Announcements/General Catalog (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Collection
Identifier: UP017
This publication, which has been given various titles over the years, has served primarily as the school catalog for Georgia Tech since its inception in 1888-1889, providing descriptions for courses offered in each discipline at the school, as well as other information of relevance to Georgia Tech students.
(2 copies of ca. 75 bound volumes)
None. Catalogs after the 2005-2006 volume are only available online.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
21 Linear Feet
The Announcements/General Catalog publications are available in the Georgia Tech Archives in printed volumes from 1888-1889 until 2005-2006. The Archives holds two copies of most volumes, and the years 1888-1889 through 1949-1950 are also on microfilm. Digital copies of the volumes are available in Georgia Tech's digital repository at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/30459. Those dating from 2006-2007 through 2009-2010 are only available online.
The issues of this publication are bound into volumes slightly differently in copy 1 and copy 2. One issue, 1901-1902, is available in copy 2 only. The volumes shown in the container list below are those in copy 1.
The earliest Announcements/General Catalog (1888-1918) provide a great deal of information relevant to the Georgia Tech student of the time period. These publications include a school calendar for the academic year as well as information on admission; departments; fees, expenses, and tuition; building plans; and equipment. Courses of study, details on instruction, and a list of textbooks are listed under each academic department. In addition, lists of students, faculty, and instructors are included, and specimen entrance examinations are provided. Each issue also includes drawings of the exterior and/or interior of campus buildings as illustrations; by the turn of the twentieth century, the illustrations become photographs of buildings, classrooms, and sometimes faculty members. Beginning with the Announcement for 1892-1893, a register of graduates provides the names, home county, graduation year, and occupation of all graduates. These registers continue to appear in the yearly publication until 1918; at the end of the 1918-1919 issue, a note indicates that the Register of Graduates would be published from then on as a separate publication.
As the school's offerings increased, descriptions of new courses of study and information regarding sports and extracurricular activities begin to appear in the Announcements. During the 1910s, individual courses are described under each subject area. Scholarships and prizes begin to be listed, and indexes to each issue or detailed tables of contents are provided. Registers of students, faculty, and instructors continue to be printed in these volumes until about 1945, and lists of graduates and degrees conferred for the year prior to publication also appear until the mid 1940s. In the 1920s, the publications include general regulations for students as well as the content provided in earlier volumes. However, sample entrance examinations stop appearing.
Course offerings in the Division of Graduate Studies begin to be described in the Announcements/General Catalog in the early 1940s. At about the same time, a description and list of research staff for the Engineering Experiment Station, information on the Engineering Extension Division, and a description of the Co-op program are also printed in each issue. Separate publications for the Graduate Division including course listings were released from about 1946 to 1973, but brief information on Graduate studies, the Engineering Experiment Station, and the Engineering Extension Division continues to be included in the Announcements/General Catalog between these two dates. Although faculty and staff continue to be listed in each volume, registers of students are dropped during this time.
Between about 1946 and 1973, the focus of the Announcements/General Catalog is primarily the Tech undergraduate population. After 1973, both graduate and undergraduate studies are covered in the General Catalogs and the content of the publication becomes standardized. The volumes are each divided into six or seven sections: General Information; Info for Undergraduates; Information for Graduate Students; Curricula and Degrees/Courses of Instruction; Student Rules and Regulations; and Administration, Faculty and Staff Listings. This standard format continues from the 1970s through the early 2000s.
This publication, which has been given various titles over the years, has served primarily as the school catalog for Georgia Tech since its inception in 1888-1889, providing descriptions for courses offered in each discipline at the school, as well as other information of relevance to Georgia Tech students. For a brief period between 1997 and 2005, the Catalog appeared once every two years; otherwise, apart from a gap during World War II (apparently a catalog was not published for 1944-1945), the Announcements/General Catalog was an annual publication.
The earliest volumes of the Announcements at the Georgia School of Technology were actually titled the "Annual Catalogue of the Georgia School of Technology." The first annual publication, for the school year 1888-1889, was given the subtitle "Announcement for 1888-89." By 1903, the title changed to "Annual Announcement of the Georgia School of Technology"; by the early 1960s the publication became known simply as the "General Catalog." Most of the early bound volumes in the Georgia Tech Archives have been assigned the title "Announcements," while later volumes reflect more accurately the changes in the title. The volume list in this finding aid also reflects the various changes in the title.
By 1915 the Announcements/General Catalog began to be printed annually in one issue of the Bulletin of The Georgia School of Technology. This continued to be the practice until 1974-1975. The Bulletins were originally published by the University System of Georgia; after the early 1960s the publication was edited and published by the Georgia Institute of Technology Office of Publications.
As the school expanded its course offerings and degrees, the Annual Announcements increased in size. While the first volume contained fewer than 50 pages, by 1898 the publication had grown to 161 pages. By 1914, it had expanded to over 200 pages; by the early 2000s, the publication became almost 500 pages in length.
The catalogs published after May 2005 are only available in electronic form.
Until 1945, the Announcements/General Catalog are bound into a set of chronological volumes, each of which contain at least two to three issues. After that date, each issue was usually bound separately. The binding was probably done by the Georgia Tech Library.
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
The immediate provenance of these volumes is unknown. Evidence from the publication itself indicates that the volumes were initially published by the University System of Georgia, but after the early 1960s the catalogs were edited and published by the Georgia Institute of Technology. Accession #2009.052.
The Announcements/General Catalog publications are available in the Georgia Tech Archives in printed volumes from 1888-1889 until 2005-2006. The Archives holds two copies of most volumes, and the years 1888-1889 through 1949-1950 are also on microfilm. Isolated volumes are also available in the Georgia Tech Library. Digital copies of the volumes are available in Georgia Tech's digital repository at (https://hdl.handle.net/1853/30459).
(2 copies of ca. 75 bound volumes)
The Announcements/General Catalog publications are available in the Georgia Tech Archives in printed volumes from 1888-1889 until 2005-2006. The Archives holds two copies of most volumes, and the years 1888-1889 through 1949-1950 are also on microfilm. Isolated volumes are also available in the Georgia Tech Library. Digital copies of the volumes are available in Georgia Tech's digital repository at (https://hdl.handle.net/1853/30459). All these publications have been cataloged with the following call number: T171 .G42 G49X.
Christine de Catanzaro processed these publications in July 2011.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository