The Savitar as Archive: Documenting a Century of Student Culture at MU
On the ground level of the MU Student Center, visitors can now explore an exhibition that brings renewed attention to one of the University of Missouri’s most significant yet often overlooked historical resources: The Savitar . As MU’s yearbook from 1894 to 2005, The Savitar documented generations of student life, campus culture, and institutional change. For decades, it served as the visual and textual archive upon which many of our past exhibitions, research projects, and interpretive narratives have relied. Panoramic view on the left Panoramic view on the right The name “Savitar” derives from Hindu religious texts and serves as an epithet for the Vedic solar deity Surya. In the Rig Veda , the earliest extant collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, Savitar is described as a life-giving force and an all-seeing witness capable of discerning the moral actions of humankind. As a divine figure associated with vitality, observation, and judgment, Savitar provides a s...