Scope and Contents

This series consists of senior theses completed and submitted by students of the Shimer Great Books School at North Central College during their senior year. Topics represent all areas of the program’s curriculum, including humanities, natural science, social science, and liberal studies. The theses range from 1980 to 2017.

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The Lyre collection consists of one undated publication, which was likely from the 1980s. The Lyre was a literary magazine of poetry and prose written by Shimer students and faculty.

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The Shimer College Board Meeting Minutes Collection, running from 1896-2008, contains minutes taken from meetings of Shimer’s Board of Trustees, from Mt. Carroll to Waukegan to Chicago. Many of the minutes include supplementary material that would have been handed out during board meetings.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains published works by Shimer faculty and alumni. These works comprise a variety of topics which align with Shimer’s curricular concentrations in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

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The Quest collection, running from 1958-1960, contained newsletters published by a student newspaper staff. Along with campus news and weekly event calendars, the Quest contained creative writing by Shimer students as well.

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The Excalibur collection, ranging from 1966-1970, was a student-run newspaper reporting on news around the Shimer campus and, when relevant, around the world. Commonly featured subjects in the Excalibur were the Vietnam War and Shimer’s Grotesque Internecine Struggle.

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Running from 1874-1895, the Oread collection includes information about the institution then known as the Mt. Carroll Seminary, which would later be called Shimer College. Copies of the Oread included a history of the college, information on the curriculum and campus, news about various campus events, and news about Seminary alumni. Many copies of the Oread began with prose, poetry, or transcribed speeches written by faculty, students, or alumni.

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The Shimer Roundtable collection contains one edition of the Roundtable, from 1997. The Roundtable contains poetry, prose, and academic writing from a variety of authors, and was meant to celebrate and promote a liberal arts style of education.

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The Shimer Assembly Procedure collection contains one undated copy of procedures for how Shimer Assemblies were conducted. It included both information about the history of the Assembly and how different motions were resolved.

Scope and Contents The Shimer Irregular Publications collection consists of one-time, or occasionally two-time, publications by Shimer College. In total, the collection contains thirteen publications, with publication dates ranging from 1959-2010, two being undated. The irregular publications include literary magazines, newsletters, convocation speeches, and an instructional handbook on how to critically read different types of literature. Notably, the collection also includes The Unofficial Review, a timeline...