Special Collections

There are a variety of factors that determine whether materials should be included in Special Collections. The majority of our items were donated by individuals and were considered, as a whole, to be significant enough to be moved into the room, but materials from our stacks and individual donations are also considered for inclusion. Criteria used to evaluate materials for Special Collections include:

Age - Publication Dates:

• Incunabula
• Europe, prior to 1800
• North American, prior to 1830 (but variable dates, moving west)
• Iowa Imprints, prior to 1860
• Dubuque imprints prior to 1900

Importance for printing history:

• First appearance;
• Fine press printing;
• Examples of early local imprints;
• Books printed by private presses, particularly the Torch Press of Cedar Rapids, and the Prairie Press of Muscatine and Iowa City.

Physical format:

• Manuscript items;
• Miniature books

Aesthetic value:

• Bindings;
• Fore edge paintings;
• Illustrations, woodcuts, engravings, lithographs;
• Artists' books;
• Books designed as objects.

Association value:

• Signed;
• Manuscript notes of a significant owner;
• Bookplates.

Scarcity:

• Rare or unique according to standard bibliographies;
• Limited editions.

In gathering, organizing, and preserving the foregoing materials according to the criteria given, the literary, historical, or cultural value of these works and their relevance to the teaching programs of Loras College is a significant determinant.