Image Databases
For full descriptions and links to image databases that we subscribe to see our A-Z list of Image Resources. For a listing of all resources that we subscribe to, regardless of format, see our A-Z Resource List.
IWU Image and Text Collections
The collections below contain materials, digitized by the Ames Library, from the IWU's archives and faculty or student research and scholarship.
If you have a research or curricular related collection that you would like to have digitized, please fill out our Submit a Proposal Form.
David & Sarah Davis Family Correspondence (1800 - 1886)
Correspondence between David and Sarah Davis and with their distinguished contemporaries is rich in nineteenth-century social, political, economic and cultural history. The Ames Library coordinates this undertaking with staff from the David Davis Mansion.
Faculty Biennial Collection - The Ames School of Art
This collection represents the creative work of the School of Art faculty. The collection can be viewed by year and by artist.
Florence Ralph and Marion Bird Correspondence Collection (1925-1930)
Over 900 handwritten letters between IWU alumna Florence Ralph (’30) and Marion T. Bird are contained in this collection. The letters cover a wide range of topics from faith to politics, school activities, local events, family and more.
History Pin Project - West Bloomington Revitalization
Started by Jenny Long ’13 and taken over by Todd Anderson ’15, students from the IWU Action Research Center worked with the West Bloomington Revitalization Project cataloging old community photos to help residents and community members remember the history of West Bloomington, IL.
This collection contains more than 1,000 pieces of artwork which have been created or donated by Friends of the University, alumni, faculty, and students. The collection contains paintings, prints, sculptures, pottery, and more by famed artists including Salvadore Dali, Frederick Hart, Leroy Neiman, and Rembrandt van Rijn. Notable faculty artists are Miles Bair, Fred Brian, and Rupert Kilgore. Items in the collection date from 1631 to the present day. Works donated by faculty and friends of the library and purchased from Senior Bachelor of Fine Arts students are part of this collection.
The Illinois Wesleyan University Authors Bookshelf collection represents the breadth of research and scholarship produced by faculty from nearly all departments, programs and schools on campus.
IWU Bulletins (1891-1992)
The IWU Alumni Office published the six titles contained in this collection. Their purpose is to convey campus news, alumni information, and images of the campus to alumni, faculty, staff, students and prospective students. This collection spans the years 1891-1992 and contains all the issues that are available for these titles in the University Archives.
Digital Commons @ IWU reflects the nature of the intellectual, creative and scholarly culture of our campus. DC@IWU serves as the central location for outstanding student work, faculty scholarship, University records, and some campus history.
Through photographs, documents and film these selections from records located in the University Archives illustrate some of the growth and changes to Illinois Wesleyan University since its founding in 1850.
IWU Interviews with WGLT Radio Station
The WGLT Interview Collection brings together audio & transcripts of interviews with Illinois Wesleyan University faculty and staff about their areas of expertise. Many thanks to Bruce Bergethon, General Manager of WGLT, Willis Kern, News Director of WGLT, and Hong Cheng, Scholarly Communications Intern for their enthusiasm, time and support of this project.
IWU John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference
The John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference was established as an annual event in 1990. Held in April each year, the conference provides an opportunity for students who are pursuing individual research projects to present those projects in a public forum.
Launched in the fall of 1992, the Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine is distributed quarterly by mail to alumni, friends, parents, faculty and staff of the University. Original printed copies of all of the Illinois Wesleyan University Magazines are kept in the University Archives at The Ames Library.
The purpose of this project is to record memories of people’s experiences at IWU. In addition to basic biographical information interviewers will be prepared to ask questions based on the subjects' affiliation (alumni, staff, faculty, administrator) with the University.
IWU Student and Alumni News Publications - including the Argus
This collection consists of The Argus and ten earlier titles published by students and alumni of Illinois Wesleyan University. These records hold the opinions and artistry of students, alumni, faculty and administrators spanning nearly every year from 1870 to the present.
Student publications have long been a part of the culture undergraduate research and student life at Illinois Wesleyan. These journals are built on a strong foundation of student-edited journals and other student-sponsored publications.
IWU Wesleyana Yearbook Collection (1895 - 2012)
The Wesleyana was IWU's student-funded and student-produced yearbook. The first volume was published in 1895 and the next one was completed in 1905. There were no volumes published from 2001-2009. Publishing resumed in 2010 and ended again in 2012. The final volume is available in print only in Tate Archives & Special Collections.
John Wesley Powell Collection of Pueblo Pottery
Illinois Wesleyan University has held most of this collection of over 150 ceramics and a few wooden and basketry objects since the mid-1880's. Virtual visitors will find still images and descriptions of each object through the link above. A descriptive guide to the collection is available here.
Letters Received by the Powell Survey 1869-1879
John Wesley Powell was a professor of natural sciences at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1865 to 1868. In the summers of 1867 and 1868, Powell led students and amateur scientists on collecting expeditions to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. In 1869 he led a party of 10 men in four boats down the Green & Colorado Rivers through the Grand Canyon.
Outstanding Ethnographic Research Projects
The ethnographic photo-essays that students from Anthropology 380: Visual & Ethnographic Methods have submitted here are examples of how IWU anthropology students learn to conduct ethnographic research with visual media--in this case, still photography.
Gateway Colloquia are small, discussion-oriented classes designed to develop students’ proficiency in writing academic and public discourse. Although each colloquium investigates its own issue or question, all focus on writing as a major component of intellectual inquiry.
Outstanding Student Works in Music
School of Music faculty decided to showcase Outstanding Student Works, as suggested by them, in their institutional repository space. Works that received Research Honors distinction from the University have the note "(Honors)" following the title of the work.
Pembroke Windows at The Ames Library
Sixteen windows from Pembroke College, Oxford are major features surrounding the Bates & Merwin Reading Room on the fourth floor of The Ames Library. These windows carry with them a great deal of the history of Oxford and the United Kingdom, and the link above opens a brochure describing each panel. "A Touch of Glass," the company that restored the windows created a film about their work.
Swahili Expressive Arts Collection
The Swahili Expressive Arts collection represents the research and scholarship of Professor Rebecca Gearhart Mafazy, Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois Wesleyan University.
A collection of letters written by former IWU faculty member Fred "Bud" Brian (Class of 1950) to members of his family during his time in the Army Air Corps: 1943-1945. Many of these letters contain drawings and some have photographs and telegrams associated with them.