Special Collections

Our Purpose

The Rare Book and Special Collections held at Loras College have the following four purposes:

• To facilitate active learning among the Loras Community through engaged encounter with our collections
• To foster reflective thinking through sustained scholarship activities with our collections
• To model ethical decision-making through the acquisition, preservation and divestment of cultural and historical resources included in the collections
• To promote responsible contribution to the local and scholarly community through the presentation and digitization of our collection and access to our collections

We support this purpose through the following activities:

• Facilitate active learning:
  • Utilize best practices in primary source instruction across all levels of the curriculum
  • Outreach to the Loras Community to encourage use of the materials in courses
  • Collaborate with faculty to integrate special collections into course curricula
  • Curate thematic exhibitions that invite exploration and dialogue around rare or distinctive texts and artifacts
• Foster Reflective Thinking
  • Encourage faculty use of the collections for research and course development
  • Develop physical and digital displays
  • Provide internship opportunities
• Model Ethical-Decision Making
• Acquire materials that support the College mission, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, and curricular needs of the College
• Give special consideration to materials that support or center the perspectives of underrepresented groups in accordance with Catholic Social Teaching
  • Ensure materials are stored, conserved, and used in a way that prevents deterioration
  • Utilize best practices and procedures for divesting of materials that no longer fit the needs of the College
  • Engage in dialogue with source communities when collections involve culturally significant or contested items
• Promote Responsible Contribution
  • Maintain a website and catalog of the materials in the collections
  • Develop a digitization program to increase access to the collections
  • Maintain accessibility standards in both physical and digital environments to ensure inclusive use of the collections
  • Host interactive events like collection open houses or rare book nights to spark curiosity
  • Facilitate fellowships or residencies for scholars working on long-term projects involving the collection
  • Use the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to as one of multiple guiding principles when selecting materials.
  • Give special consideration to materials from underserved communities as expressed in Catholic Social Teaching

Our Collections

There are over 7,500 items in the collection and the majority can be found by searching the Library Catalog.

Collections of note include:

• 20 manuscript books dating back to the 12th century
• 65 incunabula (books printed in the 15th century)
• The Horace Howard Furness Collection of the Latin poet Horace
• The John Caldwell-Irving Windt Collection of Checker Books
• The Torch Press Imprints collection
• A collection of Bibles in over 225 languages of the world
• A collection of the Limited Editions Club books
• The Rev. Karl G. Schroeder T. S. Eliot collection
• The Rev. J. K. Downing Collection of Encyclopedias
• The Dubuque Authors Collection
• The Faculty Publications Collection
• The Eric Gill Collection
• The Raymond Roseliep Poetry Collection
• English Manuscript Indentures