Who We Are
Mission:
The Loras College Center for Dubuque History (CDH) collects, organizes, preserves, and makes accessible primary and secondary sources related to the history of Dubuque and the surrounding area; provides instruction, research assistance, and experiential learning opportunities to anyone engaged in the study of history; and guides individuals in the exploration of vocations related to archives and public history.
History:
The Center was founded in 1976 to address a need to collect and preserve historical materials and to support the historiography of the area. It started as a small collection of books in the Wahlert Memorial Library on the Loras College Campus with the occasional addition of secondary and primary source materials. In 1983 the College hired a part-time archivist, Michael Gibson, to provide oversite and guidance to the collection. Both the CDH and the Library eventually outgrew the Wahlert building so a new Library was built, this time with a dedicated space for the CDH including a reading room, workroom, and archive. After 37 years of service, Mr. Gibson retired in 2020 and the director position was passed to Heidi Pettitt who continues to grow and care for the collection.
What We Do
On-going projects include:
- Creating inventories of unprocessed collections
- Housing collections in archivally appropriate materials
- Creating finding aids for topics related to Dubuque
- Assisting researchers with finding information
- Digitizing photos and documents for greater access
Details
| (563) 588-7873 | |
| cdh@loras.edu | |
| Heidi Pettitt | |
| Director | |
| https://library.loras.edu/cdh |
