It is unclear how the whole of the Sewell Photo Collection came to be a part of the Special Collections within the Brown Library. Many of the photos deal with the early history of Abilene Christian University (formerly College), including photos of Jesse P. Sewell (ACU’s first President), faculty, students, sports, and facilities. These photos seem to be the main emphasis of what was the original collection, and are believed to be a part of Jesse P. Sewell’s private collection that was donated to the college. Many of these photos have little to no information available on or connected to them as to who is in them or where they were taken. It also appears that some photos gathered for the Prickly Pear (ACU’s yearbook), were added to the collection as well.
As more photos were being donated to an overall history of ACU through the years, they were added to the Sewell Photo Collection. This has resulted in an eclectic range of photos dealing with Church of Christ buildings from across the United States. Many of these photos can be linked to Jesse P. Sewell, but not all of them have this specific information noted on them.
We are providing you with a downloadable and searchable PDF finding aid below, as well as links to our Flickr site below. If you would like a high-resolution digitized copy of any of these photographs, please contact the Digital Scholarship Center for details and pricing.
Sewell Photo Collection Finding Aid
To view the items in the Sewell Photo Collection, please use the finding aid and then find the photos on Flickr using the “Folder #” given to each item: