- From the Seltzer-Gerard Reading Room
- Overview of scholarly resources of the Nadine Vorhoff Library and the collection of the Newcomb Archives
- Posted August 9, 2007
The Newcomb Archives
covers some 1,500 feet of materials concerned with the history of Newcomb
College, the first college in the US to be founded within an existing university
for men. The rich records of Newcomb tell of an education structured so that
students attended at different times of their day a coeducational institution
and a women’s college. The records tell also of other programs that became well
known and respected, such as the Newcomb Art Pottery; the Physical Education
Department in which Newcomb Ball and an early form of women’s basketball were
invented; and the chemistry and physics departments that included a number of
women scientists important throughout the American South. The Archives also
contains some 300 cubic feet of manuscripts of individual alumna and other women
important to the Gulf Coast.
A 15,000 volume book collection, the
Vorhoff Library, supports research in the Archives, as well as the Women’s
Studies Program and other classes. Books focus on many different facets of
women’s education – the history of this education, but also books that women
used to educated themselves, such as novels, cookbooks, prescriptive literature,
and biographies. Feminist theory and gender studies books are also a vital part of the collection. In addition, the library also subscribes to over 100 journals.
The library is named in honor of Nadine Vorhoff, who as president of the Newcomb Alumni Association helped to raise the funds to establish the library.
If you would like to donate books or journals to the library, please email the Women's Studies Librarian, Beatrice Calvert at bcalvert@tulane.edu or phone 504.865.5762.
If you are interested in donating to the Newcomb Archives contact archivist, Susan Tucker at 504.865.5239.
