Preserving the past, informing the future

Chloe Kie is the official archivist for CCAD. She works out of the Packard Library, where she organizes the college’s archive materials and shares stories about CCAD’s history. As we celebrate CCAD’s 140th anniversary, we caught up with her recently to talk about some of her favorite things.

Tell us about the CCAD Archive.

We’ve been collecting memorabilia from the very beginning, but the archive has become more formalized in the past few years. We have items dating back to the late 1800s—a lot of old yearbooks, newspaper clippings about the institution or alumni, old films, lots of awards, graduation hats and robes. Items have been donated from alumni, retiring professors, or family members of people who may have passed away.

What are some of the weirdest things in the archives?

We have an old ashtray with our CCAD logo from the late ’70s, which is interesting. Obviously, smoking is not something we promote today, but that was a different time. One of my favorite things is a miniature watercolor set with our logo on the front. We gave them out as freebies during our 100-year anniversary.

Do you have a “white whale” for the archive—something you’re looking for but don’t yet have?

CCAD was founded in the late 1800s by a group of five women, and we have individual photos but don’t have any photographs of those five women together in a group.

The archive is open to the public during normal library hours. Have something you’d like to donate to the archives? Email CCAD_archives@ccad.edu.