Citadel Alumni Genealogical Research Guide

If you are unable to find what you are looking for online and are considering a visit to The Citadel Archives, we would be happy to help you. The Citadel Archives are open Monday-Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM excluding major holidays. We recommend that you email us at archives@citadel.edu and we will determine the best way to proceed with your request.

As stated in the Starting Your Research section, most simple research requests do not require an in-person visit to The Citadel Archives. If you provide us with the name and/or graduation year of the alumni that you are trying to find, one of our staff members will do a quick search for you. For most alumni, we do not have entire archival collections but we can usually find basic information from that individual's time at The Citadel or if they attended at all. If we do happen to have a larger collection for that individual, we will let you know and you can decide to schedule an appointment or hire an outside researcher.

What material do we have in the archives for genealogical research that is not online?

PRO TIP: We only have the Board of Visitor Meeting Minutes and Official Registers online until 1930. To access later years, please email us at archives@citadel.edu.

The collection that we use most frequently in The Citadel Archives is our collection of yearbooks, known as The Sphinx (or Citadelograph from 1901-1902). The Sphinx was first published in 1900 and has been published every year since except 1944 due to World War II. It is an invaluable resource, especially in the earlier editions, for information on Citadel students and alumni. Here are two examples of senior cadets yearbook pages, one from the 1919 Sphinx of John Thomson Witsell and one from the 1943 Sphinx of Julian John Gayden, Jr.

As you can see, much more information is given than the simple name and photograph in today's yearbooks. For senior cadets in the older editions of The Sphinx, some or all of the following information was given:

• Degree and Area of Study
• Company and Rank
• List of Activities (Clubs, Sports, Etc.)
• Hometown
• Nickname
• Quote
• Short (and Often Humorous) Bio

Unfortunately, this information was only given for senior cadets so if the individual you are looking for attended The Citadel but did not graduate, this information would not be available.

PRO TIP: If you are local or happen to be on campus when The Citadel Archives are closed, we have a complete set of yearbooks for researchers to use in the Daniel Library, which is open evenings and weekends. Please see a staff member at the information desk on the first floor and they would be happy to assist you.

Some of the other materials that we use for genealogical research include:

• The Brigadier - the student newspaper, first published in 1919.
• The Bulletin/Alumni News - publication from The Citadel Alumni Association, first published in 1903.
• Alumni Collections - use the Online Guide to Collections to search our collections.
• Photograph Collection - we have a large collection of photographs relating to The Citadel and its students from the late 1800s - present.

The staff at The Citadel Archives are here to help you with your Citadel genealogical research, whether that is in-person or by email/telephone. Please contact us at archives@citadel.edu for any and all questions and/or requests. We look forward to hearing from you!