University of Missouri Special Collections Home MU Libraries Home

Welcome to Special Collections

Collections of primary resources and valuable research materials have been grouped together in Special Collections. Special Collections contains two primary areas:

• Book Collections. Included are the Rare Book Collection, the Comic Art Collection, and a variety of other print collections.
• Microform Collections. The MU Libraries have one of the largest collections of microforms in North America.

Increasingly, a third area is evolving: that of Digital Collections that enable materials to be accessed around the world.

Special Collections is part of the Division of Special Collections, Archives, and Rare Books (SCARaB), of the University of Missouri Libraries at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Current Events and Announcements

Construction in Reading Room

During the months of June and July, one of our stack areas adjacent to the Reading Room will be undergoing some renovation. Although the room and collections will be open and available for use, please be aware that there may be construction noise.

New Digital Exhibit! -- Jacques Flach Collection

This site documents the journey of the library of Geofroi Jacques Flach from France to Missouri. He collected books over forty years during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The books were purchased by the University of Missouri from the Flach estate in the spring of 1920.

New Digital Exhibit! -- Alley Oop: 75 years of the comic world of V.T.Hamlin

MU Libraries celebrates the 75th anniversary of the syndication of the comic strip Alley Oop with a digital exhibition drawing from the libraries' V.T. Hamlin and Comic Art Collections, which are permanently housed in Special Collections at Ellis Library. The exhibit explores the evolution of the strip, as well as its place in the history of the comic art medium and American culture. Personal photographs, correspondence, original artwork, daily and Sunday strips, books and various other ephemera are included.
This digital exhibit is inspired by the physical exhibition mounted in Ellis Library from September 10th through the 30th, 2008, and includes all of the items featured in the physical exhibit, plus some additional artifacts. Video of all of the events are available for viewing online as well, including the Keynote speech with Jack and Carole Bender, the current artists of Alley Oop; talks by local literary and art historians; a panel of young cartoonists from St. Louis and Chicago; and a talk by legendary underground cartoonist and MU Professor Emeritus of Art Frank Stack.

150 Years of On the Origin of Species

From March 3rd to March 31st in the Ellis Library Colonnade, the exhibit “150 Years of On the Origin of Species: The Historical Journey from Specimens to Species to Genes” will trace the concept of biological variation from the Renaissance through the 20th Century using rare and historical books and illustrations, primarily from the MU Libraries Special Collections & Rare Book Department and the Ellis Library general collection. The exhibit is in conjunction with the 5th Annual MU Life Sciences & Society Symposium commemorating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his On the Origin of Species.

Adopt-A-Book Program

Many of the books in our collections are fragile, others need minor repairs, still others require extensive help if they are to survive this century. Please consider sponsoring a book. All monies will go directly to the care and maintenance of rare, fragile and just plain good books. As our thanks, your adoption will be noted in the Merlin online catalogue, and you will be invited to an annual Celebration of the Book event, sponsored by the Friends of the MU Libraries.