Theses and Dissertations

Over 3500 senior honors theses and almost 200 Masters theses are catalogued in LOUIS and can be retrieved and used in the Archives & Special Collections reading room. As of fall 2009, all incoming Masters students in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences will be required to submit their theses in print and electronic format. Print theses will be maintained in the University Archives, while the electronic versions will be deposited in the new Brandeis Institutional Repository. For questions regarding the submission of Masters theses, please contact Helene Greenberg at the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences: hgreenbe@brandeis.edu. Like senior honors theses, Masters theses may be photocopied or downloaded if the author has granted permission in writing.

Dissertations are published by UMI and are available in both print and electronic format. All Brandeis dissertations may be searched in LOUIS, and members of the Brandeis community may access electronic versions directly from the LOUIS catalog or via Dissertations and Theses at Brandeis University, a database available through Brandeis Scholar on the LTS website.  Print copies are housed in the library stacks and may be borrowed by members of the Brandeis community. For outside researchers, UMI makes print copies available for purchase through Amazon.com.

Student Newspapers (The Justice and others)

Brandeis newspapers are available for research in the University Archives. The most popular and longest- running paper is the student publication, The Justice. Newspapers are a terrific resource in many ways. They address events and issues of the day and provide a sense of both the general Zeitgeist and the university’s campus life at a particular point in time. Sometimes The Justice is the only documentation that exists on a particular topic. Chances are, if an event took place at Brandeis, someone either wrote an article or a letter to the editor in The Justice about it.

Other university periodicals in the Archives include: the Turret, the Brandeis Review, the Brandeis Hoot, The Watch, Gravity, the Brandeis Reporter, and the Brandeis University Gazette. We also carry alumni publications, some departmental publications, and publications of literary and visual works.

Yearbooks, Brandeis Bulletins, and Student Handbooks

Not just for alumni! Undergraduates frequently mine these resources for their research projects. They document everything official and not-so-official at Brandeis including: courses, administration, faculty, programs of study, clubs and organizations, campus buildings, university regulations, and even “fight” songs. Like the student newspapers, the yearbooks and handbooks are especially emblematic of the time periods they represent.

Books and Theses on the History of Brandeis

Before you begin a project on the history of Brandeis University, take a look at some important works that preceded you. This approach will save you from researching facts that have already been diligently gathered by others.

Examples of books located in both the main stacks and University Archives include: A Host at Last, by Abram Sachar (1976; 1995 rev. ed.); From the Beginning: A Picture History of the First Four Decades of Brandeis University, edited by Susan Pasternack (1988); Brandeis University: Chapter of its Founding, by Israel Goldstein (1951); and Building a Campus: An Architectural Celebration of Brandeis University's 50th Anniversary, edited by Gerald Bernstein (1999).

Examples of senior honors theses (these require a visit to the Archives) include: The Brandeis Challenge: An History of Brandeis University, by David Alexander (1979); From Haven to ’Host’: the Origins of Brandeis University, by John Gliedman (1988); Now and Then and Inbetween: Stories of Brandeis University (1993); Unlocking Doors to the Past and Future: An Architectural and Social Exploration of the Irving and Edyth Usen Castle, by Amy Debra Finstein (1998); Architecture and Planning at Brandeis University, by Ann Lorenz (1972); and The Architecture of Brandeis University or "How I Spent My Summer Vacation” by Max Abramovitz, by Michael Hauptman (1971).