The Special Collections Department at Parks Library maintains thousands of records. Special Collections has 6,000 linear feet of materials and half-a-million photographs.

As the university archivist, Tyler Walters is the head of managing all of this historical data concerning the state and Iowa State University.

Part of Walters’ job is to ensure that university records are available to people. “Essentially, the job is managing the records of the university. We make sure that they [records] are available for a long period of time.”

Walters said Special Collections works with the various department administrations to determine what material should be preserved.

The university archivist said he was drawn to the field because of his history education. He said he felt a power in helping to determine what was preserved and not preserved. He said he plays a major role in shaping the history of what will be remembered.

The university archives department has a web page located at http://www.lib.iastate.edu/arch/. Walters said the page can help browsers locate information before consulting the Special Collections Department to retrieve it. Walters added that scholars and archivists from others schools contact Special Collections for historical data about Iowa State and Iowa.

The archive pages also provide an interesting history of Iowa State called, “From Prairie to Prominence: A Brief History of Iowa State University.”

Here is an excerpt from Student Life 1869-1890, in “From Prairie to Prominence: A Brief History of Iowa State University.”

“The boys, who resided on the third and fourth floors of Main Hall, communicated with the women of the second floor through a series of taps on the radiators or empty gas pipes. After hearing a specific signal, a note or small gift could be found hanging by a string outside of the girl’s room. Dates were strictly forbidden at this time, but with the approval of the President and the Preceptress, a couple could attend a college function together…”

Walters said the information used for the story was compiled over the years by his predecessors.

Walters, who is originally from southern California, attended college at Northern Illinois University where he received his bachelor’s degree in history in 1985.

From Northern Illinois, Walters moved on to North Carolina University where he received his M.A. in Archival Management in 1988.

Straight from N. C. University, Walters became the assistant university archivist at Northwestern University in Illinois and became the university archivist in 1992.