How to View Our Digitized Records

Over 70,000 records from the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections are available in our digital repository service to search and access by all. Our digitized records are divided into two larger categories, our University Archives and our Special Collections, and are then organized by collection. If you visit our digital repositories’ page you will be able to search all collections including and filter by year, record type, date, and subject. For additional help on how to browse our digitized records please consult our guide on how to use the digital repository to find archival material.

 

Conscious and Inclusive Description at Northeastern University Library

Many collections held by the Library and displayed in the Digital Repository Service (DRS) include content that may contain offensive language, depictions of violence, negative stereotypes, or other content that may cause discomfort or harm and that do not reflect the current values of Northeastern University.

The Library strongly values the creation of a digital collection that is inclusive and avoids harm to marginalized communities. We also value the preservation and display of racist or otherwise troubling material as a record of history and to ensure that past harms and lived experiences are not erased. While these values can be in tension, we seek to balance them.

In addition to sensitive collection material, users may come across outdated or offensive description. We are working to ensure that our records accurately and sensitively describe our collections, but this is an ongoing process of learning, and some standard vocabularies are slow to adjust. If you see any materials or records that concern you, or have suggestions for alternate language, please fill out our contact form.

In addition to welcoming feedback from our community as described above, we are working to prevent the perpetuation of harm in our digital collections through the following activities:

  • We constantly seek to revise our cataloging processes, including controlled vocabulary implementations and general descriptive practices, to keep current with modern language and best practices.
  • We discuss potentially sensitive or offensive materials in collections with communities and project teams when working on digitization, description, or ingest projects.
  • In many collections of historical materials, we are including notes in the descriptive records that alert researchers to the presence of potentially offensive content and provide a link to this statement.

Digital Collection Portals

In addition to our digitized records available in our digital repository, the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections curates and designs digital collections portals to provide additional context and resources to better understand our digitized collections. Review our digital collection portals below:

Boston’s Asian American History

Records and exhibits featuring records from the Chinese Progressive Association, Sampan newspaper that document the history of Boston’s Chinatown and Asian American communities.

Boston’s Latinx Community History

Over 41,000 records documenting two Latinx organizations, La Alianza Hispana and Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, from 1965-2001 as well as additional context about each collection.

Boston’s LGBTQIA+ History

Over 1,000 records from ACT UP/Boston, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, the Bromfield Street Educational Center (including the Gay Community News) Fenway Community Health Center, Men of All Colors Together Boston, Boston Alliance of Gay and LEsbian Youth, Inc (BAGLY), and the Theater Offensive as well as additional context about each collection.

Beyond Busing: Boston School Desegregation Collection

Over 4,000 archival records from Boston-area archives that narrate the long history of school desegregation in Boston along with resources for educators and curated records from community organizations and collaborators.

Freedom House Photographs

More than 2,300 images of people, places and events  documenting Roxbury Massachusetts, 1950-1975.

Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Committee Archives

A collection of documents from the Holocaust Awareness Committee, a committee organized in 1977 that has commemorated the Holocaust on Northeastern University’s campus.

The Katz Tapes

The Larry Katz collection, 1980-2005, consists of interviews recorded on audiocassettes conducted by Larry Katz, a reporter, critic, columnist and editor at The Real Paper (1980-1981), The Boston Herald (1981-2011) and other publications. He interviewed some of the most established names in a wide variety of musical genres as well as overlooked pioneers, talented newcomers and Boston-area legends. Most of the interviews are with musicians and singers, but there are also many with persons involved in the recording, film, theater, television and literary industries.

Lower Roxbury Black History Project

40+ audio and video interviews of current and former residents of Lower Roxbury interviewed by Lolita Parker Jr, along with scanned photographs and records offered by the interviewees.

Northeastern University History

A growing collection of images relating to academics,  athletics, campus, people, and events at Northeastern  from 1902 to the present accompanied with course catalogs, yearbooks, and other historic records and exhibits documenting eras in Northeastern’s history and development.

Our Home: An East Boston History Portal

Records from the East Boston Community News and community contributed records documenting the long history of the neighborhood accompanied by additional resources to become acquainted with East Boston History.

The Boston Globe Library Collection

Historic information and highlighted scans from the Boston Globe Library Collection accompanied by information about how to use this unique collection.

The Boston Phoenix

Captured websites, digital issues from Phoenix  Media Group Collections.

The Northeastern University Archives and Special Collection also archives university webpages. You can search archived sites on our Archive-It page.