Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Special Collections

Basics

The Special Collections Department of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery University of Maryland, Baltimore County includes those materials that due to rarity, condition, form, or source are best handled separately from the General Collection. The collections of rare books, photographs, artifacts, manuscripts and archives housed in this department 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, and the stacks are closed (sorry -- no borrowing or browsing). Access to materials is provided by the online Library Catalog (catalogusmai), several online databases and a variety of print and online finding aids. A knowledgeable staff is available to assist researchers and to retrieve materials for study.

Copying services are available when it will not harm the material and is permitted by federal copyright law. Eating, drinking and the use of pens are all prohibited in the reading room. Researchers must sign in daily upon entering Special Collections.

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

Special Exhibits

Information on exhibits of Special Collections materials in the Library Rotunda and elsewhere.

Online Exhibits

Special Collections exhibits available online.

UMBC Digital Collections

Selected materials from the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Currently, the majority of the digital collections draw upon the rich and unique holdings of the Special Collections and Archives. Items cover a broad range of topics and include photographs, the Retriever Weekly newspaper, electronic theses and dissertations from UMBC candidates, Theatre Department programs, posters, playbills, and other ephemera.

One Maryland One Book Resources [pdf]

This is a bibliography of materials available in Special Collections and throughout the Library that provide more information relating to the 2009 One Maryland One Book program. The program, sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, is a statewide community reading program which encourages all Marylanders to read the same book and discuss it. This year's selection was James McBride's Song Yet Sung (Call # PS3613.C28S66 2009). The Library held a discussion of the book on October 14, 2009. This document provides further resources pertaining to the themes brought up in the book, such as slavery in Maryland, runaway slaves, the Underground Railroad and codes used to help escaped slaves, slave catchers, the Eastern Shore, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Free Blacks, and more. For more information about the program, please visit Maryland Humanities Council One Maryland One Book.