More than 150 years of information about Case Western Reserve University student life is available now through Kelvin Smith Library. Written by students for students, student newspapers are a particularly important source of information about student culture and university history.
“The rich history of our nearly 200-year-old institution is documented in this treasure trove of historical and nostalgic information. Being able to search through every iteration of student newspapers from all of the university’s antecedents makes this resource interesting, informative and fun,” said Arnold Hirshon, university librarian and associate provost.
The special collections and archives team at Kelvin Smith Library has digitized nine student newspapers dating back to 1862. The collection totals more than 6,200 issues comprising 55,769 pages and 314,236 articles. The newspapers cover a breadth of campus life including athletics, exhibits, concerts, lectures, university policies and current events.
The digitized newspapers are:
- Western Reserve Souvenir (1862, 1864)
- Western Reserve Collegian (1863)
- The Adelbert (1889/90–1902/03)
- The Case Tech (1903/04–1979/80)
- The Reserve Weekly (1903/04–1937/38)
- Cleveland College Life (1928/29–1952/53)
- The Reserve Tribune (1938/39–1968/69)
- The Mather Record (1939/40–1951/52)
- The Observer (1969/70–2009/10)
Later issues of The Observer are already available online.
Each issue is full-text searchable, meaning readers can browse by date or keyword search across articles and advertisements. PDF copies are available for download. Access to the entire collection is free.
“I certainly wish it had been there a decade or so ago when I was doing the research for the 2014 history of the institution,” said Richard E. Baznik, university historian and vice president emeritus for public affairs. “It would have saved innumerable hours hunched over microfilm readers while a century and a half worth of student journalism whizzed by. The ability to search the entire content will be an enormous benefit in future research.”
All are welcome to browse the collection.
The collection is available on the new Student Newspaper Archive website.
For more information, contact University Archives at 216.368.3320 or archives@case.edu.