Parnassus Online

Parnassus, the student yearbook started by Junior Class of Fairmount College in 1902 was published for over 80 years. Volumes generally appeared annually; however as the University grew, the yearbook’s genre became less popular with the student population. After 1986, publication of the Parnassus ceased until 1994 when one final volume was published.

During its years of publication, students’ reflection on campus life, rich textual and visual content, beautiful design, and the inclusion of variety of materials ( academic news, athletics and art events, stories, poetry, photographs, drawing and more) transformed the Parnassus into an encyclopedia of the university’s development from a small liberal arts college to a regional research university. Over 115 years have passed since the publication of the first volume, but Parnassus has not been forgotten. It remains part of Wichita State’s collective cultural memory.

The University Libraries Special Collections & University Archives keeps a complete set of the Parnassus in its collection available for use by historians, Wichita State alumni, and others. Full access to the yearbook, though, has been limited to scholars visiting the library. With proliferation of online archives, the idea of Parnassus Online was born. The University Libraries Technical Services staff digitized the yearbook and published it in SOAR: Shocker Open Access Repository making the Parnassus available for everyone with the Internet access. We hope you enjoy reading Parnassus. Your feedback is welcome; please contact soar@wichita.edu

On the picture: Parnassus Editorial Staff, 1977.

Click on the link to view How to access Parnassus Onlinevideo tutorial.