This site was created by the Macalester College Archives, and in particular the students who work in the Archives, to facilitate and empower ongoing discussions of Macalester’s history by, for, and about those left out of institutional narratives. Here you’ll find archival and primary source materials that span from early in Mac’s history to today. You’ll also find student-created works, from Honors Projects to class assignments to personal explorations, which have engaged with, contextualized, and critiqued archival sources and by extension, Macalester as an institution and its legacy. These materials reach throughout time and across campus and cover many different aspects of student life. The threads that tie them together are the desire for all voices to be heard, the institution to be accountable, and lessons from the past to be passed on.

As a site dedicated to examining the history of the college, it is important to explicitly recognize the broader contexts of the College Archives, from acknowledging the land on which the college and the Archives is situated, to who and what we ultimately have (or don’t have) represented and preserved in the Archives.

Sources in this site are only a small selection from the broader Archives collections, and the site will continue to grow and evolve. We are always looking for new content and new collaborators. Have you organized events or actions? Are you researching something related to Mac history? Are you examining how past student movements can help inform today’s? Or are there lessons today you want to impart to future organizers? Let us know if you’d like to share your work(s) for future students to access. We’re more than happy to help with your research in the Archives, or provide images or examples from our collections to illustrate your work, too.

Get in touch with the College Archivist at archives@macalester.edu with questions about research, materials, or to make a contribution to the site.

Credits and Thanks

Daria Chamness, Class of 2021, did the lion’s share of development and work on this site.
Thanks also go to:
Priya Baumann, Class of 2022
Liv Gigliotti, Class of 2021
Jennings Mergenthal, Class of 2021
Teresa Padrón, Class of 2021
Kova Walker-Lečić, Macalester College Archives
LaReina Adams, Madisen Egan, Alee Schmierer, Chris Schommer, and Louann Terveer, DeWitt Wallace Library

Thank you to the Steering Committee for the Toward Revealing and Creating a More Inclusive History of Macalester College reading group, as this website stems in part from the reading group and funding received from the Mansergh-Stuessy Fund for College Innovation:
Bea Chihak, Class of 2020 and Jennings Mergenthal, Class of 2021
Donna Maeda, Kofi Annan Institute for Global Citizenship
Joan Ostrove, Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching
Kelly Stone, Center for Religious and Spiritual Life
Marjorie Trueblood, Department of Multicultural Life
Angi Faiks and Terri Fishel, DeWitt Wallace Library

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