Photographs, yearbooks and catalogs that list course descriptions, extracurricular activities, rules, costs, facilities and people associated with the school, provide a look at the Louisville-based African American educational institution from its founding in 1879 as the Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute through its incarnations as State University and Simmons University.
“This collection tells the story of the early days of an institution that continues to play an important role in our community and we are thrilled to be able to make it more readily available in this way,” said Carrie Daniels, director of Archives and Special Collections.
The collection dovetails with two other digital collections: the Louisville Leader collection—the Leader often ran articles about and advertisements for Simmons—and the African American Oral History Collection.