Rare and Distinctive Collections

  • Black and white photo of a man with a beard rolling a cigerette
      Many of the photographic collections at the CU Boulder Archives are useful for their many images of Boulder and the West, but the Gary R. Graf Photographs collection has another particularly interesting aspect. The collection holds the
  • Graduation 1951 shows a dog yawning and faculty in robes struggling to stay awake.
    Congratulations to all of our graduating Buffs today! Your academic achievements are part of over 140 years of CU boulder history…a history that is five months older than the state of Colorado! To learn more about other graduates and
  • Meritt W. Stark, MD (1916-1996) graduated from CU Medical School and was a pediatrician in Denver before joining the Volunteer Physicians in South Vietnam for 2 months in 1967. He returned to South Vietnam as a public health physician in 1969 and
  • Are you a True Crime junkie? Did you know that CU has its own unsolved mystery in its history? Thomas Riha, a Russian History professor at CU disappeared from his home In March of 1969, and has never been found. The mystery involves Riha's divorce
  •  images are from his lecture notes during med school (1896-1899).
    How many degrees are you planning on earning? Ever thought about combining two very different disciplines to get an M.D. and a Geology degree while becoming dean of college? Dr. William Page Harlow did just that!Born November 14, 1867, he was
  • Students sitting at a table studying during finals week from 1933 at Norlin Library
    Are you ready to finish strong?  The above image of students studying during finals week is from 1933 at Norlin Library. This image can be found in the A.A. and Laurence Paddock Photo/Negative Collection.    While looking for the "
  • the 25th anniversary of the ATO's in Boulder on May 5th, 1926
    Alpha Tau Omega, ATO, is a fraternity that was founded in Richmond, Virginia on September 11, 1865 by Otis Allan Glazebrook. Many famous people have belonged to this fraternity including some notables like Teamster's President, Jimmy Hoffa; NFL Head
  • Two women reading using a metronoscope to help focus their reading in the 1950s.
    Happy Reading Day! Need help studying? Maybe try one of these “reading accelerators” like a metronoscope (in use in the above photo), controlled reader, or tachitoscope, which were used to increase reading retention rates.Officially, the reading
  • Walter Orr Roberts as a young man, seen looking through a telescope
     Walter Orr Roberts (1915-1990) was a renowned astrophysicist whose pioneering work on the sun's corona produced data on the sun's temperature, brightness and atomic makeup, and demonstrated the link between solar flares and weather patterns on
  • Photograph of the Alps by Harry F. Reid, 1892
    The Roger G. Barry Archive at National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has over 50,000 photographs of glaciers. From glass plate negatives taken in 1890 to chromogenic prints taken in 2017. These documents allow for landscape and glacier
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