History

To research any topic on North Central College history, the North Central College Chronicle, the student newspaper (1873-2022), and the Spectrum, the school yearbook (1910-1998) are great places to start.

Use the topics in the boxes to the right to get your search started, or come up with your own. Downloadable PDFs of instructions on how to search the Chronicle and the Spectrum are below.

Download the handouts below to learn more about searching the North Central College Chronicle (student newspaper) and the Spectrum (yearbook).

There are two published historical overviews of North Central College:

• Clarence Roberts's North Central College: A Century of Liberal Education (1960; a follow up volume, A Clear and Steady Light, was published in 1981) and
• Pierre Lebeau, Ann Keating, and Kimberly Jacobsen Butler's North Central College: 150 Years. A Promising Start (2011).

Lebeau and Keating also authored a history of North Central College and Naperville - North Central College and Naperville: A Shared History (1995).

North Central College produced a multipart documentary on its history in 2012, entitled North Central College: A Promising Start. This documentary is available as DVDs and on North Central College's YouTube channel.

• North Central College: A Promising Start - Part I: A College Is Born, 1861-1916
• North Central College: A Promising Start - Part II: The Growth of a College, 1916-1946
• North Central College: A Promising Start - Part III: The Challenges of the Post-World War II Years, 1946-1970
• North Central College: A Promising Start - Part IV: A Student-Centered Community, 1970-1990
• North Central College: A Promising Start - Part V:  Moving into the 21st Century, 1991-2012

All of these titles may be found in Oesterle Library's collections. Links lead to the CardinalSearch catalog entry with call numbers.

The North Central College Archives has sponsored a competition for undergraduate research using the archives; the winner has had their paper published as a monograph. The titles of these papers may be viewed here.

The first African American student to graduate from North Central College was Nicholas Hood, in 1946. Since then, many more African American students, faculty, and staff have become a part of the North Central College community. If you are interested in learning more about the history of African Americans at North Central College, here are some resources available in the archives:

• Oral histories of Nicholas Hood (1946), Judith Brown El-Amin (1969), and William Davis (1971) 
• Student Organization records for the Black Student Association and the Multicultural Student Association
• Search the Chronicle for topics such as "Martin Luther King, Jr" or "Martin Luther King Day," "Spelman Exchange," "African American Studies," "Office of Multicultural Affairs" 

The study of the local environment and environmental awareness go back a long way in North Central College's history. Here are some resources available in the archives:

• Oral history, studies, and slides by Terry Marsh, Professor Emeritus of Biology
• Student organization records for NCC Green/Green Scene
• Search the Chronicle for topics such as "environmental studies," "environmental biology," "sustainability," "environmentalism"

North Central College has a rich history of athletics, both intercollegiate and intramural. Here are some resources in the archives to help you explore it:

• Records of Athletic Directors, Sports Information Directors, Athletic Association, and the Women's Athletic Association
• A history of athletics at North Central College, organized by sport
• Search the Chronicle by individual sport or by event, such as "Hall of Fame"

North Central College was founded in 1861 by the Evangelical Association, a group of German Protestant immigrants who drew on the teachings of John Wesley to form their theology. This denominational connection has survived through the college's history, and North Central is still affiliated with the United Methodist Church, which is descended from the Evangelical Association. The archives has several resources available to help you explore the history of religion at the college and how the college's association with a religious group has shaped its history.

• Research the history of the chaplaincy at North Central College. We have the papers of Reverend George St. Angelo, the college's first chaplain, and Lynn Pries, another influential chaplain, is an NCC alumnus.
• Find out more about the Evangelical Theological Seminary. This Evangelical Association seminary started as Union Biblical Institute in the 1870s, and classes were first held in Old Main, and the archives contains some of its records and catalogs. Search for "Union Biblical Institute" and "Evangelical Theological Seminary" in the Chronicle to get started.
• Investigate the stories of missionaries who graduated from North Central College between the 1880s and 1940s.
• Search for "Evangelical Association," "Evangelical United Brethren," and "United Methodist Church" in the Chronicle.

North Central College students, faculty, and alumni have been engaged in some form of activism or community involvement since the college was founded in 1861. Use the topics and resources below to get started on your search.

• The Chicago or Urban Term was begun in the late 1960s by the sociology department as a way for sociology students to gain experience over interim (what we now know as May Term). Search for terms such as "Chicago Term" or "Urban Term," or names such as "Evie Craig," "Shel Trapp," or "Northwest Community Organization."
• North Central College was an early adopter of the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations (YMCA and YWCA), and these organizations had a big impact on campus life through the 1960s. Begin by searching for them in the Chronicle, and then come search their records in the archives.
• Temperance, or abstaining from alcohol, was an important reform movement in the US from the 1880s through the 1930s. North Central College students were involved in many ways in the temperance movement. Search the Chronicle and the Spectrum for temperance associations.