American Veterinary Medical History Society
VETERINARY COLLEGE CLASS COMPOSITES
Traditionally, veterinary colleges in the United States, both past and present, have compiled a composite of photographed portraits of each year’s graduating class of veterinary students. In addition to visualization of the annual class as a whole, these composites are helpful for documenting and identifying individual graduate veterinarians and thus are useful for genealogical and historical research purposes.
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SOURCES
There is no single source for locating these class composites. For existing state-funded and private universities, It is necessary to contact the individual institution. This could include a dean’s or alumni affairs office for recent composites or university libraries and archives for early graduates.
For the early private schools no longer in operation, many of the class composites have unfortunately been lost along with various veterinary publications and ephemera.* For most of these schools, few printed originals are available in institutional archival collections or have been scanned for online access. Yet, some may be held in undetermined private collections of veterinary memorabilia.
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*Boyd CT. The lost history of American veterinary medicine: the need for preservation. J Med Libr Assoc. 2011 Jan;99(1):8-14. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.99.1.004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3016659/
DONATIONS FOR PRESERVATION
The Society continues to seek sources of class composites, especially for the early schools now closed. AVMHS accepts donations of original print copies and scanned image files (300 dpi minimum) and will help to identify a suitable repository for purposes of retention, preservation, and public accessibility.
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Veterinary College CLASS COMPOSITES (Rev. October 27, 2024)
To view images: Click on underlined year range or individual year
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
Auburn, Alabama
Founded: 1907
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Class composites: 1974 | 1979 | 1984 | 1989 | 1994 | 1999 | 2004 | 2009 | |2014 | 2019
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CHICAGO VETERINARY COLLEGE
Chicago, Illinois
In operation: 1883 - 1920
Number of graduates: 2,387
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Class composites:
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CORNELL UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
(Formerly: New York State Veterinary College)
Ithaca, New York
Founded: 1894
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Class Composites: 1900 - 2024 [in preparation;]
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DVM Student Yearbooks: 1977 - 2019
INDIANA VETERINARY COLLEGE
Indianapolis, Indiana
In operation: 1892 - 1924
Number of graduates: 884
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Class Composites:
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
Ames, Iowa
Founded: 1879
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Class Composites: 1906 - 2024
KANSAS CITY VETERINARY COLLEGE
Kansas City, Missouri
In operation: 1891 - 1918
Number of graduates: 1,789
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Class Composites:
KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
Manhattan, Kansas
Founded: 1905
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Class Composites: 1907 - 2023
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Founded: 1973
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Class Composites: 2020 - 2024
McKILLIP VETERINARY COLLEGE
Chicago, Illinois
In operation: 1892 - 1920
Number of graduates: 1,212
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Class Composites:
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
Raleigh, North Carolina
Founded: 1982
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Class Composites: 1985 - 2021
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine
West Lafayette, Indiana
Founded: 1960
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Class Composites: 1963 - 2023
ST. JOSEPH VETERINARY COLLEGE
St, Joseph, Missouri
In operation: 1905 - 1923
Number of graduates: 421
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Class Composites: 1913 | 1917 | 1923
TERRA HAUTE VETERINARY COLLEGE
Terra Haute, Indiana
In operation: 1909 - 1918
Number of graduates: 145
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Class Composites:
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
College Station, Texas
Founded: 1916
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Class Composites: 1920 - 2023
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
College of Veterinary Medicine
Gainesville, Florida
Founded: 1976
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Class Composites: 1980 - 2025
UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH
Ontario Veterinary College
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Founded: 1862
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Class Composites: Held in C.A.V. Barker Collection, Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
School of Veterinary Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Founded: 1884
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Class Composites:
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Veterinary Record and The Scalpel class yearbook: 1906 - 2014 (selected)
VIRGINIA TECH
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
Blacksburg, Virginia
Founded: 1978
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Class Composites: 1984 - 2024