Special collections consist of non-official, personal records relating to the College, directly or indirectly. They supplement the archives’ institutional holdings by focusing on student life and campus activities. These records can take varied forms: Student letters, diaries, class notes, photographs, films and videos, or perhaps a professor’s personal papers. Special collections can also include memorabilia. Most of the records come into the collection through donations from individuals.

Archives and special collections document Southwestern’s history and are used occasionally by the College staff and faculty in current work.  They are open by appointment only to the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and others having a legitimate need.

What belongs in archives?
The Southwestern College Archives owes deep gratitude to those who donate photographs, writings, news clippings, memorabilia, recordings, journals, and other information relating to the traditions, faculty, activities, and history of Southwestern College.

The mission of the Southwestern College Archives is to preserve the history of Southwestern.  Since the physical shelf space in archives is limited, we only have room for material that falls in one of the following categories:

• Books, musical compositions/recordings, plays, artwork written or produced by SC full-time faculty published by reputable presses, performed by well known groups, subjected to art critics’ review or gallery shows and/or were peer reviewed as applicable
• SC faculty unpublished or published doctoral dissertations or copies thereof
• Publications produced by Southwestern College or its owned subsidiary presses, i.e., Carpe Nocturnum, yearbooks, The Southwesterner, any book published by Southwestern College Press, etc
• Publications, manuscripts, memoirs, or journals that specifically mention Southwestern and aid in setting the historical/social context of the institution
• Unpublished, self published, or limited-run published Southwestern College divisional, departmental and activity histories i.e., 100 years of Sciences at Southwestern or recordings of Southwestern College student groups
• Limited amounts of Southwestern realia – Southwestern apparel from prior generations, time capsules put together by SC groups, faculty or the student body, SC sports banners, etc.
• Programs from events held on campus such as performances, guest speakers, etc.
• Papers of the presidents of Southwestern College
• Newspaper clippings/accounts/reports that specifically mention Southwestern, Southwestern’s faculty, or are about Southwestern as an institution
• Media (audio/visual/digital) of events that took place at Southwestern or sponsored by Southwestern.  Also included in this category are SC publicity videos, home films made that show campus life, etc
• Photographs of the officers of the College, dorm life, events, programs, student body on campus, faculty, etc
• Anecdotal accounts of life at Southwestern, faculty, administrators either recorded or in writing
• Other items that do not fall within the above categories may be admitted only after consultation with the library staff

We also have one small shelf of rare books in archives.  These include:

• Items retained for their investment value
• Original manuscripts of subsequently published books
• Items pertaining to the United Methodist Church and/or Kansas Methodism that are 100+ years old
• Items pertaining to the City of Winfield and/or the local area that are 100+ years old