In an effort to fully document the history of student life at Middle Tennessee State University the Gore Center is reaching out to student organizations.  Involvement on campus is an important aspect of the college experience and the Gore Center would like to document this aspect of student's experiences at MTSU.

For example, the earliest organizations on campus were the Dromgoole and the Claxton Literary Societies.  The Gore Center has photographs of each of these organizations.  It is documented that the organizations were named for local writers and that the groups went on social outings together.  But was the purpose of the organizations purely social?  Did the Dromgooles and the Claxtons have heated discussions about literature?  How did membership in the Dromgoole and Claxton Literary Societies reflect certain beliefs, values, or attitudes of college students in the early twentieth century.

Since the demise of the literary societies, MTSU has become home to a diverse mixture of organizations.  From the development of Greek sororities and fraternities on campus in the 1960s to the Scribbling Mob, a present day feminist version of a literary society, understanding student organizations is an important part of understanding MTSU students.  Photos, meeting minutes, scrapbooks, programs, membership lists provide privileged insight into student organizations that could be valuable to future researchers.  The Gore Center hopes to receive documents such as these from student organizations that will then be organized as a part of the MTSU Student Life Collections.

The Gore Center welcomes donations from MTSU alumni.