Special Collections Library
104 Paterno Library
University Park, PA 16802
814.865.7931
814.863.5318 (Fax)
or your campus library
Special Collections Library
104 Paterno Library
University Park, PA 16802
814.865.7931
814.863.5318 (Fax)
or your campus library
The Special Collections Library contains materials in a variety of formats (textual, cartographic, pictorial, audio-visual, and electronic research materials).
Access to Penn State's archival and manuscript collections, the largest collections within the Special Collections Library, by volume, is through:
Note: Many archives and manuscripts are cataloged at the collection level rather than the item level. Ask the Special Collections Library staff for assistance in locating materials not found in the CAT.
This index of collections available in microforms provides access to over 500 collections of book, journal, manuscript, archive, and oral history collections searchable alphabetically, chronologically, and by subject; the microforms are available in the News and Microforms Library of the Penn State University Libraries.
Collections in other libraries, historical societies, and archives can be located through electronic databases which are available to subscribing libraries, and Penn State-affiliated faculty, staff, and students.
ArchiveGrid
Access to catalog records of archival and manuscript collections in the Research Libraries Group (RLG) database and indexed finding aids from U.S. and international institutions.
ArchivesUSA (Manuscripts)
A directory of archival and manuscript repositories with catalog records submitted to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections and finding aids submitted to the National Inventory of Documentary Sources (on microfiche).
WorldCat (OCLC)
Access to catalog records of archival and manuscript collections in the OCLC database.
Repositories of Primary Resources (University of Idaho)
This site provides links to over 5,300 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary resources for the research scholar; it is the most comprehensive in existence. The site is arranged by geographical area, and includes links to archives and libraries throughout the United States and the world. In addition, there are links to other indices of special collections and archival sites.
Ready, ’Net, Go! Archival Internet Resources
It includes links to master lists of archival Web pages and international archival portals, and direct links to archival search engines for the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order, and collective control; permanent records.
Documents and other materials created or received by a commercial enterprise in the course of operations and preserved for future use.
Documents and other materials created or received by an incorporated commercial enterprise in the course of operations and preserved for future use.
A tool that facilitates discovery of information within a collection of records.
A description of records that gives the repository physical and intellectual control over the materials and that assists users to gain access to and understand the materials.
Finding aid includes a wide range of formats, including card indexes, calendars, guides, inventories, shelf and container lists, and registers. – Finding aid2 is a single document that places the materials in context by consolidating information about the collection, such as acquisition and processing; provenance, including administrative history or biographical note; scope of the collection, including size, subjects, media; organization and arrangement; and an inventory of the series and the folders.
Drafts, notes, worksheets, manuscripts, proofs, and other materials commonly associated with the production of creative works, including fiction, poetry, plays, still or motion pictures, and other works.
Manuscript
Any text in handwriting or typescript (including printed forms completed by hand or typewriter) which may or may not be part of a collection of such texts. Examples of manuscripts are letters, diaries, ledgers, minutes, speeches, marked or corrected galley or page proofs, manuscript books, and legal papers.
The records of a corporate body.
Documents created, acquired, or received by an individual in the course of his or her affairs and preserved in their original order (if such order exists).
Material that contains firsthand accounts of events and that was created contemporaneous to those events or later recalled by an eyewitness.
Primary sources emphasize the lack of intermediaries between the thing or events being studied and reports of those things or events based on the belief that firsthand accounts are more accurate. Examples of primary sources include letters and diaries; government, church, and business records; oral histories; photographs, motion pictures, and videos; maps and land records; and blueprints. Newspaper articles contemporaneous with the events described are traditionally considered primary sources, although the reporter may have compiled the story from witnesses, rather than being an eyewitness. Artifacts and specimens may also be primary evidence if they are the object of study.
Provenance is a fundamental principle of archives, referring to the individual, family, or organization that created or received the items in a collection. The principle of provenance or the respect des fonds dictates that records of different origins (provenance) be kept separate to preserve their context.
A collection of records that share the same provenance and are of a convenient size for administration.
A record group is a hierarchical division that is sometimes equivalent to provenance, representing all the records of an agency and its subordinate divisions. However, the records of a large agency may be broken into several record groups, treating the records of different divisions as separate collections rather than as a series.
[Source: Richard Pearce-Moses, A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005) http://www.archivists.org/glossary/index.asp]
Created by Susan Hamburger, Manuscripts Cataloging Librarian.
Archives and manuscripts are primarily held by the Special Collections Library at University Park. However, other campus libraries are developing archival and manuscript collections with a regional focus.
The Archives consists of the surviving records of a Philadelphia girl's school which began as the Chestnut Street Female Seminary in 1850, and became the Ogontz School for Young Ladies, eventually including instruction from kindergarten to junior college. In 1950, Ogontz’s owner Dr. Abby Sutherland, closed the school and donated the land and buildings to Penn State for what is today the Penn State Abington campus. The collection includes yearbooks and other school publications, scrapbooks, photographs, and memorabilia dating from 1853 to 1950, and also materials relating to the Ogontz White Mountain Camp in Lisbon, New Hampshire.
Behrend Family and Hammermill Paper Company Archives
A gift from Ernst and Mary Behrend’s grandsons will support an intensive effort to preserve, interpret and display historical objects and documents related to the Behrend family, the paper company it founded, and Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, which was established on the grounds of Ernst and Mary’s estate.
Special Collections and Archives
The Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection
Considered the most comprehensive, privately compiled collection of women’s history materials in the United States, consists of literary, graphic, and manuscript materials dealing with the issues and individuals that comprised women’s history from the 15th century to the early 1980s.
In addition to books, pamphlets, and periodicals, the collection contains sheet music, diaries, posters, postcards, photographs, buttons (relating to wars, political campaigns, and social issues), book and magazine illustrations, advertisements, broadsides, business cards, fashion plates, manuscript letters and documents, and more.
The manuscripts, graphic materials, and sheet music portions of the collection have been cataloged, and records giving further information are available in the CAT, the University Libraries’ online catalog, and in OCLC’s WorldCat database. A search for the title, "Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection," will retrieve all of these records.
The Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies Collection
Provides resources for the study of Pennsylvania’s cultural heritage, principally through manuscripts, documents, recordings, and photographs on central Pennsylvania folklore, local history, folk art, and architecture.
