Picture it: 1838 in Bloomington, Indiana. A big change had just occurred for Indiana College.  The name had just been changed to Indiana University and the future of the school was starting to come into focus. Then a series of crises happened over the next few years: a cholera epidemic, a university strapped for cash, and a proposal to move the campus permanently to the growing capital city, Indianapolis. And when it couldn’t get worse, a fire that may have started as carelessness or theft ended in a completely decimated building on April 11, 1854. The entire structure (IU was one building back then), plus books and materials were destroyed.

Just a few months later, IU President William M. Daily called a meeting of 14 alumni. On August 1, they elected officers of the Society of Alumni and made resolutions that allowed the Society do the following: confer with speakers to address the association, keep track of the alumni by listing of their names, residences, and occupations, and publish such in the annual alumni catalog. It’s pretty close to our work today, don’t you think?  Those men also decided that the regular annual meeting of the alumni would be on the day right after Commencement, which in those days was in August.

A whole host of documents can be found at Archives Online at Indiana University.  I’m making my way through Collection C661 and look forward to more articles about IUAA’s founding.