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University Organizational History Project

This site includes organizational and historical information about the administrative units of Brigham Young University from the time of its founding in 1903 to the present. This information has been gathered and assembled according to the principles of library authority control, with individual records for each unit determined on the basis of name changes. Current work is focused on academic units within the university, though it is hoped that this will eventually be extended to non-teaching divisions.

Information held in these unit organizational histories includes:

  • Authorized forms of names
  • Variant names
  • Location associations
  • Dates of establishment
  • Dates of abolition
  • Description of functions
  • Administrative structure
  • Administrative histories
  • Relationships with other units
  • Associated archival materials
  • Sources of information

About the Data

Data gathered through this project will be the foundation of standard library and archival authority records, which will be completed as the headings are needed. However, data is not recorded in any of these standards directly.

In accordance with the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules and Resource Description and Access, new records are created as as units change names (see AACR2 24.1C1 and RDA 11.2.2.6). While this does not follow the guidelines in Describing Archives: A Content Standard, it should not prevent encoding in Encoded Archival Context (EAC) if that is desired.

The content template and instructions are available, as well as a visual diagram of the university structure.

About the Project

This research project has been undertaken with the assistance of a grant from the Harold B. Lee Library's Creative Works Committee, direct library funding, and with the assistance of the University Archives.

If any information found in the records is in error, please contact the site administrator, Cory Nimer, at cory_nimer@byu.edu.