This section details further readings in Milwaukee-Downer History. Please use the "Contact Us" page to get in touch if you run into trouble accessing any resources or would like recommendations for further resources.

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Some of the selections below are digitized while others must be accessed in person in the University Archives. Please contact us with any questions.

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Milwaukee-Downer College Archival Collections

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The collections listed below are located in the Lawrence University Archives and are accessible by appointment. Note that another collection of Milwaukee-Downer College records is held by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

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• Milwaukee-Downer College Records

  • Includes primarily college records that were transferred to Lawrence with the 1964     consolidation.

• Milwaukee-Downer People Files

  • Files documenting people associated with Milwaukee-Downer College or either of its predecessors, Milwaukee Female College and Downer College.

• Milwaukee-Downer College Subject Files

  • Files documenting various activities, events, and aspects of MDC over time.

• Milwaukee-Downer College Manuscripts

  • Collections donated by alumni, faculty, and staff of MDC, including scrapbooks, correspondence, journals, coursework, photographs, and more.

• Lawrence College and Milwaukee-Downer College Consolidation Collection

  • Records assembled to document the 1964 consolidation of Milwaukee-Downer College with Lawrence College to form Lawrence University

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Milwaukee-Downer College Publications

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• Course catalogs

  • Course catalogs are the definitive sources for information about the curriculum over time. Catalogs dating from 1896 to 1963 are available in paper format in the Archives. A selection of digitized course catalogs is available online: 1897-1905, 1909-1910, and 1917.

• The Cumtux yearbook

  • The Cumtux yearbook was published from 1898 from 1962. Copies are available in paper format in the Archives. A selection of digitized yearbooks is available online: 1898, 1899, 1903, 1909, 1918, and 1919.

• The Kodak

  • MDC students published a quarterly literary magazine, The Kodak, from 1891 to 1964. Copies are available in paper format in the Archives.

• Student newspapers

  • MDC students published a newspaper beginning in 1944. (The Kodak served as the primary source for campus news prior to this time.) From 1944 through 1964, the Milwaukee-Downer College student newspaper was variously known as The Snapshot, Snapshot-Kodak, The Downer Dial, or The Dial. Copies are available digitally here.

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Written Histories of Milwaukee Downer College

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• Prelude to merger: an historical case study of trustee-decision making leading to the merger of a small college by Sherwin W. Howard, 1980.

• The History of Milwaukee-Downer College, 1851-1951 by Grace Kieckhefer, 1950.

• The Milwaukee-Downer Woman by Lynne Kleinman, 1997.

• The History of Downer College by H.A. Miner, 1920.

• Downer Women 1851-2001 by Carolyn King Stephens, 2003.

• The Consolidation: Effects of the Consolidation of Milwaukee-Downer and Lawrence Colleges and Affects on Milwaukee-Downer Alumnae Volume 2, Number 2 by Carolyn King Stevens, 2019.

• The Consolidation of Milwaukee-Downer College and Lawrence College by Ronald Tank, 2019.

• Annals of Milwaukee College, 1848-1891 by William Wight, 1891.

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