Amherst College Bicentennial 1821 2021

As part of our Bicentennial, the team in Frost Library has spent more than three years digitizing a range of materials held in the Archives & Special Collections to make available online as much material about the history of the college as possible. Since 2016, the Library staff have worked to select, digitize and describe everything from yearbooks and course catalogs to the official College photographer’s records and hundreds of student publications. And much more.

All of our digital content is available through Amherst College Digital Collections. The links below will take you directly to some collection highlights. Much more information about the holdings of the Archives and the behind-the-scenes work in multiple units in the library is available on the Sources on College History web pages.

Collection Highlights

A page from an old ledger
Student & Alumni Publications

This collection includes literary, humor and news publications.

A photo of Strong House, a saltbox house on the campus Amherst College
Photo Records 
1960–2005

Explore more than 400,000 images taken by official college photographers.

A photo of Biddy Martin speaking at a podium with flags in the background
Commencement Collection

View programs, news articles, speeches and schedules of events.

A black and white photo of the freshman quad
Early History Collection

Materials documenting the first few years of the College.

A lithograph of the College with two buildings on a hill

Amherst Virtual Bookshelf

Explore the Amherst College virtual bookshelf, including books on general College histories, student life, alumni and histories on the Town of Amherst from the Jones Library.

Explore the Collection