The archives section of the Special Collections & Archives appraises, collects, organizes and preserves records of historic value created by Ricks College and its successor, BYU-Idaho. This includes both published and unpublished materials concerning the university, papers of the faculty and the permanent records of the colleges and departments that make up the university. We also work with each department on campus in our records retention program.

The archives and its staff are a valuable source for information concerning the historical development of BYU-Idaho. The archives endeavors to help the university meet its goals by providing information that the faculty and staff needs to carry out its duties. In addition, it seeks to aid students and researchers interested in the history of the institution. The archives contain the institutional memory of the university. In a very real sense, it is helping to "preserve the spirit of Ricks" as the transition to BYU-Idaho goes forward.

The Special Collections & Archives collects, arranges and makes available several publications released by Ricks College and now BYU-Idaho.  Also housed in the Archives are a number of other publications put out by various campus entities.

Throughout the years--even before the transition to BYU-Idaho--several campus publications went through many title and format changes and digital copies of each variation can be found on this page.

Under the "Current University" column one will find links to current and updated BYU-Idaho approved publications.  The link leading to the Scroll page provides access to the paper from the year 2000 to present.  The history of change is most apparent in the campus newspaper and its history is as follows:

• The Student Rays were published irregularly from 1905-1933 and was the first campus newspaper.
• The Purple Flash became the new name for the paper and was published from 1934-1937.
• Viking Flashes became the student paper for the brief period of 1937-1938.
• Viking Scroll took over from 1939-1973.
• Scroll dropped the word "Viking" in 1973 and is the present student newspaper available on campus.

 Each of these versions can be found under the "Historical Student Paper" link in the "Historical University" column.

Also available in the "Historical University" column is the Rixida Yearbooks.  Ricks College published these yearbooks from 1917-1999.  In the year 2000, Rixida turned digital and from 2000-2007 the yearbook was handed out on CDs and DVDs.  The yearbook was discontinued after 2007.

In addition to university publications, the Special Collections & Archives is also home to local newspapers of historical interest such as The Rigby Star and The Post Register.  The Post Register is not available digitally, but can be looked at in the Special Collections.

Look for more collections and publications to become available here soon.