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Digital Collections

Note: The collections represented here are derived primarily from analog materials contained within the Department of Special Collections, which houses both the college's archives and rare book collection. If you wish to view any of the material in person, please contact the department to make an appointment. Please visit Creative Matter, our institutional repository, to find faculty and student scholarship as well as other creative output from the college community not represented here. You can also visit the online collection of the Tang Teaching Museum to find works of art and objects which are not represented within these collections.

Alumnae Bulletin and Quarterly, 1923-1975

"As the first authorized edition of the Alumnae Bulletin goes to press, we are somewhat depressed in spirit. What reception will this modest product of our ambitions receive?...It seems an uncertain venture to publish an alumnae bulletin when our Alumnae Association is still in its infancy. But we must keep in touch with each other and with our college. To this end, we shall publish in the Alumnae Bulletin the latest news of engagements, marriages, and occupations. We hope to have letters and articles from you about your work, or some phase of it. We will welcome, also, any other literary offerings that you may send us."

So began the first official edition of the Alumnae Bulletin in October, 1923. The bulletin, which continued in print until 1975 before being supplanted by "Scope" magazine, captures not only the history of both the Alumnae Association and Skidmore College, but also provides insights into the social connections made at the college and maintained post-graduation.

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Anita Pohndorff Yates Collection of Saratogiana

Anita Pohndorff was born in 1914 to Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Pohndorff, and grew up in the family home at 717 North Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Anita's mother and her mother's friend, Georgianna Milligan, attended Temple Grove Seminary, a Saratoga Springs school for young women that predated Skidmore College.

In 1944, Anita Pohndorff married Harry D. Yates, a Lieutenant in the United States Army. After his discharge from the Army, attaining the rank of Captain, Mr. Yates, whose trade was banking, undertook the management of Dutch Village Apartments in Menands, where he and Mrs. Yates subsequently made their home for many years. Mr. Yates later became president of Home Savings Bank in Albany.

The Yates' were active in the Saratoga social scene, spending much of their summers at the track. The Yates' were also generous supporters of education and the arts. Mrs. Yates, who was voted an honorary Skidmore College alumna in 1983, passed away in September of 1991. The digitized portion of the Yates collection consists of 19th century prints of Saratoga Springs and its environs. For more information about the Yates Collection, including details on the portions of the collection that have not been digitized, see the Anita Pohndorff Yates Collection of Saratogiana finding aid.

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Artists’ Books

What distinguishes an artist's book from an art book? Either may be lavishly illustrated and painstakingly constructed. Both may feature the words and ideas of an artist. Both may be printed in limited edition or, conversely, mass marketed to a wide audience. The distinction between the two forms ultimately lies in their conception. Unlike an art book, which is a representation of an artist's works and ideas, an artist's book is itself an original work of art, as visually and conceptually whole as a painting or sculpture. Photographs of selected works from over 100 artists and 300 titles are represented in this collection.

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Book of Hours

An illuminated 15th-century book of prayer purchased by Louis Edgar Johns, professor of music, in Paris in 1932 from the bookseller Emile Rossignol, and later donated to the Lucy Scribner Library in 1940. Bound in purple velvet, the book contains illuminations of four different subjects: the Annunciation, Pentecost, King David and a Burial; two pilgrim badges are also sewn to one of the pages. The correspondence between Professor Johns and M. Rossignol rounds out the collection.

For more information about what a Book of Hours is, please visit Picturing Prayer, an online exhibit by the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

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Bulletins and Catalogues, 1911-present

Catalogues of course offerings, including departmental faculty/instructor listings; class demographics and statistics; tuition and other fees; reports of the President, Treasurer, Dean and Librarian; commencement programs; and supplements comprise this collection, which provides a unique window through which to see the evolution of the Skidmore School of Arts into Skidmore College, as well as the adaptations of the curriculum as it grew and responded to both societal and cultural changes through the decades.

