University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Joins the Consortium

Originally chartered as the Illinois Industrial University in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has a long history as a land-grant institution dedicated to education and innovation in the natural and applied sciences. Indeed, three of its four initial colleges focused specifically on science or technical education. Among its other scientific and technological innovations and contributions to society, the University has been a pioneer in the history of early computing and computer-assisted instruction, electronic music, particle physics, domestic science education, sound on film, cybernetics, the discovery of the “third domain of life” (Archaea), superconductors, and the longest-running continuous experimental agricultural field in the Americas. In addition, UIUC has a long history of stewarding archives and records that document the history of its land-grant mission and scientific and technological innovations as well as material culture, manuscripts, and rare books that engage the public in our collective cultural and scientific heritage. These materials are held by several cultural heritage institutions at UIUC—the University of Illinois Archives, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, and the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures—which strive to promote their holdings to a broad array of researchers interested in the history of science and technology.