All A-Twitter in the NU Archives

Type of Article:

News

Brief Description:

NU Archives reaches 1000+ Twitter follwers

Believe it or not, the Northwestern University Archives has participated in the twittersphere--under the nom de tweet “@NUArchives”--since September, 2010. Continuing the tradition of the Archives’ popular “On This Day in NU History” blog, the Archives’ daily tweets highlight an event that occurred on that month and date in NU’s past. Tweetable dates include campus building dedications, NU presidential inaugurations, fraternity installations, theatrical and musical productions, notable visitors—and of course all kinds of Wildcat athletic stats. It’s a lot to cover in 140 characters!

The Archives been pleased to see how many of its postings are re-tweeted, mentioned, and even favorited by a growing number of followers, including students, staff, faculty, alumni, and Wildcats fans of all stripes. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, the tweet of the day was “Aug 15, 2012: NUArchives acquires its 1001st follower! Who knew so many would be interested in a daily dose of NU history! Thanks, all!”

Lo and behold, on August 16, 2012, the number of NUArchives followers had risen to 1,032. They like us!

And in case you wonder what could be so fascinating about the history of an academic institution, the Archives tweet that generated the second-greatest response was this one, posted in 2011: “July 25, 1931: 40 monkeys escape from cages on the 14th flr of NU Med School’s Ward bldg. Library patrons help catch them. Go U, monkeys!”

Is the Archives’ twitter feed more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Find out at http://twitter.com/NUArchives [2]. A note to non-Twitterers: “On this Day” tweets are also posted daily on the Archives’ homepage at http://www.library.northwesten.edu/archives [3].