The Ellender Memorial Library Archives is working on preserving history from Nicholls student organizations and is allowing students to leave their mark on the University by donating to the archives.

Helen Thomas, assistant archivist, explained the goal of the archives and special collections department is to preserve as many records as possible. They want to provide a written, oral and pictorial record of the University and are asking for donations of any memorabilia, flyers, pictures or meeting minutes.

“Organizations help to show what students are passionate about. You can see through student organizations what they are interested in, what their skills are, their creativity and what their ambitions are. This helps you get a feel for who the people at Nicholls are and how their college experience shapes them,” said Thomas.

The idea came up last spring and has been in development until this fall. Since the project started, the archives have received one donation from the student veteran’s organization. There are 129 student organizations listed in the directory for 2015. The archive contains materials from only 42 of these. Of those 42, only 20 organizations are still active.

There are plenty of records from past presidents, departments and professors, yet many gaps in records for student organizations. Thomas explained how there are years missing from these organizations they are trying to locate information for. The archives received information from the president’s papers, but the information can sometimes be random or irrelevant. With organizations giving them information directly, the archives will hold what is most important.

“We prefer to get materials from students directly because it gives them an opportunity to tell their story by what they give us. By contributing materials directly to the archives, student organizations have the opportunity to communicate what they want people to know about their group and to make sure future researchers know what they consider the significant history and attributes of their group,” said Thomas.

As of now, the archive holds scrapbooks from different clubs and many vintage pictures from Greek life. There are photos from Delta Zeta’s singing valentines at Phi Kappa Theta’s carnival social in the 70s. Also, the archives hold flyers from past performances for the performing arts department. Some of the memorabilia dates back to the founding of the University, when Nicholls was a junior college.

Thomas explained how they are also looking into ways to take electronic resources, since many people do not print pictures anymore. The archives want to use google drive to allow students to upload their pictures via Internet.

“We want to capture the whole experience of what it is to be at Nicholls State,” said Thomas.

The library archives is open from 8-4:30 p.m. and welcomes any student who wants to look through the materials and learn about the student life on campus. The archives is hoping for many more student organization donations to come.