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Campus Collection

Maps, surveys, brochures, etc. related to Skidmore College’s “New Campus,” a tract of land donated by Trustee J. Erik Jonsson in 1961, which was once known as “Woodlawn Park.” Construction began in 1963 with a new residence quadrangle and the library followed in 1964. The campus was dedicated in May, 1980 as the Jonsson Campus in honor of Margaret and J. Erik Jonsson. The transition from the downtown campus to the new campus was finally completed in 2006, with the closure of Moore Hall, a six-story residence hall fondly known as the “Pink Palace.”

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Elizabeth Fisher Adams ‘29

Elizabeth Fisher Adams was born on June 23, 1906, to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest J. Adams. She attended the Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated in 1925. She then attended Skidmore College and graduated with the class of 1929. During her time at Skidmore College, Adams achieved honors as a junior in 1928, published numerous times in the Skidmore Quarterly, won the English prize for creative work, and wrote a play titled "Chez L'art," presented by Omnibus. Adams graduated from Skidmore with plans to attend Yale for a masters in English. She spent one year at Yale, and moved on to teach at the Park School, in Brookline, Massachusetts from 1931-39.

In 1940 she began training for a position as an ambulance driver for Anne Morgan's war aid organization, CASC—Comité Américain de Secours Civil, in France. Adams worked on the Belgian front from 1940 - 1941, and was awarded the Croix de Geurre for her services. She returned to the United States as a speaker for the Committee to Defend America and gave a speaking tour through New England. Adams joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. (W.A.A.C.) in 1942, and was appointed third officer, working in the public relations office in Ft. Des Moines, Ohio. In 1943, Adams received an Honorable Discharge from W.A.A.C. because of a back injury.

Adams returned to France in 1945 to work with American Aid to France (A.A.T.F.) and was stationed in St. Die and Corcieux in the Vosges mountains, where she was occupied with organizing the relief effort for six towns in the area. In 1948, Adams was awarded the Médaille de la Reconnaissance française for her work with the Friendship train food distribution program. Adams left France in 1949 to return to the United States. She died on October 14, 1990.

The digital collection comprises a representative sample, including identity cards, photographs and correspondence. For more information about the Elizabeth Fisher Adams Collection, including details on the portions of the collection that have not been digitized, see the Elizabeth Fisher Adams Collection of Saratogiana finding aid.

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Eromdiks, 1914-2016

The student yearbook of Skidmore School of Arts (1914-1922) and Skidmore College (1923-2016). (Not published in 1915.) Chiefly illustrated, the yearbooks contain broad coverage of student activities, including student government, clubs, athletic teams and events, as well as a general overview in pictures of the social life and customs of college students from each era of the school’s history.

In addition to the Eromdiks, early editions of "Year Books" from the Young Women's Industrial Club and the first years of the Skidmore School of Arts are also included in the collection. (These early year books, 1903-1911, function more as annual reports and contain some photographic information; unfortunately, four editions are missing from this portion of the collection.)

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George S. Bolster Photograph Collection

Housed within the Department of Special Collections of the Lucy Scribner Library, the George S. Bolster Collection, is comprised of 7 binders of photographs covering the early history of the college, including buildings, events and general college life.

George Bolster was a Saratoga Springs photographer who took over in the 1950s a photo business that was operated by Henry B. Settle, a photographer active in Saratoga Springs ca. 1910 - 1955. Bolster purchased Settle’s negatives, along with the rights to them, and continued in business for the next 30+ years. (His entire archive of negatives and prints resides with the Saratoga Springs History Museum, and the photographs represented here were printed, in cooperation with the museum, in the early 1990s from original negatives.)

Dating from the 1910s – 1960s, and made almost exclusively by Settle, the photographs provide rich visual documentation of both the physical evolution and life of Skidmore’s downtown campus. For example, the incremental changes and additions to the college’s first building, the Young Women’s Industrial Club, located on Regent Street, are well represented, along with many photographs of early college traditions, such as May Day, Field Day and Winter Carnival. Fittingly, the collection ends with a photograph of Skidmore’s third president, Val H. Wilson, surrounded by faculty, discussing programming for the new Science Center to be built on the Woodlawn Campus, current home of Skidmore College.

