Office of Admissions records

Collection

Identifier: 00.A

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Admissions records documents the Admissions Office at Eastern Michigan University. The records span from 1893 until 2011 with large gaps in the historical record. The collection is comprised of booklets, pamphlets, and correspondence from the Admissions office and is arranged in eight series: Administrative Files, Events, Press, Promotional Items, Recruitment Slide Show, Reports, Surveys andVideos.

The Administrative Files series concerns admission, scholarship, and applications, campus tour information, correspondence, fast facts, and transfer student information. The Events series contains events and Explore Eastern. Press series includes Clippings, Growing in New Directions, Live and Learn, and A Summer of Opportunity. The Promotional Items series consists of postcards, posters and is broken into two subseries including Booklets and Pamphlets. Reports series includes Outreach Plans, Program Improvements, and Summer Open House Final Report. The Videos series consists primarily of material from the late 1980's and early 1990's and includes a variety of videos related to admission, transferring, commercials, and campus tours. The Recruitment Slide Shows contains materials used for presentations by the Admissions Office staff from the 1970s and 1980s with images of campus, classrooms, and residential life.

Dates

1893 - 2011

Conditions Governing Access

Researchers are asked to request materials 24 hours prior to visiting the the University Archives.

Historical Note

Established by the State of Michigan in 1849, Eastern Michigan University opened its doors as the Michigan State Normal School in 1853. Michigan State Normal School was the first teachers' training school west of the Allegheny Mountains and initially taught students at a basic secondary level, instructing them in teaching methods and material to cover at a variety of levels.

In 1899, Michigan State Normal School changed its name to Michigan State Normal College. Professor Richard Gause Boone lobbied to establish Normal as four-year college, rather than a secondary school. Normal entered the twentieth century as Michigan's premier teacher training school and had become the first teacher training school in the United States to have a four-year degree program.

Between 1900 and 1950, at least 20 buildings were built on campus and by 1939, students, for the first time, were living in dorms on campus instead of in boarding houses off campus. During this period, the University added a number of programs to its expanding curriculum. In 1901, Normal was the first school in Michigan to offer an industrial arts program. The school was also the first in the nation to offer a program to train teachers of the disabled, starting in 1915. In 1940, it was the first teacher training school to offer a program in library services. During the years of World War II, the school trained soldiers for the military as well as civilian students.

In 1956, the school became known as Eastern Michigan College. Three years later, the school gained the status of a university by formally establishing the Graduate School (graduate classes had been offered since 1939) and changed its name again, for the final time, to Eastern Michigan University. The new names not only demonstrated that the school had become a university, but also broadened the emphasis of the school from teacher training to a wider range of baccalaureate programs. In 1959, the university established the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences as two separate entities.

From 1950 to the present, nearly 30 new buildings have been constructed and many more renovated to meet the needs of the institution. New dormitories and classroom buildings provide for the needs of new students.

Today, Eastern offers a range of programs of study in a number of areas, including Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Health and Human Services, and Technology. In 2011, more than 23,000 students from around the world attend EMU.

Borrowed from A Brief History of EMU "http://www.emich.edu/walkingtour/hist.htm"

Extent

6.8 Linear Feet (4 archive boxes, 1 record center carton, 1 halfsize archive box, 1 oversize box )

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Admissions collection has records comprised primarily of booklets, pamphlets and correspondence from the Admissions Office at Eastern Michigan University from 1893-2011. Materials are arranged into six series: Administrative Files includes applications, correspondence, and letterheads. Events, Press, Promotional Items consists of booklets, pamphlets, and posters, Reports, Videosand Recruitment Slide Shows.

Technical Requirements Note

Materials in Box 2, series Videos require the use of a VCR. Materials in Box 3 and 4, series Recruitment Slide Shows require the use of a tape player and a slide projector.