Archives and Special Collections: About

The Stockton Archives of Cumberland University, located in the Doris & Harry Vise Library, is a closed-stack resource. To submit an Archives research request, please email Davia Sullivan or The Vise Library.

The archives of a university is the institutional memory of that school. This is the guiding principle of the Ernest & Bettye Stockton Archives.

The Ernest & Bettye Stockton Archives was established in 1983 following a grant from the Maclellan Foundation of Chattanooga. The archives honor and is named after the eighteenth president of Cumberland University, Ernest Looney Stockton, Jr., who served from 1958 to 1983, and his wife Bettye Hatfield Stockton. When ground broke for The Doris and Harry Vise Library in 1988, three rooms were built to house the Stockton Archives, where they remain today.

Our collection primarily consists of items relating to Cumberland University, Castle Heights Military Academy, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (1810-1909).  Following in the footsteps of our first full-time University Archivist, Mrs. Sue Lynn Stone McDaniel, we continue to use her established Record Group numbers to categorize and organize our items.

Our main goal is to preserve the rich history found here at Cumberland University and found in the great individuals who have attended or worked upon our campus. We strive to assist with any questions, research inquiries, or requests that our patrons may have. As of 2023, we are working to digitize and create finding aids for our collections, making it easily accessible to both our archival staff and you! While our collection is closed-stack, we encourage and welcome all requests to view our items either through email-attached scans or under an archivist's supervision in-person. 

We appreciate your interest in our archives, and we sincerely hope we can help in any way possible.

As of Summer 2023, we are in the process of accessioning and digitizing parts our collections. Please continue to check back as we upload more material to this website!

Archive requests will be processed in the order in which they were received. Library staff may take up to four weeks to answer requests due to request volume and other job responsibilities. Research material may be scanned and emailed or copied and mailed to requestors.

We accept donations from alumni and current faculty/staff/students. Items must be related to Cumberland University.