(Note: Many photographs represented in this collection also exist in vintage form in the Skidmore College Archives - Vertical Files (e.g. "May Day, 1924") and are noted in the records. In addition, nearly all the exterior and most of the interior views of buildings are represented by vintage prints located in the Skidmore College Archives - Vertical Files - Buildings - Scribner Campus; as such most references to the same are omitted in the records.)

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Letter Collection

A hodgepodge collection of correspondence, mostly related to the faculty lecture series of the 1950s and 1960s, and compiled by Janice Buys, executive secretary of the committee. In addition, several letters from the 19th century made their way into the collection, including ones by Florence Nightingale, Nathaniel Hawthorne and William H. Seward. Though much of the collection consists of letters by well-known personages declining offers to speak at the college, certain letters have value beyond the autograph of a famous author, actor, critic, etc.

In particular, the Seward letters are of note, as the correspondence pertains to the earliest known use of the insanity defense in a criminal case in the United States. Also, the correspondence between the author Evelyn Scott and Skidmore English Professor Julia Hysham, which is filled with hand-written scrawls over type-written pages, offers a glimpse into the acerbic mind and post-war preoccupations of a now-forgotten author. (Transcriptions were made of all the hand-written correspondence.)

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Middle States Accreditation, 1957-2016

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U. S. Secretary of Education to conduct accreditation activities for institutions of higher education including distance, correspondence education, and direct assessment programs offered at those institutions. The Commission's geographic area of accrediting activities is throughout the United States.

This collection includes self-studies, reports and institutional responses, all of which document more than half a century of accreditation activity at Skidmore College, and each provides a rich window into the history of the college at important moments, including reconfiguration, co-education and the construction of a “new” campus.

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Norman M. Fox Collection of Illustrated Books

The Norman M. Fox Collection was originally collected by dear friends of Norman Fox, Hannah and Charles Adler, who were Saratoga Springs residents and avid book lovers. The Adlers' varied interests are reflected in the makeup of this collection, which spans the 15th to 20th centuries and includes an incunabulum (Saint Augustine's Opuscula), a first edition of Young's Night Thoughts, illustrated by William Blake, and a signed limited edition of Virginia Woolf's Beau Brummel. Works by seventeenth-century authors Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben Jonson, and John Dryden, and by eighteenth-century authors Henry Fielding, Thomas Gray, and Adam Smith highlight the collection. However, the most extensive holdings are from nineteenth-century Britain, featuring prominent authors, such as Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Robert Browning, Sir Walter Scott, and William Thackeray.

The collection contains books now held to be classic Victorian texts as well as titles that were fashionable at the time but which now are largely forgotten, such as Paul Pry and Douglas Jerrod's Cakes and Ale, providing a unique glimpse into popular culture of this time period in England. The collection is particularly noted for its Victorian illustrated books and features such famous illustrators as John Leech, Robert Seymour, Phiz, Richard Doyle, Marcus Stone, and John Tenniel, with George Cruikshank, Hannah Adler's favorite, having the strongest representation.

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Comic Almanack (sub-collection of the Norman M. Fox Collection)

The Comic Almanack was created during one of the richest and liveliest epochs of caricature in history by George Cruikshank. With no formal schooling, Cruikshank became one of the greatest etchers and social commentators England ever produced. He began his career in his teens as a scathing and brutal political caricaturist, writing The Life of Napoleon and contributing to The Scourge (both titles also held in Special Collections). Cruikshank had no personal political leanings and attacked all examples of hypocrisy and baseness with equal vigor. The Comic Almanack is a vast and comprehensive exposition of his vision. Our collection contains nineteen issues published originally from 1835-1853 gathered and bound into five volumes, and is part of the Norman M. Fox Collection of Illustrated Books.

