We hit goal! Let's keep going!

UPDATE: We hit our goal, and we want to see if we can reach $15,000! These additional funds will allow us to restore three or more scrapbooks—preserving important parts of Auburn's history.

The Auburn University Libraries Special Collections and Archives holds dozens of fragile student scrapbooks dating back to the early 20th Century. These scrapbooks, created by students at API and Auburn, are intimate records of the friendships, social events, student organizations, athletic events, and outings that defined the student experiences of their eras. They contain photographs, dance cards, souvenirs, tickets, menus, and all sorts of ephemera, often with charming descriptions and anecdotes to accompany them. 

Historic scrapbooks are notoriously fragile, and the Auburn University Student Scrapbook Collection contains degrading paper, broken bindings, yellowed tape, loosened photographs, and stained glue. Because of their fragility, these scrapbooks are difficult for us to share and exhibit. 

This Tiger Giving Day is an opportunity to help us send these scrapbooks to professional conservators — the same conservators who restore ancient manuscripts, rare books, and priceless documents for libraries and archives.

The Auburn Libraries treasures our student scrapbooks as priceless records of life on the Plains. The funds we raise will go toward securing and preserving as many of these scrapbooks as we can, allowing us to exhibit them and share their stories with future generations of the Auburn Family. For those who cannot come to see the restored scrapbooks in person, we plan to digitize and make them available. 

Funds that exceed our goal will go straight toward additional scrapbook restorations. We love these relics of Auburn history, and this Tiger Giving Day is our chance to bring as many of them back to life as we can!