WPI Archives & Special Collections holds many unique treasures of significant historical value--both to the WPI community and external scholars. Our collections span three repositories: University Archives, Manuscripts, and Special Collections--or rare books.
The University Archives repository features records from WPI offices and student organizations, university publications, regalia and other materials from past graduating classes, and more. Perhaps most notably, our collection of WPI historical documents includes the original 1865 land grant for Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (one of the nation's earliest technological universities), the papers of past presidents and trustees, and committee records for the development and implementation of the WPI Plan--a ground-breaking program that transformed WPI’s traditional engineering curriculum into a powerful and innovative approach to technological education.
Our Manuscripts repository includes the personal and professional papers of notable alumni, such as Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry, and Theo Brown, one of the principal engineers with John Deere; records of local enterprises, such as the Woodbury Collection and Morgan Construction Co. Collection; and holdings reflective of WPI's curriculum, such as the Interactive Media Archive, a collection of computer and video game consoles and peripherals documenting the evolution of interactive media and game development.
Among our Special Collections holdings is the Robert D. Fellman collection on Charles Dickens, which includes more than 150 volumes of Dickens's writings (including rare first editions of most of his major works), and more than 35 manuscripts, autographed letters, and illustrations.
