University Archives: Campus Buildings

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Digital Collections

:PhotoThe Department of Special Collections & University Archives has digitized a small portion of their holdings. These resources are available online through the eArchives portal.

Secondary Sources for University History

Primary Sources Related to the Campus Built Environment

The University Archives maintains a wide variety of resources related to the built-environment on campus from the time of the first building at 10th and State to more recent construction projects.

  • The most comprehensive documentation related to buildings on campus can be found in the Physical Environment / Facilities Services record group. The records are arranged into three series: Administrative Subject Files, Blueprints and Drawings, and Property Books. The Administrative Subject Files contain correspondence, progress reports, committee minutes, scattered photographs, and other documents related to individual buildings, as well as campus master plans and materials related to urban renewal programs as they relate to the university. The Blueprints and Drawings series contain an assortment of drawings related to buildings both extant and long gone. Many of the most current blueprints and drawings are retained in the Department of Facilities Planning and Management. Finally, the Property Books were prepared in an effort to track land ownership in the area of the Marquette campus, from roughly Kilbourn to Clybourn and North 19th to North 11th. The books list property owners and assessments and consist largely of photographs of individual properties within the surveyed area. Images are arranged by block and lot number, with an index map and book to guide the user to a appropriate location in the subsequent volumes.
  • Many campus buildings are documented in individual files within the University Archives' Photographs and General Information Files. These files contain a variety of resources, including photographic prints, newspaper clippings, programs from dedications and groundbreakings, and more. Depending on the building, the resources can be quite comprehensive or quite minimal. Many of the best images from these files were digitized as a part of our Building a Campus digital collection, which are also included in Marquette University History Online
  • The student newspaper, The Marquette Tribune, covered campus buildings. The publication is in the process of being digitized; a rough index to headlines through the mid-1970s is available upon request. Print copies of the Tribune are available for consultation in the Archives Reading Room.
  • The student yearbook, the Hilltop, also documents the campus built environment with photographic images as well as lengthy commentary, particularly in the early years. Print copies are available in the Archives Reading Room; the entire run has been digitized and is available online.
  • Documentation related to some older buildings is available in the Administrative Subject Files from the Office of the Treasurer. While there is typically a financial focus to the documentation in this series, there are scattered materials with a broader appeal, such as minutes of the Brooks Memorial Union building committee. Other fundraising and financial documentation is available in records from University Advancement
  • The Marquette and the City of Milwaukee record group contains series related to a number of building projects and ideas, including Avenue Commons.
  • Those interested in the construction of the Haggerty Museum of Art will find records from the building committee within the Committee on the Fine Arts record group. Similarly, many records related to the reconstruction of the St. Joan of Arc Chapel are available in the St. Joan of Arc Chapel and Carillon record group.

There are additional resources in our holdings for many of the buildings on campus, but they are scattered in a number of series that would be too long to list here. Search our finding aids (lists of folders of material in our holdings) or consult a staff member to find material related to buildings of interest.