Rare Books & Special Collections
For fully vaccinated Notre Dame faculty, staff, students and visitors, masking is now optional indoors on campus. Those students, faculty, staff and visitors who are not fully vaccinated must wear masks inside campus buildings, including in Rare Books & Special Collections spaces. Anyone who would prefer to wear a mask in any setting is welcome to do so.
The Special Collections reading room is currently open by appointment only, but the exhibit room and reference collection remain open to all during our regular hours (Monday - Friday, 9:30am - 4:30pm).
The University of Notre Dame Special Collections is open to the public and welcomes researchers from both on and off campus. An active program of class visits, exhibitions, and workshops highlight Special Collections' vital role in teaching and research at Notre Dame and beyond.
Our collections offer more than 132,000 volumes of printed books and periodicals and over 6,000 linear feet of non-book materials including manuscripts, printed ephemera, broadsides, prints, posters, numismatics, and philately. Strengths of our holdings include: Catholic studies, Irish studies, Italian literature, Latin American and Iberian history and literature, sports and physical culture, and theology and church history.
Collections
- American Catholic Studies
- Chinese Studies
- English & American Literature
- Fine Presses & Artists' Books
- Irish Studies
- Italian Literature
- Journalism
- Latin American Studies
- Medieval & Renaissance Culture
- Modern European Cultures
- Natural Science, Natural History & Medicine
- Numismatics
- Russian & East European Studies
- Sports Research
- Theology & Church History
- US History & Culture
Formats
About Us
Special Collections Blog
Please visit the Special Collections at Notre Dame blog for highlights from our rich and diverse collections, news about acquisitions, events, and exhibits, information about services we offer, and behind-the-scenes looks at the work of our curators and conservators.
News & Events
Spring Exhibit — The Word throughout Time: The Bible in the Middle Ages and Beyond Digital Exhibit — Paws, Hooves, Fins & Feathers: Animals in Print, 1500-1800 Digital Exhibit — Words on Play: Baseball Literature before 1900 from the Joyce Sports Collection Digital Exhibit — The Power of My Pen to Describe: Ten American Diaries, 1750-1900 Visit the Special Collections blog at sites.nd.edu/rbscHours
- Mon - Fri
- 9:30am - 4:30pm
- Sat - Sun
- CLOSED