LCC Archives

The LCC Archives is the official repository responsible for collecting, preserving, and providing access to materials related to LCC that have enduring historical value.  Read the LCC Archives Collection Statement to learn more.

The LCC Archives is not yet open to the public, but research requests can be emailed to LCC-Archives@lcc.edu.  You can also search the LCC Archives online catalog.  Please note that the catalog is a work in progress, and some collections are minimally described or not yet cataloged at all.

There are other resources for learning about LCC's history. Find out what resources about LCC history are currently available.

Materials in the Archives

• Bound volumes of the Lookout student newspaper from 1968-1993
• Over 6,000 digital images
• 30 scrapbooks of newspaper clippings about LCC, International Programs and Student Clubs
• 320 boxes
• 40 flat file drawers with over 200 oversized items

Unsolved Mysteries of the LCC Archives

Each week a different image from the LCC Archives is featured in The Star employee newsletter along with a request for readers to send in any information they have about the image. As responses about these images are received they are collected in order to gather more information about the history of LCC.

Thanks to the efforts of LCC employees, past and present, some of the mysteries in the LCC Archives are being solved. Visit the Solved Mysteries page to see the images along with the information collected.

Location

The LCC Archives' storage space is currently located in the basement of the administration building.

Resources About LCC

• About LCC
• About LCC - History and Vision
• Course Catalogs (1957-present)
• Arts & Sciences Wall Image Catalog
• Campus Art Catalogs
• The Great State of Michigan: A Collection of Photographs of Michigan (displayed at LCC)
• A College for All Seasons: A History of Lansing Community College 1957-1987
• LCC Library History
• Prism: A Scholarly Compilation from the Arts and Sciences Division
• Washington Square Review

About the Archives

In February 2017, the Records Information Specialist, Linnea Knapp, was contacted by LCC Library staff to discuss a collection of digital images of LCC. During that same discussion the Library staff mentioned a group of boxes that had been inventoried by a former library staff member in the 1990s. These boxes had originally been located in the Old Central Building, but at the time of the discussion they were located in the basement of the Administration Building.

After some further research into both collections, Linnea recognized the need to create an official archives repository at LCC as soon as possible in order to halt any further deterioration of the historical materials and to make materials accessible to the community.

In June 2017, an LCC Archives Proposal was presented to LCC's Executive Leadership Team, gaining their support. Linnea then met with staff in Facilities and the Library to discuss options for space. While a solution for the appropriate space for a reading room, exhibit area and additional storage was not immediately available, space in the basement of the Administration Building was outfitted to work as a temporary location.

Beginning in 2017 and through the end of 2018 work was done to make the basement space into an appropriate storage environment for the LCC Archives materials. This included adding better shelving for storing archival materials, adding water detection sensors, updating the lighting, and installing an environmental monitoring system to collect environmental data from within the space.

In addition to the changes done in the space to make it a better storage environment, changes were made to help with the processing of materials. A dedicated laptop was added to the space along with a large flat-bed scanner. In early 2019, a steel work table was commissioned for the space and made by employees in the Welding Technologies and Manufacturing Engineering Technologies programs at LCC’s West Campus.

In November 2023, the College hired Bob Garrett as the College Archivist. While discussions about appropriate spaces for a reading room, exhibit area and additional storage continue, Bob will move the LCC Archives forward to collect, preserve and share the history of LCC.