The Loras College Center for Dubuque History (CDH) collects, organizes, preserves, and makes accessible primary and secondary sources related to the history of Dubuque and the surrounding area; provides instruction, research assistance, and experiential learning opportunities to anyone engaged in the study of history; and guides individuals in the exploration of vocations related to archives and public history.
The Center was founded in 1976 to address a need to collect and preserve historical materials and to support the historiography of the area. It started as a small collection of books in the Wahlert Memorial Library on the Loras College Campus with the occasional addition of secondary and primary source materials. In 1983 the College hired a part-time archivist, Michael Gibson, to provide oversite and guidance to the collection. Both the CDH and the Library eventually outgrew the Wahlert building so a new Library was built, this time with a dedicated space for the CDH including a reading room, workroom, and archive. After 37 years of service, Mr. Gibson retired in 2020 and the director position was passed to Heidi Pettitt who continues to grow and care for the collection.
Loras College serves as the home and primary funder of the Center, with additional funding from grants and donations. If you would like to support our mission, please visit alumni.loras.edu/cdh to make a donation.
We also accept physical materials or digital materials related to the history of Dubuque. If you have materials such as photos, postcards, maps, diaries, letters, playbills, or anything that documents the community, please consider donating them to the CDH so we can make them available to future researchers. Donations may be tax deductible; please contact a tax professional for further guidance.
The Loras College Library (Library) and the Center for Dubuque History (CDH) provide access to digital collections to further education and research. Research collections are selected for online access after being reviewed for copyright restrictions, personal privacy, and culturally sensitive information. Where possible we clear rights and attribute rights holders, but due to the nature of archives and special collections this information is not always available. Communication from authors and any rights owners are welcome so that accurate information may be obtained and proper attribution assigned.
Users of the digital collections may:
In any of these cases, users of these collections should send an email to cdh@loras.edu with the following information:
Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, the receipt of the request will be acknowledged, and allegedly infringing materials will be removed from public view while the issues identified in the notice are reviewed.
Upon completion of the assessment, we will take appropriate action and notify you of the outcome. Potential outcomes may include:
Please note, the Library and CDH aim to preserve the historical record; errors present in original items are unlikely to be removed or redacted. Upon reviewing the request, it will be assessed whether context may be added to help create understanding of the historical record. An exception to this rule is if a legal concern is associated with the availability of a record; for instance, if the availability of the material violates copyright, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) the item may be removed. The Library and CDH adhere to applicable state, federal, and international copyright and data protection laws and guidelines.