Archives & Distinctive Collections

The mission of Archives & Distinctive Collections at the College of the Holy Cross is to collect, preserve, and provide access to a wide variety of materials represented in the College Archives, Rare Books Collections, Special Collections, and Digital Scholarship. The Archives & Distinctive Collections department works to engage with the entire Holy Cross community and affiliated researchers through the shared goal of preserving the College's history, fostering a scholarly research environment, and acquiring items reflective of our diverse academic community. We seek to make these materials as accessible as possible through an active instruction program, scholarly collaborations, robust online repositories, digitization and exhibitions.

Archives & Distinctive Collections seeks to be an engaged member in support of the academic mission of the College by playing a distinctive role in supporting a broad research community. We seek to build collections that are wholly representative of the Holy Cross community, in addition to unique collecting areas not well covered by other existing repositories. Our mission to acquire and preserve materials in a variety of formats is coupled with a commitment to outreach and access in order to engage and collaborate with faculty, students, and campus offices in new and innovative uses of our collections to highlight history, strengthen scholarship and build new digital projects.

We are located on the third floor of Dinand Library. The elevator is located to the left of the stairs. Campus maps and directions may be found here.

Hours

Appointments

Appointments are encouraged but not required during our open hours. Morning hours are available by appointment only.  Appointments may be requested by emailing archives@holycross.edu with at least 24 hours in advance. Please include information about the materials you wish to use in your email. It is highly recommended that non-campus researchers make an appointment before visiting because hours may be altered due to class instruction, events or other circumstances.