University Archives Student Organizations and Greek Life Research Guide

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Please send all questions and requests to archives@drexel.edu.

Listed are collections related to clubs and organizations that can be found at the Drexel University Archives

General:

UR.12.008 Yearbooks, 1895-2021 (250 linear feet) - The Lexerds are good for finding what clubs, societies, and Greek life were present during a specific year of interest. Some volumes include lists, some include descriptions, and some just have unlabeled images.

UR.12.009 Triangle, 1926-2015 (36 cubic feet) - Looking at issues of the Triangle student newspaper around September, you can find lists of clubs and fraternities/sororities at Drexel. Each case lists local events, and some clubs promote their events and organizations using ad space. The Triangles can be found online through this link.

PC.00.012 Clubs and organizations photographs, 1935-2000 (1.66 cubic feet) - These photographs are good for finding images of student and fraternal organizations, especially when looking for those taken during the 1970s. This collection includes both candids and organized club photographs, most being uncaptioned.

UR.06.002 Student Handbooks and Guides, 1925-2006 (2.33 cubic feet) - Holds information on student life, Greeks, and organizations. These "freshman orientation" style handbooks hold lists of organizations for the year they were issued and introductions to Greek life. Many of these handbooks are from the 1950s.

UR.03.013 Annual Reports, 1929-2013 (6 cubic feet) - This collection holds annual reports about student life and administrative services. The information that may be of use about student clubs and organizations are statistics and yearly events. This collection presents information on student body diversity, the number of clubs/organizations per year, and essential Drexel events that may be related to certain clubs/fraternal organizations.

UR.03.019 Drexel Institute of Technology advertising scrapbook - Most of the information in this collection is related to sports (specifically football games). Still, some is related to alumnae and alumni, clubs, and organizations dated around 1950.

Club or Fraternity/SororitySpecific:

UR,06.005 Drexel Players records, 1933-2011 (3.7 cubic feet) - This collection documents research the Drexel Players, a student-run theater organization. In these records, you can find photos, flyers, scrapbooks, and programs from previous productions.

UR.03.020 Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life records, 1967-2012 (7.33 cubic feet) - This collection contains many resources on student life and events about Greek life at Drexel. If you want information on an individual fraternity or sorority, this collection could help you learn more about its history.

UR.08.007 Society for the Advancement of Women Scientists and Engineers records, 1969-1984 (0.17 cubic feet) - This collection is directly related to a student organization that has been active since 1949, for women training to be engineers.

MC.00.048 Howard C. Cowles Papers - Specifically relates to fraternities (particularly Pi Tau Sigma) and football.

Some material from online collections has been digitized and made available in Drexel Libraries' digital repository.

Some sub-collections that may be useful for researchers include:

• Periodicals - Publications from Drexel University groups and academic units, some of which are no longer in production. Notable publications include:
  • The Communicator - Published by the Afro-American Society, founded in 1969 and later renamed the Black Student Union in 1986. The Black Student Union was the first Black student group at Drexel
  • The Triangle - The student newspaper of Drexel University, founded in 1926.
  • Maya - A literary magazine that highlights undergraduate student literature and artwork, founded in 1967.
• Yearbooks - This sub-collection provides digitized versions of Drexel University's undergraduate yearbook, the Lexerd, as well as other yearbooks such as the Record (Drexel's Engineering Department in the early 20th century), the Spartan (Drexel's Evening College, published 1938-1956), and the Eccentric (Drexel's first yearbook, published 1895-1897).
• COVID Oral Histories - This sub-collection contains oral history interviews with members of the Drexel community documenting their experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic, conducted by Drexel students in the Summer of 2020. Interviews that include significant discussion of student organizations include Apollonia Quiros (Drexel Women's Club Volleyball Team), Jake Samson (Drexel Players, Drexel Football Team), and Leah Thomas (Hillel).