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Oral Histories of Skidmore College

Skidmore's Oral History Project was initiated by Dr. Joanna Zangrando of the American Studies Department in 1981 (see Skidmore Scope, May, 1981 pp.7 & 9). Dr. Zangrando's aim was to record the history of Skidmore College, from its early days as the Young Women's Industrial Club through its evolution into a coeducational liberal arts college, not just as a series of events, but as a story of shared experience.

The interviews, which were recorded throughout the 1980s, document the experiences and perceptions of a cross-section of the Skidmore community. Interviews with alumnae, professors, administrators, staff, and trustees touch on a broad range of topics, including recollections of Skidmore's founder, Lucy Scribner, student involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, and the transition of the college to a coeducational institution.

Originally recorded on cassette tape, the interviews were digitized by the Lucy Scribner Library as part of an ongoing effort to make more accessible the history of the college contained within archival collections.

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Patricia-Ann Lee Land Grants

Donated by Patricia-Ann Lee, emerita professor of History, these 16th-18th century legal documents from Great Britain, written on parchment and rag paper, in English, Scots English, French and Latin, record grants of property to individuals and groups. These rich textual documents vary in size from a maximum of 34 inches in width to 57 inches in length.

"Pat Lee, a mainstay in Skidmore's department of history, earned degrees from Kean College (B.S.) and Columbia University (M.A. and Ph.D.), before joining the Skidmore faculty in 1967. While her classroom topics included Tudor and Stuart England, Whigs and Tories, and the religious, political, and economic revolutions in Britain's history, Lee's research interests have ranged from the role of film in teaching history to 'Women Petitioners to the Long Parliament.'" (reprinted from "Scope")

(Note: Beginning in the fall of 2022, students from Jordana Dym’s “Archival Storytelling” class set out to transcribe the documents, learning Secretary Hand in the process, and have prepared updated cataloging information (now reflected in many of the records) in a process that is ongoing. Please visit Lost In Transcription, Found In Translation: Histories Of Inheritance In 17th Century Legal Documents for more information about their work.)

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Saratoga Maps

Beginning with the 1872 illustrated map of Saratoga by R.F. Dearborn, and the 1880 map of Woodlawn Park—the infamous residence of Mr. Henry Hilton and the current location of Skidmore College—the Saratoga Maps Collection offers a rich insight into the history of Skidmore, Saratoga Springs, and Saratoga County. This collection spans almost 100 years, providing views of the area from different time periods and perspectives.

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Scrapbook and Memorabilia Collection (ongoing)

Containing a variety of scrapbooks, photograph albums, memorabilia and ephemera that has been donated over the years to Skidmore by alumnae and their families, and covering primarily the 1910s-1940s, this collection both documents the early history of the college and provides a window into college life “between the wars.”

Of particular note is the voluminous scrapbook of Jane Louise Thurwood, Class of 1939, which is comprised of some unique ephemera from various college events, as well as newspaper clippings, programs, invitations, photographs and various memorabilia, such as her freshman bib, matchbooks, ticket stubs and dried corsages. The photograph album of Ruth Elizabeth Barker, Class of 1935, is also worth mentioning, as it represents a personal vision, and documents, sometimes with great playfulness and skill, her freshman through senior years at Skidmore College. It is comprised of dozens of images, which include snapshots, photo collages, and beautiful camera studies of the chapel organ, various walls and ceilings, and the Studio printing press. (Many of the photographs and collages from this album appear in the 1935 Eromdiks.)

(Note: Prior to digitization, the items presented in this collection were meticulously arranged, conserved and documented by Rachael Rieck, Archives Assistant. The project is ongoing and additions to the collection will be forthcoming.)

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Skidmore INTERCOM, 1968-2006

“As a convenient means of circulating items of interest to the faculty and administrative staff, both news of faculty and staff activities off the campus and of publications as well as news of general campus interest, we are inaugurating a newsletter, Intercom…One of the reasons for the publication is to encourage the additional and expanded exchange of news.” - Dr. Joseph C. Palamountain, President, Skidmore College

So began the journey of “INTERCOM” in December of 1968. Issued biweekly, weekly, and in occasional special editions throughout its time in print, INTERCOM covered news of faculty and staff activities, events, and general happenings on campus during each academic year. In 2001, INTERCOM moved to an electronic format and was published biweekly on the web and then monthly until it ended publication in 2006.

