Special Collections

Special Collections at Middlebury College serves as a research laboratory for students, faculty, administration, staff, alumni, the Middlebury community, and independent scholars.

Five collections housed in one location on the lower level of the Main Library comprise Special Collections. These significant collections are the Julian W. Abernethy Collection of American Literature, the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the rare books and manuscripts component of the Vermont Collection. The Middlebury College Archives also find a home in Special Collections.

Since 2004, Special Collections has undertaken major digitization initiatives. These efforts include the ongoing building and maintenance of a large archive of Special Collections and College Archives materials in digital format, as well as the creation of online exhibits and digital projects. Middlebury students and faculty have participated actively in the building of these collections as part of academic classes, individual research, and student employment.

Special Collections offers a climate-controlled environment in which rare, fragile, and/or valuable materials are housed in closed stacks, with the exception of circulating portions of the Vermont Collection located adjacent to Special Collections on the Lower Level. Materials are retrieved by staff for researchers' use in the Reading Room.

The collection development policy is curriculum-driven with the intention of building collections for research and teaching use by undergraduates, faculty, and the Summer Language Schools. Special Collections offers research instruction in primary source materials and welcomes class visits, individual researchers, and frequently serves as the classroom/laboratory for semester-long and Winter Term classes.

For detailed collection development guidelines and policies and procedures for handling Special Collections materials, please see this page.