Library: Archives & Special Collections: Creative Studies Collections

Collection Subject: Creative Studies Collections

Alex Osborn Creative Studies Collection [1951-2003; bulk 1951-1965] Alexander Faickney Osborn was born in the Bronx, New York, on May 24, 1888. He attended Hamilton College where he was awarded Ph.B. and Ph.M. degrees in 1909 and 1921 respectively. Osborn’s career began with positions in newspaper reporting at the Buffalo Times and Buffalo Express; the assistant secretary for the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce; sales manager of the Hard Manufacturing Co.; and began his renowned advertising career with the E. P. Remington agency of Buffalo. He served as a council member for the University of Buffalo from 1951-1959, and founded the Creative Education Foundation in 1954 study what he coined “deliberate creativity.” Osborn was heavily involved with SUNY Buffalo State and helped found, what is now, The International Center for Studies in Creativity, the first program in the world to offer a Master of Science in Creative Studies. Alexander Osborn died of cancer in Roswell Park Memorial Institute on May 5, 1966, at the age of 77.
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Courier-Express Newspaper Collections [1926-1982] The Courier-Express newspaper was born in 1926, with the merger of the Buffalo Courier and the Buffalo Express to form the Buffalo Courier-Express. William J. Conners, owner of the Buffalo Courier, was the person instrumental in bringing the two papers together. During the 19th century numerous newspapers existed. The Buffalo Courier-Express merger can trace its roots back to 1828. From 1828 to 1926, twelve separate newspapers merged during those years, ending with the formation of the Buffalo Courier-Express; quite a chronology for the history of this newspaper. The Courier and then the Courier-Express took a liberal position on all issues. In the late 1970s, the Courier-Express was sold to Cowles-Media, an out of state publisher. Cowles Media decided to close the paper in 1982. The September 19, 1982 issue was the last one for this very popular Buffalo newspaper. Cowles Media donated the library to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and Buffalo State College.
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Creative Education Foundation [1915-2007, bulk 1950-1980] Founded in 1954, the Creative Education Foundation is the recognized world leader in Applied Imagination. Alex Osborn, an adman and educator, not only founded CEF, but also invented brainstorming and co-founded the ad firm, BBDO. His classic book, Applied Imagination, continues to inspire the work of CEF. Along with Sidney Parnes, Osborn developed the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving process. For more than 50 years, CEF has been teaching adults and children in organizations, schools and communities how to use this proven process to develop new ideas, solve problems and implement solutions. -taken from Creative Education Foundation, A History of CEF,
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Creative Studies: Assorted Donor Collections
Guilford Microfilm Collection
John C. Gowan Collection [1949-1986] John Curtis Gowan was born May 21, 1912 in Boston, Massachusetts. Graduating from Thayer Academy, Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1929, John Gowan was only 17 when he entered Harvard University, earning his undergraduate degree four years later. A master's degree in mathematics followed; he then moved to Culver, Indiana, where he was employed as a counselor and mathematics teacher at Culver Military Academy from 1941 to 1952. Earning a doctorate from UCLA, he became a member of the founding faculty at the California State University at Northridge, where he taught as a professor of Educational Psychology from 1953 until 1975, when he retired with emeritus status. Dr. Gowan became interested in gifted children after the Russians gained superiority in space with the 1957 launch of Sputnik. He formed the National Association for Gifted Children the following year. He was the group's executive director and president from 1975 to 1979 and over the years wrote more than 100 articles and fourteen books on gifted children, teacher evaluation, child development, and creativity.
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SUNY Buffalo State Photograph Collection [1871-2009] The collection spans from 1871-2009 and is subdivided into: Activities & Events; Sports; Buffalo & the Surrounding Community; Campus Buildings; Organizations; Departments; Faculty; Students. The collection is exceptionally robust and contains approximately 8,000 print images spanning all areas of student life, from dorm construction in the 1940s to dance marathon costume parties held in the mid-1980s.

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Contact an Archivist

Daniel DiLandro, MLS, CA
College Archivist & Special Collections Librarian
Email: dilanddm@buffalostate.edu
Phone: 716-878-6308

Hope Dunbar, MLIS, JD
Special Collections Archivist
Email: dunbarhm@buffalostate.edu
Phone: 716-878-4790