From the desk of Felicity Knox ’94, assistant university archivist librarian
Ask an Archivist
The two parts of our department name often confuse people. University archives focus specifically on those resources that record the day-to-day running of the school, from its earliest days as a teacher training school to the present.
But special collections are different. They are the collections of materials that focus on a specific interest area in our history.
One of these collections we are in the process of digitizing is our Student Scrapbooks collection, which dates from 1886 until about 1990. Each volume is created by a student or class and reflects what they thought was most important to capture at the time the scrapbook was created. They give unique perspectives into the history of the school.
In 2023, Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) received 10 binders full of stamps collected by Sidney Levin and gifted to TU by his widow, Mary. Collected on his travels around the world, Levin organized and added notes to offer context regarding the stamps’ origins and significance.
A graduate student digitized the entire collection and then created two digital exhibits: One showcases stamps that focus specifically on World War II and the Holocaust and the other contains stamps that highlight the history of the Middle East.
1919
While classes in physical education had been part of the school curriculum since its opening in 1866, it wasn’t until World War I that the school was able to create a department expressly for health and physical education, thanks to funds from a federal grant. The aim of the courses was to train prospective teachers on best practices for teaching about hygiene and physical fitness to students they would soon teach.
1969
Fifty years later, the school began offering the opportunity for students to major in health education. While Towson State College was no longer a teachers’ college, the focus of the program was still heavily geared toward future educators. In a few short years, however, this would change with the addition of majors in speech pathology and audiology, nursing and occupational therapy.
2024
The College of Health Professions opened a new building on TU’s campus during the fall semester, designed to bring the health disciplines under one roof to encourage interprofessional collaboration. The state-of-the art facility was specifically designed to give students real-world experience and promote student success by teaching how to provide quality care that positively impacts the health and well-being of the community.