April 24, 2026

Many libraries have special collections. These are non-circulating, rare or unique items such as manuscripts, photographs and books which are usually linked by topic or theme. Many special collections will be found as part of college or university libraries.

 

Special collections can hold a wealth of information useful to genealogists. Unfortunately, these collections are often underutilized. Genealogists assume that if their ancestors didn’t attend a specific university or were not well-known in an area, there will be nothing of interest to them in the collections.

 

University special collections do tend to focus on items that pertain to the history of the university. Personal papers of well-known alumni are also often found in a university’s special collections.

 

However, there is a lot more to be found in these collections. Some universities are affiliated with a specific religious denomination. For example, Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania holds an extensive collection of Quaker records as part of their special collections.

 

Items such as photographs are also often found in special collections. A friend whose family was from a small town in northern Utah found that the negatives from the only photographer in town had been donated to the University of Utah. She was surprised to find dozens of pictures of her family, most of which she’d never seen, among them.

 

One of my father’s cousins was a professor at the University of Utah. He donated his papers to the university. Most of the papers dealt with his professional career in engineering, but I also found some files listed as “personal papers.” Among them were programs and other papers from family reunions. These included memoirs written by my great-grandparents’ grandchildren.

 

These memoirs described my great grandmother’s favorite flowers and the special Swedish meals she loved to cook for her grandchildren. This great grandmother died before my own father, her grandson, was born, so few memories of her life were passed down. These personal papers from a cousin I never knew gave me insight into my great grandmother I’d never have found elsewhere.

 

Special collections usually have informative websites. Checking these websites for names and topics of interest is not difficult. You may even find that some libraries have digitized parts of their holdings.

 

Special collections might take a little extra effort to access if the information you need is not digitized. Since the collections don’t circulate, you will need to visit in person. Most require an appointment to visit.

 

Special collections are worth exploring. You may find genealogical information that you never even knew existed.

 

 

Carol Stetser

Researcher

Larimer County Genealogical Society