What Special Collections Does Lippincott Library Hold?

I still remember the first time I wandered into the Lippincott Library and felt like I’d found a secret treasure trove. From my visits, their special collections lean heavily toward rare and unique primary-source materials: rare books and early printed volumes, manuscript collections from local figures and families, archives documenting institutional history, and lots of photograph and map collections. There are also items like artists’ books, broadsides, and ephemera that you don’t usually see on regular shelves.

What I appreciated most was how those collections support all sorts of projects — I once spent an afternoon poring over a set of 19th-century city maps and a small archive of letters that made a research paper come alive. The library provides reading-room access for fragile items, digitized copies of selected materials, finding aids to trace fonds and series, and staff who help with permissions and reproduction requests. If you’re planning a visit, I’d say browse the online catalog first and email the special collections staff so they can pull things for your session.

Being the sort of person who loves poking through archival boxes, I’ve spent several afternoons at Lippincott exploring a range of special collections. There are traditional rare-book holdings — first editions, limited runs, and bookplates — along with manuscript collections covering personal correspondence, organizational records, and diaries. Visual collections are also strong: photograph albums, negatives, prints, and sometimes architectural drawings or plans. I’ve also seen newspapers on microfilm, audio-visual recordings, and a variety of printed ephemera that trace cultural life over decades.

What makes these holdings useful is the infrastructure around them: detailed finding aids, digitized selections you can access remotely, exhibit programs that spotlight materials, and usually a process for requesting reproductions or research scans. If you’re working on historical research, genealogy, or even creative projects, these collections can be gold. I always recommend contacting staff ahead of time to confirm reading-room hours and any ID or handling requirements — it saves time and helps you get the most out of your visit.

Short and practical: Lippincott’s special collections typically include rare books, manuscript archives, local history documents, photographs, maps, and various ephemera like posters and pamphlets. They often maintain university or organizational records and sometimes unique art or artist-book holdings. Access usually happens in a supervised reading room, and many items are listed in online finding aids or have been digitized for remote consultation. If you want something specific, drop the special collections team an email with as much detail as you can — they’re friendly and can point you to digitized copies or pull material for an in-person session.

Honestly, I get a little giddy thinking about Lippincott’s special holdings. In my experience, they typically include manuscript papers (personal and organizational), rare printed books, local and regional history archives, pictorial collections like photographs and postcards, and cartographic materials such as old maps and atlases. They often hold subject-focused collections too — for example, materials tied to specific academic departments, notable alumni, or regional cultural heritage.

I found a tiny pamphlet once that wasn’t cataloged in the public stacks; it was filed in an ephemera box and ended up informing a blog post I wrote. Practical tip: use the library’s finding aids and, when possible, request items ahead of time. Handling protocols are stricter for these collections, but the payoff is huge if you enjoy digging into primary sources.