Collections : [Wesleyan University -Special Collections and Archives]

The Public Relations Office, which was later called Office of Public Information and Publications, was responsible for communicating news and achievements at Wesleyan University to the local, state, and national media. This office was later folded into the University Relations department.

In January 1982, Wesleyan University eliminated their aid-blind admissions policy. In response, students from a group called the April 29th Coalition protested the University's decision. The organization collected 1,284 signatures of students demanding Wesleyan return to an aid-blind system. They also demanded several changes to the financial aid and admissions system. Later in the semester, students held a 150 hour sit-in on the second floor of North College, one hour for each year that the University had existed. Although their primary demand for reestablishing the aid-blind system was not met by the end of the semester, President Colin Campbell wrote a statement that the students' demands would be addressed at the next the Board of Trustees meeting and that reinstituting the former policy would be given the highest priority if and when circumstances permitted.

Arthur Benjamin Calef, Wesleyan class of 1851, served in a variety of governmental positions in Middletown and Middlesex County, Connecticut and in the state as a whole, as well as being a delegate to the National Republican Conventions in 1860 and 1864.

The commencement orations given by 19th century Wesleyan students reflect their studies in classics and their interests in philosophy, literature, and politics.

Dana Plante (1937-1960) graduated in 1959 from Wesleyan University.

Moses Clark White (1819-1900) was a graduate of the Wesleyan University class of 1845. White worked as a preacher, a doctor and a missionary, and lived in Fuh Chau, China, from 1847-1853, returning to live in New Haven, Conn. and practice medicine.

William Phoebus Lyon (1813-1884), was the founder and senior principal of the Irving Institute, a private boarding school for boys in Tarrytown, New York. On August 5, 1840, the honorary degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Wesleyan University. In the summer of 1841, Lyon traveled to Middletown in order to observe the final examinations of the Wesleyan student body.

Howard Fifield Legg (1881-1973), Wesleyan class of 1904, spent his career as a pastor and later a professor.

Phyllis Rose (born 1942) was a professor of English at Wesleyan University from 1969 until her retirement in 2005.

The textile collection contains shirts, hats, commencement robes, sweaters, uniforms, and other apparel related to Wesleyan University.