University of Washington Archives: University Publications

Search for University Publications

UW Seattle General Catalog Archive
The history of the University of Washington exists in many forms, but its General Catalog provides one of the best records of its curricula, degrees, and policies. This page contains an archive of searchable, printable General Catalogs and Bulletins.

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

Central Name Index (CNI) and Central Subject Index (CSI)
A name/topic index for primary history resources located in Special Collections Reading Room. (Available only in the Special Collections Reference area.)

Pacific Northwest Regional Newspaper & Periodical Index This link opens in a new window
Citations from newspapers, periodicals, monographs, theses, dissertations, scrapbooks, pamphlets and other ephemera. At the present time, more than 116,000 citations are searchable and hundreds of and hundreds of citations are being added each week. Index entries that have not yet been added to the index are located in the card files of the Special Collections Reading Room.

Department Publications
(Available as a PDF). Years covered: 1886-1995.

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.