Purdue Celebrates Sesquicentennial

Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding in 1869.  The institution now enrolls 32,132 undergraduate students and another 10,500 graduates students on the main campus and a number of other sites throughout the state.

Visit the 150 Years of Great Leaps page for more information on Purdue's accomplishments over the years and activities planned to commemorate the anniversary.

You can also view "'John Purdue' tells his own story" through the anniversary pages or via YouTube where author and historian John Norberg provides a first-person account of Purdue's life and the early years of Purdue University.

Two sesquicentennial books are also available.  Ever True: Celebrating the First 150 Years of Purdue University written by John Norberg "...captures the essence of this great university...to delve into the stories of the faculty, alumni, and leaders who make up this remarkable institution’s distinguished history."

The second book, Purdue at 150: A Visual History of Student Life written by David M. Hovde, Adriana Harmeyer, Neal Harmeyer, and Sammie L. Morris "...tells Purdue’s story through rare images, artifacts, and words. Authors culled decades of student papers, from scrapbooks, yearbooks, letters, and newspapers to historical photographs and memorabilia preserved in the Purdue University Libraries Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections."

A previous post on the College History Garden, "Mapping Change on Purdue's West Lafayette Campus," links an interactive map and database that allows users to become familiar with the history of the West Lafayette campus. Users can adjust the slider below the map to see how the campus has changed over the course of the institution's history.