Library Overview
The Special Collections of the University of Maryland Libraries encompass richly diverse formats and subjects, including printed and rare books, manuscripts, still photographs (more than 2.4 million images), audio/visual recordings, and antique maps. Strengths are focused predominantly in the humanities and include major holdings in the areas of Maryland, literature, culture, the book arts, historic preservation, broadcasting, Japan, labor, women, and music. The Marylandia Collection includes more than 65,000 books, newspapers, and periodicals about Maryland, current and historical. Collection highlights are Maryland authors and literary figures, including H. L. Mencken, and more than 3,000 historic maps of Maryland and the Chesapeake region, dating as far back as the 16th century. The vast photo archive of 1.5 million images of the Baltimore News American documents the rich diversity of Maryland life and culture.
Among the archival and manuscript holdings are the significant literary archives of the 20th-century writers Katherine Anne Porter and Djuna Barnes. The National Trust for Historic Preservation Library is a national resource center for the study of historic preservation. The voluminous print, manuscript, and photo holdings constitute the most significant collection documenting the theory and practice of historic preservation in the United States.
The Library of American Broadcasting and the National Public Broadcasting Archives represent wide-ranging and unique collections of audio and video recordings, printed publications, manuscripts, and other materials devoted exclusively to the history of radio and television broadcasting in the United States, both commercial and non-commercial. Materials also chronicle the careers of well-known individuals and organizations in the broadcasting industry, including Arthur Godfrey.
The International Piano Archives at Maryland contains one of the world's most extensive concentrations of piano recordings, including vintage piano rolls, books, scores, programs, and artist's archival papers related to classical piano performance. Among the featured archival collections of individual pianists and scholars are Nadia Reisenberg, Leopold Godowsky, William Kappell, and Gary Graffman.
University of Maryland
Collection Management & Special Collections Division
McKeldin Library, Rm. 4119
College Park, Maryland 20742-7011
http://www.lib.umd.edu/special/
(301) 405-9112 (t)
(301) 405-9191 (f)
