To continue your research outside of the Special Collections reading room, the following digital collections and exhibits may be helpful. If you experience any challenges with your research, please reach out to Special Collections in person or via email. .
Augustana's campus has gone through many changes since the college moved to Rock Island in 1875. This project documents the history of the buildings on Augustana's campus, as well as the ways in which the campus has changed in size and shape, from its beginning until the present. NOTE: the link above points to a copy of the campus history timeline captured and preserved by the Internet Archive. The original timeline was hosted on a college web server that has since been retired.
A sampling of historical photographs of Augustana's campus, students, and faculty held in Special Collections.
A digital repository of which Augustana was a founding member, the UMVDIA is collection of historic images showcasing the Mississippi River region along the Iowa/Illinois border. The UMVDIA includes over 100 photographs of the campus. Use the search bar on the top of the screen for researching specific buildings and places.
This database contains digital copies of the Augustana Observer (student newspaper) from 1902-2020 and the Rockety-I (yearbook) from 1900-2004. The digital images have been rendered full-text searchable using optical character recognition (OCR) technology. This means you can search for keywords or phrases within the pages of the newspaper and yearbooks. This is a tremendous digital resource, but requires some patience and practice to use effectively. See the instructions below for conducting a search in the database
Both the Observer and the Rockety-I have been digitized and processed with optical character recognition (OCR) software to render the images into machine-readable text. This processing is what enables us to do full-text searching. While this is a powerful research tool, it is important to note that the OCR process does not produce perfect results, particularly when interpreting highly decorative fonts, text printed at odd angles, hyphenated words, or poor-quality print. Newsprint can be particularly difficult for computers to interpret correctly.
At the home pages, you can either use the search engine box at the top of the screen or perform an advanced search. An advanced search will allow you to search for keywords with specific parameters. If using this option, be sure to only select the Augustana Observer and/or Rockety-I yearbook from the "Collections" checklist.
To begin the process, let's do a simple search for "Latinos Unidos." There should be 49 records available after conducting this search.
Next, select a digital object from your results. Once viewing the object completely, the keyword that you searched for should be highlighted within the transcript. There may be multiple results within one object, so it is recommended that you review the transcript located below the image and the results bar on the right-hand side of the screen. The results bar shows us the image or images we will find the keyword located within. For example, I located 'Latinos Unidos" on page/image 4 of a 1999 article.
By clicking the "expand" feature, you will be able to further interact with the digital object. For example, you will be able to zoom in and out, as well as print or download the image.
To download, you will click the highlighted folder icon on the upper right-hand side of the digital object. Then, a PDF document should download and be visible at the bottom of your screen. If you experience any difficulties, contact Special Collections for assistance.
