Mundelein at 90
UPDATES:
July 1, 2023
The Mundelein at 90 digitization project, as supported by the IHDI grant, concluded June 30, 2023. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Illinois Digital Archives, and will continue to make updates to this page as additional items are uploaded. Update.
April 27, 2023
The WLA hosted a Celebration of Mundelein College History in Palm Court in the Mundelein Center. The reception included refreshments, photo displays, and Mundelein trivia.
April 17, 2023
Browse the newest photos now available in the Illinois Digital Archives!
The collection from the Mundelein at 90 digitization project now includes over 1,700 digitized images available to browse and search! More photographs will be added soon!
March 30, 2023
Watch the recording of our webinar: Explore the Mundelein College Collection Online
During a webinar on March 30, Emily Reiher, WLA Director, demonstrated how to browse and search for materials in the online collection now available in the Illinois Digital Archives. Event page.
January 12, 2023
More Images are Now Available on the Illinois Digital Archives!
The collection from the Mundelein at 90 digitization project now includes over 1,000 digitized images available to browse. Additional digitized materials will be added soon. We will be sharing more information soon about upcoming events.
November 16, 2022
First Photographs Available on the Illinois Digital Archives!
September 22, 2022
The Women and Leadership Archives (WLA) at Loyola University Chicago completed the first year of the Mundelein at 90 digitization project in July 2022 after receiving an Illinois History Digital Imaging grant of $84,000. Over 4 thousand photographs have been digitized at the WLA by student Digitization and Metadata Assistants. An outside vendor has also completed the digitization of 748 publications and 18 scrapbooks. Work continues on creating detailed metadata for each of these items so that they are searchable and useful to the public when they are made available online through the Illinois Digital Archives.
Read the recent press release, linked above, for more information about the project.
April 27, 2022
A press release was distributed on April 27, 2022 to announce the grant and share details on the Mundelein at 90 digitization project.
The grant project includes the hiring of student Digitization and Metadata Assistants who will scan and create metadata for photos in the Mundelein College Photograph Collection. This collection of over 2,000 folders contains photographs of Mundelein College’s students, faculty, architecture, and special events, only a fraction of which have been digitized. These photographs document the many changes in women’s education, Catholicism, and American culture throughout the school’s over 60-year history. Two student Digitization and Metadata Assistants were hired and began work during the spring semester.
An archival digitization vendor will also digitize a selection of scrapbooks, student publications, and other unique materials from the Mundelein College Records. These items, which contain photographs, writings, and artwork created by Mundelein students, require additional care and expertise in the scanning process due to their fragile and complex nature. The archival digitization vendor received the materials this spring and has already begun digitizion work.
OCTOBER 20, 2021
Job Announcement: The WLA seeks to hire Digitization and Metadata Assistants as part of the Mundelein at 90 grant project, which aims to digitize and provide online access to unique historical records from Mundelein College. The deadline for first consideration is November 12, 2021. Positions begin in Spring 2022 and are open to Loyola students currently enrolled in a MA or PhD program. Read the job announcement here.
SEPTEMBER 2021
Purpose
The Mundelein at 90 digitization grant project aims to digitize and provide online access through the Illinois Digital Archives to unique historical records previously only available in person at the Women and Leadership Archives. Check back for progress updates.
About Mundelein College and its collections
Built mere days after the stock market crash of 1929, enrollment numbers for Mundelein College were beyond initial expectations, despite obvious hardships. This indomitable spirit as well as a dedication to social justice would remain constants at this new college. The history of Mundelein College, the last private, independent, Catholic women’s college in Illinois, continues to intrigue alumni, genealogists, history buffs, and architectural historians alike. Learn more.
About the Women and Leadership Archives
Established in 1994, the Women and Leadership Archives (WLA) collects, preserves, and makes available permanently valuable records of women and women’s organizations, which document women’s lives, roles, and contributions. The WLA grew out of the need to care for the records of Mundelein College and expanded to collect papers of women leaders and women’s organizations. Mundelein at 90 directly supports the WLA’s mission to make these records available.
About the IHDI Grant
The Illinois History-Digital Imaging grant program provides funding for eligible libraries to carry out projects involving the digitization and provision of web access to their important historical and cultural collections. Digital Imaging grants support the creation of digital collections while expanding access to those collections via the Illinois Digital Archives.
About the Illinois Digital Archives
The Illinois Digital Archives is a repository for the digital collections of the Illinois State Library as well as other libraries and cultural institutions in the State of Illinois.
This project is made possible by Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White.
