it is an important resource for those interested in a scholarly approach to state and local history, industry, genealogy, culture, and related subjects.

The People's Contest A Civil War Era Digital Archive is a collaborative project of the Penn State Libraries and the Richards Civil War Center. Its mission is to promote research into the lived experience of Pennsylvanian's between 1851 and 1874. The project website features a unique statewide bibliographic database of hidden collections, digitized manuscripts and contextual essays.

Reva Kern, Artist, Illustrator and Designer of Ex Libris Reva Kern is an internationally known designer of Ex Libris (bookplates). Originally from Illinois, Reva resides in Camarillo, California (USA).

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps The Sanborn Map Company, the best known of the US fire-insurance map producers, has made maps since 1867. The fire insurance maps produced by Sanborn show building footprints, building material, height or number of stories, building use, lot lines, road widths and water facilities. The maps also show street names and property boundaries of the time. This collection of maps is historically significant as it is sometimes the best detailed map of a town or city dating from the mid 1800s.

The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection The Saylor football statistics database consists of approximately 6,700 files. There are different types of files which include records from all colleges, universities, and junior colleges across the country, conference information, including defunct conferences and alliances.  Also included are high school conferences in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and any other high schools that played smaller colleges.

Streaming Video Content Lists currently available videos with links to full or small size frame.

The T.R. Johns Collection The Thomas Richards (T.R.) Johns Papers digital project offers a unique historical resource to examine life, work, and community within the central Pennsylvania bituminous coal mining region.

Theatre Lighting Images The collection documents 20th-century innovations in theatre lighting equipment installed in theatres and auditoriums in public spaces throughout the United States and beyond, including Venezuela, Malaysia, and Russia done primarily by the pioneering stage lighting designers and manufacturers, Kliegl Bros.

Thomas W. Benson Political Protest The Thomas W. Benson Political Protest Digital Collection is a unique educational and scholarly resource documenting and exploring themes associated with the student anti-war movement and campus unrest in America during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Consisting of 75 iconic political protest posters and accompanying memorabilia—the core produced by student activists affiliated with the University of California (UC)-Berkeley’s Political Poster Workshop. The collection was assembled by Professor Thomas W. Benson, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric, Department of Communication Arts and Sciences.

Times of Sorrow and Hope Between 1935 and 1944, a group of photographers working for the federal government fanned out across the country to record American life in pictures, primarily under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI). The Times of Sorrow and Hope website features a complete catalog of Pennsylvania photographs from the FSA-OWI collection. The catalog represents photographs taken by close to forty photographers in nearly two hundred Pennsylvania towns, villages, cities, and landmarks.

TMI - 2 Clean-up Highlights Program The Pennsylvania State University Libraries have acquired several thousand of the videotapes, reports, and photographs that were generated during the 1979-1990 cleanup and recovery of the Three Mile Island 2 (TMI-2) nuclear reactor. All of the materials are available for public use, and the contents of the videotape and report collections are searchable through two separate databases that are available on this web site.

Transactions of the NE Section of The Wildlife Society Complete collection of all the Proceedings, Transactions, and Northeast Wildlife available in one location. The intent of this collaboration between Northeast Transactions of the Wildlife Society and The Pennsylvania State University Libraries is to provide a repository of the proceedings and publications available to the general public to benefit the conservation of fish and wildlife resources.

Unearthing the Past: Student Research on Pennsylvania History This site is a collaborative effort between the library and the Penn State History Department. The essays are written by history students at Penn State, under the supervision of Dr. William Pencak, History Department, and Eric Novotny, Humanities Librarian. Each essay provides an introduction to a unique and interesting episode in Pennsylvania History. Select the primary source documents for each essay to read accounts from actual participants and to see historical events through their eyes.

Undergraduate Research Exhibition Archive

This archive features research completed and exhibited by undergraduates at Penn State, including undergraduates at Penn State Mont Alto.

The University Curriculum Archive collection holds all the Penn State course proposals created since 1970. They can be retrieved online thanks to a new service provided by the Penn State University Archives in collaboration with the University Faculty Senate and Information Technology Services.

Western Pennsylvania History Western Pennsylvania History is an important regional journal with extensively illustrated articles that cover numerous subjects including history, archaeology, cultural interests, sports, literature, architecture, railroading, folk art, and much more. It is published by the Senator John Heinz History Center, and has been a source of information and scholarship since 1918. The journal was originally published as Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, and in the 1990s as Pittsburgh History.

Selections from the William Warren Scranton Papers William Warren Scranton, 38th Governor of Pennsylvania, led an extraordinary life of public service.The William W. Scranton Papers housed at The Pennsylvania State University selectively document Scranton’s stellar career in public service as well as in business, civic, and educational arenas.

Women in Engineering ProActive Network WEPAN’s National Conference is a lively annual forum for ideas and an opportunity for women engineers in academic, teaching, and corporate settings to share research and best practices that focuses on advancing knowledge, programs and expertise that improve the climate for and success of women in engineering.This site is the official digital archive of the Proceedings of the WEPAN National Conference.Sample content at a conference can include recruitment and retention issues, mentoring, science education in the schools, faculty promotion and tenure, diversity initiatives, policy considerations and similar topics.

Worldwide Building and Landscape Pictures This growing collection of thousands of color images of historic architecture and landscape design focuses on the major monuments found in the textbooks most commonly used in survey courses.

York Campus Collections