Skip to Main Content
Research Guides

Search for University Publications

Consult the PDF entitled Guide to the Publications Collection for an overview of the collection.

Physical Resources

The following items are located in the Special Collections Reading Room. 

  • General (Course) Catalogs - Helpful for looking up faculty members or school rosters.
  • TYEE Yearbooks - A selection of these are also available online in Digital Collections.
  • University Directories
  • Time Schedules - These include instructor names for courses (unlike the course catalog which only lists course descriptions) and will also include any addendums to the catalog.
  • Commencement Programs
  • Alumni Magazines - Both Columns (1989-present) and its predecessor Washington Alumnus (1908-1988). These are also indexed in the PNW Regional Newspaper and Periodical index.
  • Office and Campus Name Index Cards - These were maintained up to the mid 1980s. For newer names consult the collection management database.
  • Indexes to Campus Photographs - These printouts of negative numbers cover photographs from the mid 1940s to the late 1960s. The online Digital Collections is the best resource for photographs up to the 1940s but only contains a percentage of what exists.

Collection Description

The University of Washington Publications collection began in 1970 with a large transfer of publications and imprints from the Libraries’ Pacific Northwest Collection. Since that time materials written, compiled, or produced for distribution by UW offices, departments, or organizations have been solicited and collected by the University Archives. 

The collection includes newsletters, newspapers, announcements and invitations, catalogs, bulletins, yearbooks, flyers, journals, directories, handbooks, brochures, calendars, circulars, guides, manuals, instructions, maps, pamphlets, posters, programs, reports, rosters, and ephemeral material. Some titles are serial in nature, others are collected individually and accessioned as part of a collection.

Although many of these publications may be in other parts of the library system or duplicated in departmental files, the University Archives maintains the principle, official, non-circulating copy for reference and access in perpetuity.