Thousands of written and visual materials have been produced within and outside Robert College and Boğaziçi University. These are spread around several libraries and archives in the world. This project’s primary concern is to identify and procure a copy of all of these materials:
- Today, the most comprehensive and systematic archives on Robert College are in Columbia University’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, NY. The library contains more than 200,000 written documents and visual materials on Robert College and the American College for Girls, covering the period from the 1850s to the 1980s. Boğaziçi University's application to the Robert College Board of Trustees regarding the purchase of a digital copy of this archive has been accepted, and the protocol was signed on December 20, 2013 for the procurement of a digital copy of all documents up to September 10, 1971 (Boğaziçi University’s founding date) has been made official. With an additional agreement that was signed by Columbia University and Boğaziçi University, all the necessary protocols concerning the acquisition of a copy of this invaluable archive are completed. The digitization of the Robert College archive by the Columbia University Library is expected to be completed within a year.
- The efforts to procure digital copies of a significant number of documents on Robert College contained in the Bulgaria State Archive and the Bulgarian National Library are currently underway. All the necessary permissions have been obtained from the Bulgarian State Archives to acquire digital copies of the documents pertaining to Robert College, whose hundreds of graduates have influenced Bulgaria’s political, economic and intellectual life. The copying process of these documents is currently underway.
- The archival materials on Robert College, the American College for Girls and Boğaziçi University that exist in the Prime Ministry’s Ottoman Archives in Istanbul and the Republican Archives in Ankara have been collected, digitized and classified. 504 folders from the Prime Ministry’s Ottoman Archives in Istanbul and 60 folders from the Republican Archives in Ankara have been acquired.
- Surveying of Newspapers-Journals and the Collection of Secondary Sources: Besides digitization of the archives, news and comments on Robert College published in the national and international media have been surveyed and gathered. At this stage of the project, besides Ottoman (Servet-i Fünun, Asri Türkiye Mecmuası, etc.) and Republican period newspapers (Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, Meydan, Barış, Akşam), the news and comments in international newspapers and journals such as the New York Times and National Geographic have been gathered and digitized. Furthermore, books, memoirs, articles and theses on Robert College, Boğaziçi University and on Ottoman and Turkish History of Education in general are gathered to allow researchers easy access.
- Oral History and Visual Documentation: At future stages of the project, an oral history will be constructed through in-depth interviews with selected faculty members and alumni of Robert College and Boğaziçi University. In efforts to build the institutional memory, oral records of the people who have been a part of this institution are as crucial as any written historical documents. At least some of these interviews are planned to be video recorded so that the institutional and social experiences of the people who have been faculty members and graduates of Robert College and Boğaziçi University will be available to future generations.
- Extracurricular Activities/Club Activities: Activities of student clubs founded at Robert College and Boğaziçi University (Mountaineering, Dance, Literature, Folklore, Fine Arts, Music, Theatre, Underwater Sports, Sports, etc), club periodicals; posters, photographs, video recordings from club archives will be provided.