University of Colorado Ephemera collection

Between 1935 and 1959, the History Department shared administrative responsibility with the University Library for the Historical Collections. Dr. Eckhardt, chair of the History Department and Libraries Director Ellsworth agreed to divide responsibilities. After the History Department’s “Historical Collections” moved into Norlin Library after 1940, the collections began receiving more attention from Library administrators. One of the areas of concern for the Director of Libraries, Eugene H. Wilson, was the creation of an archive for University of Colorado records. While the Historical Collections had already amassed a set of master’s theses, dissertations, and bound University publications, which they termed the "Archives Collection," no attempt had been made to acquire manuscript materials. Director Wilson however had a broader vision. In 1953, he wrote the Dean of Faculties, Walters F. Dyde, to urge "the establishment of a definitive policy" regarding archival matters and the creation of a University Archives. In this pursuit, he suggested the appointment of a member of the History Department to the task of surveying the categories of University records. He also suggested the gathering of the official records, minutes and papers of student organizations, officers, faculty, and teaching staff; University publications of all types; and a historical collection pertaining to University history from a variety of sources. Wilson believed the University would grow at an unprecedented rate in the future and the time to establish an archive to collect University records was at hand, before such growth rendered archiving difficult. However, no further academic action was ever taken to officially designate the Historical Collections a university archives or establish an inclusive records management program in which an archives was included. Lacking the abiding interest of History Department faculty, administrative staff, the President's Office, or the Board of Regents, Library proposals regarding the establishment of a University Archives would encounter indifference.

In the face of campus inaction, and in order to provide service to those seeking information of the campus and its offices, the libraries would later direct the renamed “Western Historical Collections” to collect and house copies of university publications and such university records as could be solicited. Yearly requests for records were mass mailed to campus offices. Since few offices preferred to part with their files, and without official status or administrative sanction, acquisitions were slow and spotty. Large administrative acquisitions had to wait for the storage space to become exhausted, as well as for Fire Marshal directives. Often, instead of true archival transfers, administrators placed the Archives on their distribution lists, and documents, reposts announcements, fliers, and newsletters began to arrive.

In order to provide information as widely as possible on campus offices, small collections were made for each office sending materials. These materials were used as reference files until actual archival files arrived from those offices. Between 1967 and 1998, mailings and distributed materials were filed in these collections in an ad hoc manner. The scope of the collection continued to increase during this time.

In 1994, since efforts to promote either a designated university archives or a thorough records management system continued to meet with little interest, the renamed “Archives” stopped including “university archives” in its mission description. In addition, the compiling of ephemera into pseudo-archival collections was no longer deemed a proper archival practice, and accepting and saving such mailings ceased in 2000.

In 2014, these materials were drawn together into a single collection.