Collections

Under the direction of young faculty director Professor Mark Peterson of BYU’s Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, students journeyed to Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Peterson went on to become a mission president in Korea and spent many years leading study abroad in Korea and creating internships for students there.

One of BYU’s earliest study abroad programs, Semester in Salzburg is highlighted in a lovingly rendered program diary created by program historian Louise Dean. The four faculty directors of the program included Ray Hillam, who later became a BYU Kennedy Center director. The program ran from February to May 1965 and included skiing the alps, seeing the Beatles, and studying behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest and Prague. The collection includes a touching memorial for two students who died during the program.

On 26 April 1977, properties at 27 and 29 Palace Court were purchased and quickly became what is now known as the BYU London Centre, housing one of the most popular and well-known BYU study abroad programs. This collection includes the interiors shortly after the purchase and renovation in some quirky modern styles of the 70s. In addition, the “Now” section of this collection showcases the stunning remodel of 2013–14 as captured by BYU photographer Mark Philbrick. As a side note, BYU purchased the adjacent property, 31 Palace Court in 2019.

This brief snapshot of the London 1984 program, directed by Professors Ray Hillam and Todd Britsch, includes the news of bomb blasts in the Bayswater neighborhood near the BYU London Centre. These bombs were directed at Libyan exiles who were opposed to Qaddafi’s rule.

During the rush to acquire centers across Europe in the 70s, BYU found property just outside of central Vienna in Baden bei Wien. While the exact location of this new Vienna center is now unknown, we can assume it was somewhere near the intersection of Friedrichstrasse and Albrechtsgasse near the Haus am Weberbergl, a property used as a program hotel. This collection walks us through the remodel of the building, with every detail of construction, from the furnace room to the grand piano. In the end, we see it lovingly furnished in the warm tones of mid-century modern. Down the road, BYU left this property for a simpler arrangement for the BYU Vienna study abroad.

In the 1970s, director of BYU Travel Study Robert Taylor, began campaigning for permanent study abroad centers in Europe. The collection Imagining France are photos from various research trips with proposals for potential BYU Centers in France. We look at these and imagine what could-have-been if BYU had purchased one of these historic chateaux.

Did you study abroad in the 80s? Maybe you were taught under the direction of Alan Keele, BYU German professor. This collection takes you on a whirlwind trip from the UK to Bavaria and from Vienna to Berlin. Peer over the Berlin wall into no-man’s-land and East Berlin, and spend some family time with Keele as you journey across Europe.

Professor C. Garn Coombs directed the London Centre study abroad from January to June 1980. At that time, study abroad in London also included a grand tour of Europe, Moscow, and Israel. This collection from Coombs’ personal scrapbook includes travel memorabilia from the program, as well as a detailed itinerary, and directory of faculty and students who participated.

The year just after Franco’s death in Spain, BYU faculty Joseph O. Baker led the Madrid study abroad group, January–June 1976. For many years in the 70s, BYU study abroad groups rotated between BYU centers in Paris, London, Vienna, and Madrid, seeing much of Europe along the way. This collection of slides show us a side trip to Morocco, elections in Portugal, and insights on a post-Franco Spain. “Come and strengthen the people of the world,” a slogan at a communist Hungarian parade on one slide is not that dissimilar from our BYU call to “go forth to serve.” The collection includes a traditional BYU group shot at Hotel Zieglau Salzburg.