Skip to Main Content

Archives of The College of St. Scholastica: Home

Find out about our history through an online publications database, photos, stories and more!

Welcome to the CSS Archives

Materials in the Archives include historical documents, student publications such as newspapers and yearbooks, college publications such as catalogs and the Times  and St. Scholastica magazines, and departmental and committee documents. The archives also contains over 150,000 images including photographs, slides, and negatives and recordings both audio and visual. The 300+ recordings have all been digitized in order to preserve them from obsolete formats.

These materials are open for viewing. Advance notification is strongly encouraged so someone will be able to assist you.

Please email librarian Heidi Johnson who volunteers for the Archives 
at hjohnso2@css.edu or call the Library (218-723-6140) for further help.​​​​​​​

Publications Database

Click on the link above to search the Publications Database. 

This database contains digitized pages from the following College publications:

  • Early publications including Institute Echoes (1903), Villa Sancta Scholastica Quarterly (1910-1927), and College Weekly (1927-28)
  • Student newspapers beginning with the Scriptorium in 1932 to its end in 1969 and the Cable from its beginning in 1977 to 2018 and the Script from 2018 to current.
  • The Towers Yearbooks starting in 1937 through 2001 with some years missing as for some years a yearbook was not published
  • The Times magazine (1971-2014), In Between Times (1982-85), Between Times starting in 1997 to the present, and St. Scholastica Magazine starting in 2014 to the present.

Every page of these publications can be searched simply by entering a name or phrase into the search field in the online database. Results of the search will display the page in pdf form, which can be saved, printed, or emailed. As these publications were already previously published and released to the public and past issues housed in the archives are freely open, this database is also similarly available. 

Screen shot of database - Enter your search term in the field and click "Search." To limit to a publication or to a specific date range, click on the options on the left-hand side of the screen.
       Database Search

St. Scholastica Monastery 1967 "Alleluia" Movie - 33 min. long

Historical Video Series - 8 short videos on various aspects of the College's history

Video of Art in Tower Hall - 33 min. long

Presentation of Farm Tour

Quarry - Online Digital Repository

The Quarry is our College's online digital repository, and it contains photographs from 1909 to the present as well as student, college, and faculty publications from 1903 to the present. As this collection is continually expanding, check back often for fun, new content!
          Quarry Homepage

PDF Links to Archives Contents

Materials in The College of St. Scholatica Archives are organized according to provenance, or from where the item originates. There are 21 numbers in the classification system for various aspects or offices of the College.

In addition, each type of item such as documents or photographs is separated both in its location in the Archives room as well as by the document in order for the items to be properly stored as well as to facilitate locating them.

Click on the links below for the type of item you are looking for to see an index of the Archives holdings:

Hint: If you wish to search the PDF's, type Ctrl and the F key to open a find box. Enter the word or name you wish to find, and results will pop up to direct you through the document to where your search term is found.

Links to More Resources

The College of St. Scholastica History Through Photos

1909 Villa Students

1909

Villa Students

1929 Front Entrance of Tower Hall

1929

Front Entrance of Tower Hall

1934 Tower Hall

1934

Tower Hall

1941 Aerial View of Campus

1941

Aerial View of Campus

1943 Students in the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary Club

1943

Students in the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary Club

1945 Students in Chemistry Lab

1945

Students in Chemistry Lab

1946 St. Scholastica Monastery Sisters in Chapel

1946

St. Scholastica Monastery Sisters in Chapel

1949 Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel and Library

1949

Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel/Library

1955 Skyline Singers for Bus Tour

1955

Skyline Singers for Bus Tour

1956 Students Performing Weaving of the Standards

1956

Students Performing Weaving of the Standards

1968 International Students in Somers Lounge

1968

International Students in Somers Lounge

1968 Science Building Construction

1968

Science Building Construction

Oct. 1970 students in Somers Lounge

1970

Students wearing beanies in Somers Lounge

1975 Hockey Team NAIA Champions

1975

Hockey Team NAIA Champs

Students at an all-campus picnic in front of the Science Center in the 1980s

1980s

Students at an all-campus picnic in front of the Science Center

1989-90 Students in Dorm

1989

Students hanging out in a dorm room

1991 Air Jam Concert in Reif Gymnasium

1991

Air Jam Concert in Reif

1990s students in front of Tower Hall

1990s

Students in front of Tower Hall

2001 Reif Run

2001

Reif Run

2005 convocation

2005

Convocation in the Mitchell Auditorium with the Saints Heritage Club

2008 Homecoming Parade

2008

Homecoming parade

2011 Students in Burns Wellness Commons

2011

Students in Burns Wellness Commons

2016 Students with bikes overlooking the Valley of Silence

2016

Students with bikes overlooking the Valley of Silence