The IMSA Archives, housed in the Leto M. Furnas Information Resource Center, serves to collect and preserve materials relating to the history and activities of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.
The Archives includes materials on the establishment of IMSA, led by Dr. Leon Lederman and Gov. James Thomspon; the Academy's development since 1986; its ideas and programs; partnership programs for educators and schools state- and nationwide; and the lives of its students, alumni, and staff. A particular focus is on collecting the material most evanescent and yet in later years most evocative for alumni, that of the student experience at IMSA.
The IMSA Archives contain over 150 lineal feet of records. Here are documents, writings, student and institutional publications, photographs, videos, and artifacts. Research with these primary source materials is done by students, staff, and external visitors, at high school through doctoral level.
For access, see one of the librarians
Phone: (630)-907-5920
irc@imsa.edu
IMSA Archives Access Policy
both the routine and the exceptional
evocative of the life of the IMSA community
- Student work: papers, graphics, projects
- Assignments, syllabi
- Photos, especially with identification
- Publications, especially departmental & student
- Yearbooks
- Clippings and notes from professional journals (IMSA has a newspaper clipping service)
- Journals,writings on the IMSA experience
- Materials from students contests & competitions: what it was, when, why, who competed, how did they do?
- Notices and citations from professional awards
- Memos, minutes, records
- Announcements, materials, schedules and assignments from special programs
- Materials from student clubs & societies and Student Council
- Materials on the experience of being an IMSA parent
- Materials reflective of the alumni experience since IMSA
The IMSA Archives understands the amount of care and dedication needed to preserve and catalog the abundance of historical documents and memorabilia. Since August of 1986, the beginnings of IMSA's first school year, the IMSA Archives has maintained constant professionalism and quality. The IMSA Archives has assembled The IMSA Archives Guidelines that are followed to assure organization and preservation.
