Help us Build our Collections

The mission of the Northern State University Archives and Special Collections is to collect, arrange, preserve, and make accessible records of enduring historical value created or received by Northern State University for research, instructional, or administrative use, particularly relating to the history and cultural heritage of Aberdeen, South Dakota and the surrounding region.

If you have any of the materials listed below that may help us achieve our mission, please consider donating them to our inventory. Examples of previous collections donated can be found on our finding aids page. If you are interested in donating materials to the archives, please fill out a donor agreement form and provide a description of the item including previous ownership, dates, and any additional relevant information. Donations can be mailed or delivered to the Beulah Williams Library Archives and Special Collections Department:

Beulah Williams Library
ATTN: Archives
1200 S. Jay St.
Aberdeen, SD 57401

 

For larger donations please contact Robert Russell at 605-626-7770.

Historically Significant Materials

  • Committee, task force, and departmental meeting minutes and reports
  • Correspondence and memoranda
  • Personal papers of alumni, faculty, administrators, and family histories in Aberdeen
  • Scrapbooks
  • Annual reports
  • Architectural drawings of campus buildings
  • Departmental histories
  • Policies, guidelines, reports, and procedures
  • Employee (faculty, staff, and administrator) handbooks, manuals, and policies
  • Accreditation reports
  • Student guidelines and policies
  • Subject files
  • Constitutions and by-laws, minutes and proceedings, lists of officers of the college’s corporate bodies
  • General administrative records, especially those from the offices of the President, Vice Presidents, and Registrar. These records include correspondence, meeting minutes (especially for committees no longer in existence or for projects that have been completed), written reports, self-studies/accreditation visits, transcripts of deceased students, and subject files at least five years old and no longer needed for reference.
  • Publications, meeting minutes, correspondence, photographs, etc. of the student body, its government, various student organizations, societies and clubs, and alumni groups
  • Publications by and about Northern State University (e. g., programs, brochures, clippings from local newspapers, newsletters, etc.) and Aberdeen
  • Biographical information on administrators, faculty, staff, and alumni of the college.
  • Oral history interviews with their transcriptions
  • Photographs, slides, films, audio and video recordings, and emerging electronic media that are identified, dated, and produced by or related to the school and the community
  • Artifacts and memorabilia related to the school’s history and that of Aberdeen which are of a manageable physical size and condition
  • Northern’s athletic teams’ records, photographs, uniforms, equipment, statistics, video, and memorabilia