About Our Collections
A list of our collections can be found here.
University Records
The Archives collects, preserves, and makes accessible the permanent historical records of the University of Notre Dame. These records are collected from academic and administrative offices at the University as well as from any person or organization conducting University business.
Manuscript Collections
The Archives' manuscript collections consist primarily of records relating to the history of the Catholic Church and its people as lived in the American context. The major subject areas covered by the Catholic collections include Catholic press and publishing, Catholic higher education, Catholic social action, Catholic laity, Catholic clergy, religious orders, charismatic renewal, and the liturgical movement.
The manuscript collections also include the personal papers of individuals associated with the University, including faculty and staff, alumni, and other supporters. Many of these papers document the donor's individual experiences at Notre Dame. However, the records of some historically important collections may have little to do with the University, but the donors themselves have a connection. For example, the personal papers of alumnus Frank Walker focus mainly on his experience as Postmaster General during the Franklin Roosevelt administration.
Photographs
The photograph collection contains over one million images in print, negative, slide, and digital format. The photographs reflect a variety of subjects within the Archives' collecting scope, with the majority documenting life at Notre Dame from the 1850s to the present. All photographs are open for use by researchers and a very limited number of images are available for viewing online.
Audio / Visual
The Archives' audio-visual collections consist of material from both the University and Catholic historical collections and include nearly twenty different video and audio formats. Notre Dame related audio-visual collections document a wide variety of campus activities from the early twentieth century to the present day, including commencements, faculty lectures and visiting speakers, student events, classroom instruction, fund raising and public relation campaigns, theater and music productions, liturgies, and athletics. The Archives also holds audio-visual material relating to the organization and individuals documented in the Catholic historical collections, including oral histories, recordings of meetings, speeches and lectures, documentaries, public relation programs, footage of the activities of religious orders and parishes, and liturgies.
Printed
The Archives' printed collections consist of printed ephemera, brochures, posters, programs, pamphlets, articles, and books that typically come to the Archives individually or as part of a larger University or Catholic historical collection. Notre Dame related information includes full runs of student publications including the Dome yearbook, Observer newspaper, and Scholastic magazine, departmental publications and newsletters, student and faculty directories, informational catalogs and bulletins, sports programs and media guides, and clippings and ephemera regarding noted individuals, campus buildings, and athletic and other events. Printed material of interest to those studying the history of the Catholic Church in America includes a full run of Ave Maria Magazine, publications, brochures, pamphlets, articles, and other documents regarding parish histories and various religious organizations.
Digital
The Archives' digital collections consist of full issues of Notre Dame periodicals, other Notre Dame or Holy Cross publications, including Notre Dame sports history resources, and several manuscript collections.
This page was last updated October 13, 2023