Auburn University's historic catalogue collection has recently been digitized by the libraries' Special Collections and Archives Department.
Dwayne Cox is the head of special collections and archives.
"The catalogues are the annual publications of Auburn University that had course descriptions, statements of the university's purpose and rules and regulations," Cox said. "They also contain lists of students, faculty and trustees and descriptions of facilities."
Cox said before students registered for classes online, they would use the catalogue to know what classes they needed to take.
"There are a lot of people who like researching their ancestors who are listed in the catalogue," Cox said. "People who want to know what Auburn was like with their grandparents were here can use the catalogues to get that information as well."
Cox said there are a couple reasons for digitizing the historic catalogues.
"A big reason is for conservation and to reduce handling of the originals and it makes the material broadly accessible," Cox said. "We get a fair number of requests for information from the catalogues and you can access our digital library wherever you have online access."
Cox also said the library has been collecting the catalogues since the school's beginning.
"We digitized all we have and they go back to when Auburn was the East Alabama Male College," Cox said.
The earliest catalogues have a drawing of Old Main on the front, which is now Samford Hall.
"After it burned in the mid-1880s they then put a picture of Samford Hall on the front cover," Cox said. That was when Samford Hall became the iconic building of the university."
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