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George Peabody College Photograph Collection

Series List

Series I: Academic Departments and Programs

This series documents the actual activity of educating students at Peabody College and is instrumental in identifying teaching techniques and classroom scenes through the years. Included in this series are images of the Blair School of Music, the Knapp School of Country Life, and the Library School. The largest subject in this series is comprised of approximately 340 images depicting the teaching of nineteen different sports to physical education students.

Series II: Academic Symbols and Awards

Symbols of George Peabody dominate this series with five folders dedicated to the portrayal of the man whose money made the college possible. Beside black and white photos it includes lithographs, images of George Peabody from publications, and a few original albumen prints. Other images about pertain to his birthplace, bust, statues, and tombstone. The awards photographs are primarily of the recipients of fellowships and scholarships awarded by the college. Included in this series are numerous types of logos used by the college over time.

Series III: Alumni

This series consists primarily of images of alumni at a variety of events both on and off the campus. The majority of these images are from undated and unlabeled events held at state meetings across the country. These images are in the form of black and white snapshots sent in by alumni to be used in the alumni magazine, The Reflector. Another interesting set of photographs is from national educators meetings which alumni attended and then submitted to the college.

Series IV: Athletics

The photographs in this series consist of images pertaining to inter-collegiate sports played by students at the college. The largest group is of Peabody College students who played football for Vanderbilt University in the 1970's. Photographs of Peabody College students engaged in intramurals or in physical education classes can be found in Series XIII and I, respectively.

Series V: Board of Trust

Photographs in this series contain scenes of Board of Trust members at annual meetings, in formal group photos, and in various social settings. They are primarily black and white though there are a few color images from the 1970's. Portraits of board members can be found in the Portraits Series under the member's name.

Series VI: Buildings

One of the larger and more comprehensive, series six documents the history of the buildings on campus. Every building located or once located on Peabody's campus from 1914 to 1979 can be found in this series. The photographs contain images of the construction, exterior, and interior of the buildings often from a number of angles and seasons and through the years as additions and modifications were made.

Series VII: Campus Events

This series covers events held on campus and under the auspices of the college. The largest theme in this section are the images of college graduations on campus, 1915-1979 with many photographs of unidentified graduates posing in groups and during the ceremonies. Another interesting topic covered in here are photographs of the "All-State Picnic and Stunt Night." This event was held every summer along with reunions of alumni on campus and consisted of a picnic and skits performed by alumni who were grouped by their home state. Other events recorded here are conferences, concerts, art exhibits, and student orientations.

Series VIII: Campus Features

Campus Features contains aerial photographs and images of numerous campus scenes. The images are often those that are very familiar to students and alumni of Peabody College. Included in this series are winter scenes of the campus covered in snow and spring scenes of the large iris beds across the campus.

Series IX: Demonstration School

The Demonstration School was an actual school that Peabody College used as a laboratory for student teachers and professors to apply new and experimental teaching concepts in a traditional school environment. This series documents the student activities, projects, and staff of this kindergarten through twelve school from the 1920's to the 1970's.

Series X: Faculty, Administrators, and Staff

This series covers the activities and group photographs of the presidents, administrators, and staff of Peabody College. Included in this group are Faculty Wives Clubs, Staff Clubs, the Peabody Dames, and the Women's Club. For individual photographs of faculty, administrators, and staff look in the Portraits series.

Series XI: Fraternities

This series documents sixteen social and honors fraternities at Peabody College. The images consist of group photographs, fraternity activities, and sweethearts or cheerleaders from the 1950's through the 1960's.

Series XII: Sororities

This consists of images of six sororities on campus documenting the social life of women in these groups. They contain photographs of various sorority activities ranging from rushing to banquets and teas.

Series XIII: Student Activities

This series contains images of the numerous student activities held on campus through the years. It is a vast record of the banquets, dances, intramurals, clubs, parties, and events students participated in from 1914 to 1979. From these images once can see what being a student at Peabody College was like and how it changed through the years.

Series XIV: World War Two

The images in this series are primarily of Army Air Corps cadets who were living and going to school on campus during the war. It shows them in classrooms, marching, and in social scenes with Peabody College co-eds. One folder contains images of unidentified alumni who were stationed overseas during the war.

Series XV: Nashville/Tennessee Scenes

The photographs found in this series consist of images of Nashville and Tennessee that were included in the George Peabody College Photographic Archives. They contain images of John F. Kennedy during a campaign stop in Nashville and scenes of the Nashville flood of 1926. Other images located in this series are of the Parthenon and capitol building in Nashville.

Series XVI: Portraits

The portraits series is an alphabetical listing of photographs of Peabody College presidents, administrators, staff, students, alumni, and visiting officials and lecturers. Included in this series are approximately two hundred and fifty unidentified portraits of individuals and families.

Series XVII: University of Nashville

The University of Nashville series contains images of the George Peabody College campus before it was located on 21st Avenue. When the college was part of the University of Nashville it was located in downtown Nashville nearer to the Cumberland River. These images while few in number they do document the buildings of the school and offer a glimpse of some student activities. These photographs are primarily from the 1880's to the early 1900's.

Series XVIII: Oversize Photographs

This series consists of panoramic images and photographs pasted together to form collages. The most images date from the 1930's to the 1950's and are of graduation breakfasts, formal group photographs, and picnics.

Series XIX: Slides

There are approximately six hundred slides of campus scenes, buildings, and student activities in this series. The majority are color images from the 1960's and 1970's.

Series XX: Negatives

Original negatives from the collection are located in this series and though most are unidentified some have been traced to photographs held in the collection. There are approximately 4,500 to 5,000 negatives in the collection.

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

Copyright © Special Collections, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University
Last modified: April 10, 2008
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