Special Collections & College Archives

Services for Spring 2021

Our reading room will be open by appointment only Monday – Friday, 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM to Lafayette students who have permission to be on campus, faculty, and staff. Consultations with staff will also be available via Zoom or Google Meet during open hours. Please contact us with research questions, concerns, or comments at archives@lafayette.edu.

Non-Lafayette affiliated researchers who would like to access material from Special Collections & College Archives should also contact archives@lafayette.edu.

To our Lafayette faculty, we ask that you please reach out if we may assist with your remote teaching plans. For additional guidance, please email archives@lafayette.edu .

Join our COVID-19: Add to the Archives project by sharing items detailing how the coronavirus has impacted the Lafayette community.

Learn about how the Oberlin Group of Libraries, of which Lafayette is a member, has affirmed a commitment to anti-racist work.

Advanced search

Browse the catalog

Digital Collections

To enhance access to their rich and varied collections, Special Collections & Archives have digitized hundreds of historical photographs, pamphlets, manuscripts, books, and other rare and unique materials. The majority of these collections are freely available online for public access.

Web Exhibits & Resources

Special Collections & College Archives content is available through online exhibits and websites.

Connect with our content.

College Archives Digital Resources

Explore the history of Lafayette College through a variety of online resources.

Rare Books

Lafayette's rare book holdings of some 15,000 volumes include incunabula—among them the magnificent Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493—and other early imprints reflecting the development of printing during the hand-press period (ca. 1450-1800).

Manuscripts, Art & Artifacts

The College houses nearly one hundred manuscript, art, and artifact collections of national scope. Holdings relate to the Marquis de Lafayette; Lafayette College faculty and alumni; and American artists, politicians, and businesses of note.

College Archives

The College Archives documents the history of Lafayette College from its founding in 1824 to the present day by preserving the administrative records, audio visual materials, photographs, and objects associated with the institution.

Queer Archives Project Digital Humanities Site

The QAP digital humanities project is a timeline-based Scalar site shaped around the dynamic interface among oral history interviews, related archival materials and emergent scholarship and research. Structured through themes generated by the oral histories, the digital humanities project offers an innovative, multi-dimensional platform from which to learn about Queer history, conduct scholarship, and share research. Lafayette students are working side by side with faculty, digital scholarship services specialists and archivists to conceptualize, develop and create the site.

Welcome: Queer Past, Queer Futures...

Available for streaming...

Lafayette College Football Films: 1960-62

Exhibits

Aug 14, 2020

Lasting Legacies, Bright Future: Celebrating 50 Years of Coeducation at Lafayette College

As part of the campus-wide celebration of the arrival of women students on September 10, 1970, the College Archives showcases photographs, documents, and…

Lafayette College partners with Archive-It to collect, preserve, and provide access to our institutional web presence through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, a digital archive of the World Wide Web.

Learn more