Special Collections
Special Collections Hours
Fall & Spring Terms
| Monday - Friday | 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. |
| Thursday extended hours | 1 p.m. - 8 p.m. |
By appointment: Intersession, Summer Term, Winter Term and other hours
Contact:
Phone: (410)-455-2353
Email: speccoll@umbc.edu
Collections
For more information about the collections we hold, including highlights of the Photography Collections, Center for Biological Sciences Archives (CBSA), Azriel Rosenfeld Science Fiction Research Collection, Joseph L. Arnold Maryland Collection, and Archives collections, please see our brochure.
What is Special Collections?
The Special Collections Department of the Albin O. Kuhn Library &Gallery collects, houses, preserves, and makes accessible materials that are original, rare, unique, fragile, historical, and archival. Our diverse collections of rare books, photographs, manuscripts, archives and artifacts are available for research use by faculty, students, visiting scholars and the general public. All materials must be viewed on site in the reading room. A knowledgeable staff is available to assist researchers and to retrieve materials for study.Copying services are available. Please see Rights &Reproductions for more information.
Searching for & Finding Special Collections materials
- Books
- Photos, Archives, & Pop Culture
- Digital Images & Documents
Books, and the following other materials can be found using the online Library Catalog (catalogusmai).
Use this catalog to find:
- Photography books & serials (Bafford)
- Science fiction books & serials (Rosenfeld)
- Maryland history & serials (Arnold/Howard)
- Artist books
- Rare books
- Alternative Press Center Collection
- Theses and dissertations
- Archives finding aids
Search for books in the Library's Special Collections
Photos, Archives (see description below), & Pop culture collections can be found using the Special Collections Search
Use this search to find:
- Photographs (including photography collections, portfolios, digital image records, historic equipment, and related archival collections)
- Archives - processed and unprocessed records for:
- UMBC Archives & Records
- Regional Archives, Personal Papers &Literary Manuscripts
- Center for Biological Sciences Archives
- Popular culture materials (including comics, science fiction fanzines and pulps, adventure and detective pulps, radical literature collections)
- Maryland and regional maps
- Artwork and posters
- University publications
Search for Manuscripts, Archives, Images, and more
Enter topic or keywords
Enter topic or keywords
Advanced Search
Online Digital Images & Documents can be found using the Digital Collections Search.
Use this search to find:
- Digital images from our Photography Collection
- Digital images from University Archives
- Electronic theses and dissertations
- The Retriever Weekly
Using Special Collections
Please click on the above link and read before visiting.For policies, usage procedures, and services, watch our video about what to expect when visiting Special Collections.
Watch the Visiting Special Collections video