(Note: There are a few print editions missing from the 1990s and there is a gap between the end of the print edition records (October, 2000) and the start of the online editions (November, 2001). In addition, some of the online editions are missing images and two editions are missing pages.)

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Skidmore News, 1916-1917; 1925-2015

"The need for an organ through which the opinions of both faculty and students may find voice, a means of free expression of felt grievances or constructive criticism, a clearing house for all rumors, and a herald of all good news concerning the college has long been felt, and is adequate excuse for the appearance of a paper which, though crude at first, hopes to attain the degree and distinction of becoming a first rate college periodical, a servant of free thought, free speech, and combined action for the betterment of Skidmore.”

So began the revival of the “Skidmore News” on October 9, 1925. The paper, which continued in print until 2009, captures not only the history of the college, but also affords glimpses of life in Saratoga Springs. Additionally, major national and world events of the 20th century, such as the Great Depression, World War II, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam War are covered either directly or through coverage of invited speakers, campus events, and student protest. The “Campus Authority” was in print for 85 years, and is now available in its entirety with full-text search capability.

(Note: The “Skidmore News” was first published - 3 issues - during the 1916-1917 academic year by Skidmore School of Arts students, after which it ceased publication until 1925. The first issue - Thanksgiving, 1916 - had a circulation of about 1000 copies and cost $58.00 to produce. Online editions of the paper began in 2008 and mirrored the print version. In December, 2009, the paper ceased print editions and moved entirely online. The online editions here cover the period from December, 2009 to April, 2015. An attempt to provide retrospective coverage for the years post-2015 is ongoing.)

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Skidmore Scope, 1969-present

“It is my pleasure to introduce to you a new publication, Skidmore Scope, to he issued periodically in an effort to keep you informed about the major developments at Skidmore. No one is more aware than I of how large the Skidmore family has become and how many constituencies it includes, or of the difficulties in maintaining complete communication with all of you who cherish the College. These difficulties are even greater at a time when all colleges are undergoing change and when so many exciting things are happening at Skidmore. I welcome Skidmore Scope as a step toward closing our communications gap, and I hope it will prove both interesting and useful to you in keeping abreast of Skidmore’s growth and renewal.” - Dr. Joseph C. Palamountain, President, Skidmore College

So began the journey of “Scope” in the spring of 1969. Issued periodically for alumni, parents and friends, by Skidmore College’s Office of Communications and Marketing, Scope highlights inspiring Skidmore programs, events and community connections, faculty accomplishments and alumni news. Published in tabloid form until 1999, Scope moved to a magazine format in the fall of 1999, which continues to the present.

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Skidmore VOICES, 1986-1991 (sub-collection of the Skidmore Scope collection)

“Our studies of our communications have shown clearly that there is a need for new ways of describing the college and its people for those who have an interest in them,” [Secretary of the College, Lynne M. Doe ‘70] said. “Scope has grown and changed to reflect the growth and change of the college itself, but the addition of the magazine will enable us to do a more comprehensive job of sharing what Skidmore and its people have to offer.”

Intended to be published three times annually as a complement to SCOPE, Skidmore VOICES ran for just 10 issues between 1986 and 1991, after which it ceased publication due to budget constraints.

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Texts from the Classical World

Showcasing works from the library’s rare book collection, and dating from the 15th to the 19th century, these texts are notable for their beauty, their relevance to the evolution of the printed word, and the insight they provide into the classical world. Examples include an incunabulum, Aurelii Augustini opuscula plurima and 1524 editions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey published by the Aldine Press.

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Questions or comments: contact us

Lucy Scribner Library | Skidmore College | 815 North Broadway | Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 | (518) 580-5502

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