About Special Collections

Established in 1982, Special Collections supports and contributes to the learning, teaching, and research of scholars, both within and outside of the University of Northern Colorado community, by providing access to unique primary source materials. Special Collections is divided into two sections, Special Collections and Publication Collections, with holdings ranging from manuscripts and rare books to works of art and audiovisual materials. These holdings provide an excellent resource for researching a wide variety of topics, including student life, regional diversity, history of education, and community history and relations, as well as the work and achievements of UNC alumni and faculty.

If you would like a little help getting started, please visit our Accessing Archives Material page.

• Finding and Accessing Special Collection Material

  Special Collections is divided into two sections, Special Collections and Publication Collections. Finding aids for Special Collections can be searched in our online database, ArchivesSpace. Some materials from the Special Collections have been digitized and are available online through Digital UNC.   

  Publication Collections can be discovered through the UNC Libraries online catalog. 

  Additional resources on how to access and use ArchivesSpace, Digital UNC, and the library catalog can be found on the Accessing Archives Material page.

• Special Collections

  Special Collections encompasses a broad array of documents and records in various formats created by individuals and organizations. Individual collections contain materials that have been gathered on the basis of shared characteristic, such as the same format, subject, author, or simply have been assembled by an individual or organization.

• Publication Collections

  Publication Collections contains several named collections of scarce, valuable, and irreplaceable published material acquired by Archives & Special Collections over the years through donations and transfers from the University Libraries stacks. These include faculty publications and special interest publication collections such as the Connie Willis publication collection and the VIsual Arts of Japan publication collection.

• Donating and Transferring Material

  If you are interested in donating material to Archives & Special Collections, please contact us or visit our Donating and Transferring Material page for more information.