Alumni Association Collection, 1810s-2010s

This collection contains documents relating to the Alumni Association's activities, as well as the activities of individual alumni and various related associations and organizations. The documents span over two centuries, from 1813-2016. The topics range widely, including such things as Board of Trustees meetings, records of activities of Alumni Association chapters and constituent societies, and materials relating to reunions, homecoming, and Alumni dinners. Records also cover awards given to distinguished alumni, various promotional offers and solicitations for funds, scholarships, or class gifts, and various publications and articles, including the regular alumni publication (The Alumnus and the Alumni Journal), as well as various other articles, poems, and publications written by alumni or students. The Alumni Association did public relations and kept track of Ohio University alumni as well. Some interesting materials can be found. A letter from the Vietnam War, lists of Civil War veterans, journals and letters from the Civil War era; sermons by alumni, a professor who taught Margaret Boyd, legal papers from the late 1800s; a famous female judge who contributed various ideas for housing and the alumni constitution, letters commenting on business and politics in Europe in the mid-twentieth century, a letter on student life; a 1904 book of verses, some old notebooks, tours of a symphony and the marching band; a marching band proposed trip to the People's Republic of China in the late 1970s, and a controversial visit by Miss America to campus. This collection, which is a compilation of numerous previous alumni collections, is organized alphabetically. It is of interest primarily to researchers interested in the inner workings of the Ohio University Alumni Association and its interactions with the University, students, and alumni. Primarily, this means attempts to fund and promote Ohio University, improve the campus, keep track of alumni, and reconnect alumni to their alma mater. However, it also contains materials relating to student life, politics and world events, science, literature and theology.