Researching Student Life at the Archives & Rare Books Library

1955 Cincinnatian yearbook

From the 1955 Cincinnatian

By Janice Schulz

While students enter college with the goal of gaining a formal education, a good bit of learning also occurs outside of the classroom. A university campus is in many ways like a self-contained community, providing students a place to live, study, work and socialize. Much of this lifestyle is student-driven, allowing students to build leadership, organizational, social and even political skills for use in life after university. At the same time, students react to and are affected by the wider world outside of the university.

The Archives and Rare Books Library has compiled a guide to its holdings that can be used to research student life at the University of Cincinnati. Research ideas are endless, but can include topics such as:

  • Student groups – both individual groups and collective development
  • Women’s studies
  • Minority studies
  • Student government
  • Comparative studies in culture, style, taboos, etc. across decades
  • Political activism

The research guide can be found on the ARB website. Where available, links to online inventories and catalog entries have been provided to help prepare researchers before visiting the Library. The Archives and Rare Books Library is open Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Research assistance is available at the library, or by calling 556-1959 or emailing Archives@uc.edu.