George Peabody College Photograph Collection

George Peabody College traces its history to 1785 and the founding of Davidson Academy, which was chartered by the state of North Carolina, as it was still part of the Southwest Territories. In 1806 Davidson Academy became Cumberland College and some twenty years later it was renamed the University of Nashville. In 1875 the State Normal School opened as part of the University of Nashville. By 1889 the school was renamed the Peabody Normal College. The name school continues today as Peabody College a part of Vanderbilt University.

Scope and Content

The George Peabody College Photographic Archives contains approximately 20,000 images that document the history of the college from its earliest times as a school of the University of Nashville in the 1870's to its merger with Vanderbilt University in 1979. The bulk of this collection dates from 1920 to the 1970's.

The collection is organized into nineteen series that represent the major aspects of the collection. It contains photographs, lithographs, and printed reproductions from publications, negatives, and slides. The 19th century processes found in the collection include albumen prints, lithographs, and salted paper prints. The 20th century photographs consist mainly of black and white prints, with color photographs appearing more frequently in the 1970's.

The photographs are arranged chronologically within each topic, sleeved in Mylar with ten enclosures per folder. The ( ) behind a folder listing denotes the number of folders within that topic.

The George Peabody College Photographic Archives is comprised of photographic materials created by dozens of Peabody College staff over a number of years and only transferred to the Vanderbilt University Special Collections and Archives after the merger in 1979.

History and Scope Note | Series List | Series I | Series II | Series III | Series IV and V | Series VI | Series VII
Series VIII and IX | Series X | Series XI | Series XII | Series XIII | Series XIV and XV | Series XVI | Series XVII
Complete Finding Aid (pdf)

Special Collections | Heard Library | Vanderbilt University

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Last modified: April 10, 2008
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