Scope and Contents

The Shimer College Bulletin includes news about events happening at the college as well as about the achievements, marriages, and deaths of alumni. The bulletins reflected Shimer’s growing financial struggles, with a heavy focus on fundraising rather than campus news from the 1980s onward. It also reflected strained relations with alumni, due to how much the college’s identity had shifted from a strict girls’ finishing school to a liberal, coeducational environment.

Scope and Contents

The Shimer College student handbooks detail Shimer students’ rules of conduct, as well as including information about academic procedures. The handbook collection ranges from 1941-2014, one of the handbooks being undated. The bulk dates are from 1941-1949 and 1995-2014.

Scope and Contents

The Gadfly collection, running from 2004-2012, was a newsletter for students in Shimer’s weekend program. Editions of the Gadfly contained campus news written by members of the Shimer community, as well as lunch menus for the weekend and hours for campus offices.

Scope and Contents

Running from 1998-2010, one copy being undated, the Promulgates collection contains newsletters for Shimer’s weekday students. Along with containing campus news, the Promulgates also featured literary pieces by Shimer students, with an especially strong literary focus from 2004-2006.

Scope and Contents The Acropolis yearbook collection, running from 1960-1962, includes photographs of Shimer students and faculty engaging with one another around campus. These photographs were often captioned with various literary quotes, and were followed by individual pictures and names of Shimer faculty and students. Each Acropolis included at the end a directory with names and addresses of students and alumni. The 1960 Acropolis was unique among the others. Rather than including quotes from previously...

Scope and Contents

The Shimer College Newspaper collection, ranging from November-December 1980, consisted of two newspapers detailing campus news, information about financial aid and graduate school applications, and a three-part interview (the final two of which are included in the collection) with Andy Armstrong, a Shimer faculty member who would soon retire.

Scope and Contents

The Your College Newspaper collection, running from January-April of an undated year, were a series of largely satirical publications by and for Shimer students. Although they contained weekly calendars with information about campus events, most of the newspaper was more zine-like, with handwritten jokes and headlines cut from various magazines, as well as occasional poetry and drawings done by Shimer students.

Scope and Contents Frances Shimer College Engagement Calendars served as a daily planner for Shimer students. The engagement calendars listed events or holidays for each particular day and provided students with space to write their own plans for the day. Each calendar also included photographs of the Shimer campus, students, and faculty. Published when Shimer was still the girls’ finishing school Frances Shimer College, the engagement calendars reflected the rigid structure under which Shimer students were...

Scope and Contents

Running from 1979-2012, the Symposium collection contains newspapers originally published by Shimer students, but later published by the director of alumni relations. As such, purpose of the Symposium evolved over time, from keeping current Shimer students and faculty informed about campus news, to having a stronger focus on communication with alumni by the 2000s.