Special Collections

More than 43,000 items are available for research, creative and academic projects in our Special Collections, housed in the Zhang Legacy Collections Center. The groupings below and related pages in this section highlight a small part of our Special Collections.

Find these items and many more through Library Search.

Collections

  • Facsimiles of medieval manuscripts, codices and manuscript leaves, examples of early printed works, and a wide range of secondary sources.

    Medieval studies and early modern

  • Personal and scholarly papers, limited-edition books with annotations and inscriptions and other specialized collections.

    19th and 20th century

  • Historical examples of books by and for women, artists’ books created by women and collections of poetry by American women.

    Women's poetry

  • The history of book arts and graphic design from papermaking and folding to typography, illustrations and bookbinding.

    Book arts and graphic design

  • More than 3,000 volumes of children’s books including fairy tales, pop-up books, picture books, fables and more.

    Children's literature