The Department of Special Collections houses the college’s archives and its rare book collection. The collecting mission of the archives is limited to materials directly related to Skidmore College. This includes, but is not limited to, department and committee records, college and student publications, photographs, news articles, audio-visual recordings, and writings about Skidmore and its community of students, employees and alumni. Our rare books collection encompasses numerous small named collections of rare books as well as an artists’ books collection. These books are all cataloged and searchable online, through the Library’s Catalog.

Material from Special Collections cannot be checked out but may be viewed in the Pohndorff Reading Room during posted hours. It is always advisable to make an appointment before visiting, due to heavy class usage. The mission of Special Collections is to serve Skidmore’s community first and foremost, but with this in mind, we welcome and make every effort to accommodate outside researchers.

Special Collections serves as a repository for predominantly paper-based materials. Other physical objects, such as paintings, sculpture, art prints, and antiques owned by the college’s founder, come under the jurisdiction of the Tang Art Museum at Skidmore.