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Pratt Institute Archives

Historical papers, images, and artifacts that document the history and development of Pratt Institute

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Finding aids for processed archival collections are available online. Browse collections or search finding aids using the search bar above.

Institutional Records

The majority of the Archives is comprised of institutional records created by Pratt's various schools, departments, and internal agencies, and offices. These include annual, budget and accreditation reports, strategic and campus plans, official memos, correspondence, news clipping scrapbooks, and publicity materials. The institutional records are not complete, and some departments are more strongly represented than others.

We do not maintain the official student records. Researchers interested in transcripts should contact the Office of the Registrar. 

Collections of note:

Personal Papers & Archival Collections

We also hold collections and papers that were created by persons or organizations associated with Pratt, including faculty, alumni, and the Pratt family. Materials include business and personal correspondence, memorabilia, diaries, sketches and drawings, notes and publications, sample books and other student work, textiles, and artifacts. 

Sample collections:

While we do have a collection of our founder Charles Pratt's personal and Institute-related papers, as well as collections for some of his descendants, we are not the official repository for the Pratt family. For information concerning our Pratt family holdings, please email us at archives.library@pratt.edu.

Images

We have a rich collection of photographs and other images, including photographic negatives and slides. The earliest photos date from the late 1880s, and the bulk dates range from the late nineteenth century through the mid-1970s. 

Many of the photographs have been processed and are arranged by subject. A full listing of the subject categories is available in the Guide to the Photograph Collection.

Some of our images have been digitized and are available on Artstor in the Archives Image Collection and the Archives Negatives CollectionThese collections represent a small portion of our image holdings and will continue to expand over time as the digitization process continues. 

Vertical Files

We maintain vertical files of folders on subjects, events, and individuals for which we do not have enough materials to warrant a separate collection. A listing of these folders is included in the Guide to the Vertical Files Collection.

Publications

The Archives collects Institute, student, and departmental publications. Some publications can be found in the collections of the departments that created them and are described in the collections' finding aids.

Institute and student publications include:

  • The Prattler (the student newspaper)
  • Prattonia (the yearbook)
  • Prattfolio (the alumni magazine)
  • Course catalogs

Please email us at archives.library@pratt.edu for information on specific publication titles and issues.


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