The collection is organized into 15 series, arranged by material type: black and white photographs, color photographs, black and white photographs (conservation concerns), early photographic processes, collections, alphabetized series photographs, contact sheets, historic series A-K photographs and negatives, alphabetized series negatives, negatives 1950-1997, negatives 1972-1999, glass plate negatives, slides, log books, and restricted.
Series 1, black and white photographs, contains gelatin silver prints. Series 2 contains color photographs and “black and white” color processing. Series 3 contains gelatin silver prints with conservation concerns, such as residual fixer or incomplete processing. Early photographic processes or series 4 is comprised of photographs on mounts, as well as platinum, albumen, matte collodion, gelatin POP and collodion POP prints. Series 5 is where complete and separate collections within the USD Photograph Collection are held. Many of these collections were donated to the Archives and Special Collections or were created by the university for special events or exhibitions. Series 6 and 9 (alphabetized series photographs and alphabetized series negatives) are arranged as they came from USD Marketing and University Relations. Each subseries A-D includes an alphabetical listing of portraits, and each subseries was created during a specific time period: subseries A (1950s-1960s); subseries B (1964); subseries C (1970s-1980s); subseries D (1990s). Series 7 contains contact or proof sheets which correspond with negatives found in series 10 and series 11. (Not all negatives are represented with a corresponding contact sheet.) Contact sheets are arranged by number and not by series. Series 8 is a collection of negatives created by either Marketing, campus photographers, or both that were removed from series 10 and series 11 to create a ready reference file or collection of historic images. There are gelatin silver prints for many of the negatives contained in the series. Series 10 holds negatives from 1950 to 1997. Series 11 continues series 10, with some overlap, for the years 1972-1999. The negatives in series 10 are predominantly large format 4x5 inch negatives and medium format negatives. Most negatives found in series 11 are 35mm. Series 12 contains the glass plate negatives from the collection, which are arranged first by size and then by subject. Series 13 holds the 35mm slides of the collection, primarily Ektachrome and Kodachrome. The original log books created by the campus photographers are in series 14. The log books register a negative number, a brief note or description, and corresponding date/s for each negative or roll of film. Series 15 is a closed collection.
Series 1: Black and white photographs
Subseries 1: Academics
Subseries 2: Alumni
Subseries 3: Athletics
Subseries 4: Buildings/Campus views
Subseries 5: Events
Subseries 6: Offices/Programs
Subseries 7: Organizations/Activities
Subseries 8: Presidents
Subseries 9: South Dakota
Subseries 10: Students
Subseries 11: Unidentified
Subseries 12: USD Foundation
Subseries 13: Vermillion
Subseries 14: Oversize
Series 2: Color photographs
Subseries 1: Academics
Subseries 2: Alumni
Subseries 3: Athletics
Subseries 4: Buildings/Campus views
Subseries 5: Events
Subseries 6: Offices/Programs
Subseries 7: Organizations/Activities
Subseries 8: Presidents
Subseries 9: South Dakota
Subseries 10: Students
Subseries 11: USD Foundation
Subseries 12: Vermillion
Subseries 13: Oversize
Series 3: Black and white photographs, conservation concerns (in processing)
Series 4: Early photographic processes (1880-1939)
Subseries 1: Academics
Subseries 2: Alumni
Subseries 3: Athletics
Subseries 4: Buildings/Campus views
Subseries 5: Events
Subseries 6: Offices/Programs
Subseries 7: Organizations/Activities
Subseries 8: Presidents
Subseries 9: South Dakota
Subseries 10: Students
Subseries 11: Vermillion
Subseries 12: Oversize
Series 5: Collections
Subseries 1: Gilbertson, Palmer Sigvald collection (1910-1920)
Subseries 2: Lantern slide views of the University of South Dakota (1929-1930)
Subseries 3: Sanford School of Medicine centennial photograph collection (1930-2006)
Subseries 4: University of South Dakota photograph collection; preserving our past in images, 1930-1999
Subseries 5: Mason, Alice Bryden collection (ca. 1916)
Subseries 6: Muench, Franklin Joseph collection (1886-1890)
Subseries 7: Raisch, Josephine Ridlington collection (ca. 1916)
Subseries 8: University of South Dakota – the early years, 1982
Subseries 9: Flagstad, Julius collection (ca. 1920-1926)
Subseries 10: Photograph album pages (1899-1910), source unknown
Subseries 11: Raisch, Josephine Ridlington collection (oversize), (ca. 1916)
Subseries 12: USD college memories album by C. A. Clemens (ca. 1914)
Subseries 13: University of South Dakota – the early years, 1982 (oversize)
Series 6: Alphabetized series photographs
Subseries 1: Alphabetized Series A (1950s-1960s)
Subseries 2: Alphabetized Series B (1964)
Subseries 3: Alphabetized Series C (1970s-1980s)
Subseries 4: Alphabetized Series D (1990s)
Series 7: Contact sheets
Series 8: Historic series A-K photographs and negatives (in processing)
Subseries 1: Historic series A-K photographs
Subseries 2: Historic series A-K negatives
Series 9: Alphabetized series negatives
Subseries 1: Alphabetized Series A (1950s-1960s)
Subseries 2: Alphabetized Series B (1964)
Subseries 3: Alphabetized Series C (1970s-1980s)
Subseries 4: Alphabetized Series D (1990s)
Series 10: Negatives 1950-1997 (in processing, see Series 14 for guide)
Subseries 1: 0-2415
Subseries 2: 2416-3288
Subseries 3: 3289-4131
Subseries 4: 4132-5068
Subseries 5: 5069-6137
Subseries 6: 6138-7769
Subseries 7: 7770-9535
Subseries 8: 9536-10,839
Subseries 9: 10,840-11,772
Subseries 10: 11,773-12,986
Subseries 11: 12,987-13,938
Series 11: Negatives 1972-1999 (in processing, see Series 14 for guide)
Subseries 1: 1-1472
Subseries 2: 1473-2072
Subseries 3: 2073-5049
Subseries 4: 5050-6536
Subseries 5: 6537-7182
Series 12: Glass plate negatives
Subseries 1: Buildings
Subseries 2: Presidents
Subseries 3: Athletics
Subseries 4: Buildings
Subseries 5: Vermillion
Series 13: Slides (in processing)
Series 14: Log books 1950-1999
Subseries 1: 1950-1997 (coincides with Series 10)
Subseries 2: 1972-1999 (coincides with Series 11)
Subseries 3: Preservation photocopies 1950-1997 (coincides with Series 10)
Subseries 4: Preservation photocopies 1972-1999 (coincides with Series 11)
Series 15: Restricted (Series 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 13)
Subseries 1: Series 1 Black and white photographs
Subseries 2: Series 2 Color photographs
Subseries 3: Series 3 Black and white photographs, conservation concerns
Subseries 4: Series 4 Alphabetized series A – D photographs
Subseries 5: Series 9 Alphabetized series A – D negatives
Subseries 6: Series 13 Slides