Wildcat Histories: Archiving University of Kentucky Student Voices

Student life is essential and often overlooked, but it is a vital characteristic of understanding higher education. The Wildcat Histories project is an archival initiative aimed at preserving UK student voices, especially student organizations. 

Student organizations with members who identify as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, international, not Christian, and/or women in male-dominated disciplines are the main target for Wildcat Histories, but all student organizations are welcome. 

This guide provides information on self-archiving your student organization legacy as well as on working with a university archivist.  Your organization deserves to be preserved!

The benefit of archiving your student organization also relates to future generations. New officers and the public have the opportunity to look back and see everything the organization has done. Additionally, if the organization comes to an end, your organization does not lose everything that was worked for. Your efforts are entitled to be preserved in university history. 

Kentucky Kernel, October 12, 2006                                          2000 Kentuckian, Vol. 106

Self-archiving is the practice of organizing and maintaining one’s materials in an accessible manner. The benefit of self-archiving besides organization is that the materials are typically created by the individual/party doing the organization. With this in mind, the individual/party can add important information to the materials including names of people in photographs, context to certain forms or flyers, dates, and/or locations. The type of materials one can self-archive can be physical or digital.

University Archives Outreach Student Assistant Claudia Benito created the "Wildcat Histories" guide in spring semester 2024.