Overview
Lafayette College Special Collections & College Archives (SCCA) develops archival and rare book collections for use by all researchers. The department houses over 200 manuscript, art, and artifact collections of national and global scope; over 20,000 rare book titles, including incunabula and other early imprints reflecting the development of printing; and the history of Lafayette College from its conception by the citizens of Easton in 1824 to the present day.
This page offers an overview of the considerations guiding our collection development decisions. SCCA will periodically review and update collection development practices to ensure responsible stewardship and alignment with the College’s and Libraries’ priorities and the current curriculum of the College.
Our guiding principles include access, inclusion, and preservation. To that end, SCCA supports the free exchange of ideas and information by promoting the widest possible access to our collections, regardless of educational background or research interest. We select materials so that communities may see themselves in the past by engaging with evidence found in archives and rare books. We are deliberate in collecting multi-voiced, inclusive perspectives, thereby expanding the voices and experiences in our holdings. We practice responsible stewardship by ensuring that SCCA maintains the resources to indefinitely preserve both physical and digital materials already in our care. We make thoughtful decisions about the addition of new materials while taking into consideration the impact of collection growth on our existing storage areas.
Mission:
The Libraries empower students, faculty, staff, and the broader community to engage critically with information. We support the creation of scholarship by curating resources; teaching the concepts and tools needed to find, evaluate, create, and use information; and fostering a cross-disciplinary community of scholars and creators within our space.
Values:
As part of the Lafayette Libraries, SCCA is committed to:
- Ensuring equity of access to information
- Supporting initiatives that make information more open and affordable
- Creating spaces and collections, and implementing services, that are inclusive and welcoming to all
- Representing the diversity of our campus, local, and regional communities
- Ensuring the preservation of the historical record of the College
- Contributing to the preservation of the cultural record beyond the College
- Teaching students to be independent and critical researchers and thinkers
- Strengthening collaborative models of working with faculty and staff
- Demonstrating a strong service ethic in all of our interactions with library users
- Protecting the privacy of our users, including their right to use digital information without their personal information being shared, exposed or commoditized
Current collection areas:
- Material by or about the Marquis de Lafayette
- Lafayette College alumni and faculty
- American artists, politicians, and government officials
- Businesses of note
- East Asian pictorial works
Active and desirable collecting areas:
- Papers and records containing information about life, work, business operations, culture, the arts, and politics, including:
- Diaries, journals, and record books
- Correspondence
- Memoirs
- Scrapbooks
- Vernacular photograph albums or image collections (particularly from outside of the U.S.)
- Original and unique audio visual recordings
- Any of the above focusing on underrepresented populations in our collections
Materials not accepted for Manuscript, Art, and Artifacts collections:
- Widely-distributed audio and video recordings
- Clippings from or copies of newspapers, magazines, and academic journals
- Reproductions of materials from other archives
- Third-party medical records
- Materials without clear title
Current collection areas:
- Incunabula and other early imprints reflecting the development of printing during the hand-press period (ca. 1450-1800)
- Artist’s books
- Abolition and slavery
- Books and other publications related to the Marquis de Lafayette
- Angling
- Cookbooks and food pamphlets
- Miniature books
- First editions of modern literary and immigration experience titles
- Illustrators Howard Chandler Christy, Arthur Rackham, and Ludwig Bemelmans
Active and desirable collecting areas:
- Early African American writers (ex: Phillis Wheatley)
- Historical cookbooks with a focus on Latin America
- Women in STEM
- Early Pennsylvania German-language printing
- Children’s illustrated books
The Rare Book Collection does not accept:
- Duplicates of materials already held
- Widely-available publications
- Publications that do not align with the current curriculum of the College
- Textbooks
- Family bibles
- Materials without clear title
COLLEGE ARCHIVES
The College Archives documents the history of Lafayette College from its conception by the citizens of Easton in 1824 to the present day by collecting materials relating to the life of the College, its faculty, students, alumni, and staff. Administrative records, audio visual materials, photographs, and objects offering evidence about the operation of the College in the performance of its educational functions are preserved, as well as information about people, activities and events associated with the College. Record groups include: Board of Trustees, President’s Office, Provost and Academic Deans Offices, Dean of Students, Development and Alumni Engagement, Fiscal Affairs, Facilities, Student Activities, Auxiliary Services, Human Resources, and Communications.
Through these record groups, the College Archives traditionally documented white, heteronormative perspectives, policies, teaching, and activities. The College Archives recognizes the gaps this institutional collection strategy produced, and is actively engaged in collecting stories and experiences of non-binary genders and sexualities, persons of color at Lafayette, and underrepresented student groups. To this end, the College Archives seeks co-curricular, non-official materials developed/created by students and alumni of the College.
To discuss the transfer of historic, inactive records to the College Archives, please contact archives@lafayette.edu.
Desirable collecting areas:
- Letters and scrapbooks created as a student
- Memorabilia/ephemera related to the Lafayette student experience
- Photographs, posters, and fliers of co-curricular activities
- Student organization and club agendas, meeting minutes, and reports
Materials not accepted by the College Archives:
- Duplicates of existing holdings, including:
- Melange yearbooks
- Lafayette newspaper issues
- Alumni Magazine issues
- Lafayette College commemorative plate collections
- Lafayette-related clothing, uniforms, and accessories in poor condition (holes, moths, mold, stains) or already represented in our collections.
- Local or national newspaper/magazines (clippings or intact)
- Hard copy student theses (submission of electronic student honors theses is available via the Lafayette Digital Repository)
Guidelines for potential and current donors
Before sending materials to SCCA, donors and sellers should contact archives@lafayette.edu.
Gifts/Donations:
A deed of gift includes the following:
- Title transfer of the materials from the donor to Lafayette College
- Statements determining the management of the materials, copyright, access, deaccessioning, and electronic records (if applicable)
- Statement regarding digitization and online availability of materials
- A sample deed of gift is available here.
Purchases:
For direct sales from booksellers, the invoice serves as documentation of legal transfer of ownership to the College.
A sale agreement will be negotiated for archival collections that outlines the following:
- Title transfer
- Sale price and payment method
- Determination or transfer of copyright
- Conditions governing access
- Method of transfer of the materials
- General terms and conditions
Digitization:
The Lafayette Libraries provide on-demand and strategic digitization projects to make materials more accessible to researchers. Any materials that are digitized are likely to be made accessible online, unless otherwise restricted. Entire collection digitization is rare because of the resources required to do so outside of our normal operating budget. Decisions regarding digitization projects will be made on a case by case basis and in consultation with the Lafayette Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Services department.
Taxes and Financial Appraisal: