Welcome! This guide provides an introduction to the Hood College Archives and Special Collections, for students and potential donors. The guide will acquaint you with:
Almost all colleges and universities have an archives and special collections department and these departments are most often located inside college or university libraries.
Special collections usually refer to book collections of materials that are not easily replaced. The books may be rare copies, they may highlight historical topics of special interest to the institution, or they may be otherwise meaningful to the institution.
College and university archives vary greatly amongst institutions. They may be small or very large, in both collection sizes and staffing. Often, they provide some collections online, as full-text or through finding aids, but usually only a fraction of an institution's materials is digital and accessible online.
If you are researching a topic and need primary sources, you may find them in unanticipated places! For example, the College of William and Mary located in Colonial Williamsburg, has a special collection about Virginia's hip hop past and culture! Rice University hods the CERCL Hip Hop Archival Collection in partnership with University of Houston. Likewise, Cornell University holds the Adler Hip Hop Archive that holds related materials from across the United States. Hood research librarians and the archivist can assist you with finding appropriate collections within archives.
