Visit the exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of the GU Archives, For the Record…200 Years of Collecting Georgetown’s History, in the Fairchild and Special Collections Galleries on 5th Floor Lau, or browse it online.
One of the oldest academic archives in the U.S., the Archives at Georgetown University was set up in 1816 to house the Title papers of the Corporation [of Roman Catholic Clergymen]. Over the decades, its mission has expanded. The Archives now actively acquires, preserves, organizes and encourages the use of records, regardless of medium, that document all aspects of the University’s rich history and traditions. Records are kept in the Archives not simply because they are old, have financial value, or display well. They are kept because they have research, historic, administrative or legal value to the University or because they have an “emotional” value in that they serve to connect alumni with both their personal Georgetown experiences and their part in the continuum of Georgetown history. Archives staff respond to approximately 1000 reference or research queries each year on the history of the University, its component parts, or people associated with it. These queries come from Georgetown administrators, faculty, students and alumni, as well as from external researchers such as scholars, writers, journalists, production companies and genealogists.
This exhibition focuses on four aspects of University history that are frequently researched: Georgetown's foundation and development as a school; its evolution as a home away from home for generations of students who have studied, lived, played, and engaged with issues and trends here; its expansion and transformation as a physical campus; and the activities and achievements of individual students both on campus and after leaving Georgetown. The items on display document only a small portion of the myriad research possibilities afforded by material housed in the Archives.
