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UC Archival Collections

Special thanks to Sue Reller and the University of Cincinnati Archives & Rare Books

University of Cincinnati History Resources

The Archives and Rare Books Library holds material documenting the history of the University of Cincinnati. Recent research projects using the collection have involved UC’s involvement in local, national, and international events like World War I and World War II; civil rights/social justice movements on campus; athletics; African American students; campus diversity; female faculty; campus transition from municipal to state university; campus buildings and campus planning and much more.

• For more information browse the University Archives section of the Archives and Rare Books Library website: https://libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/collections/university-archives.html
• Yearbooks are available online
• The student newspaper, The News Record, is available online for the years 1914-1920 and 1960-1980. (The 1914-1920 may not appear in the search yet. These were just digitized!)

Civil Rights & Social Justice in Cincinnati

• Theodore M. Berry Papers - Cincinnati’s first African American Mayor, Lawyer, Member of Johnson Administration, UC graduate
• Marian and Donald Spencer Papers - Papers of a Cincinnati civil rights and social justice pioneers and a Cincinnati City Councilwoman. Both Marian and Donald were graduates of UC

Cincinnati Urban Development & Transit

• Cincinnati Subway and Street Improvements (Cincinnati Engineers Office) - Photographs and records documenting the construction of Cincinnati’s failed subway project along with photographs of street improvements in the city from 1920s-1950
• Cincinnati Park Board Records – Records and annual reports of the park board and some photos

Labor History

• John J. and James B. McNamara Papers - The McNamara brothers were labor activists and were convicted of bombing the LA Times building in 1910
• Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council Records - The collection documents the histories of the Central Labor Union (1886-1889), the Central Labor Council - AFL (1889-1960), the Greater Cincinnati Industrial Council - CIO (1944-1952), and the AFL-CIO Labor Council (1960-1968)/li>

Cincinnati Arts

• Paoletta Opera Collection - Opera commissioned by the 1910 Cincinnati Industrial Exposition. Includes drawings of costumes from the opera
• Cincinnati Ballet Records – Records and photos of rehearsals and performances from the founding of the ballet in the 1960s through present day; also include material from UC’s CCM dance department
• Contemporary Art Center Records - Records of the Contemporary Arts center dating back to the founding in 1939; the collection holds multiple boxes related to the controversial Mapplethorpe exhibit in the early 1990s

Cincinnati’s German Heritage

• Third German Protestant Memorial Church - Records of births, marriages, deaths, confirmations, along with financial records and a few photographs, 1814-1982 (in the process of being digitized)
• Don Heinrich Tolzmann German-Americana Collection - The Don Heinrich Tolzmann German-Americana collection stretches from the nineteenth century to the present day, and includes newspapers, letters, census records, spelling books, and almanacs published in both English and German