This is a guide by subject to major collections held by Special Collections at the Libraries. For more information on an individual collection, click on the “more information” link below each collection. Additionally, if an online finding aid or a digital surrogate of the collection is available, these are also listed. For additional information on these named collections and the general rare book collections, consult Blais, The Claremont Colleges’ on-line catalog, the Special Collections card catalog, the Denison Library card catalog, and the staff in each special collections. All collections are located in Special Collections in Honnold/Mudd Library unless otherwise indicated.
Asia
(see also the Honnold Asian Studies Department for significant holdings on China and Japan)
Asian newspapers
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
California College in China Collection: history, literature, original editions, Chinese serials, and the William W. Pettus papers
China Missionaries Collections: Grace Rowley papers
(view online finding aid at the OAC)
China Missionaries Oral History Project: transcriptions, 20th century
Frederick McCormick Korean Collection: books, calligraphy and rubbings
Philippines: newspapers, correspondence, periodicals and government documents, primarily from World War II
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Aviation
James Carruthers Memorial Aviation Collection
Book Arts and Fine Printing
(Significant examples of a number of presses, techniques, and time periods are represented)
Arion Press Collection: Andrew Hoyem, San Francisco, California, 20th century
Aubrey Beardsley (located in Denison)
Daniel Press materials
(included in the William W. Clary Oxford Collection)
Grabhorn Press
Frederic Goudy Collection (located in Denison)
Louise Seymour Jones Collection: bookplates (located in Denison)
Literary Presses and Fine Printing, including Cuala Press, Doves Press, Bruce Rogers, John Henry Nash (located in Denison)
(for more information: Denison card catalog or Contact Special Collections)
William Morris and the Kelmscott Press (located in Denison)
Printing Ephemera: California, 20th century (located in both Honnold/Mudd and Denison Libraries)
Ward Ritchie Press (located in Denison)
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Scripps College Press Archive (located in Denison)
Southern California Fine Printing Collection: several local printers are included
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Kimberley Stuart Papermaking Collection (located in Denison)
Michael G. Wilson Collection
California History
Bolsa Chica Collection: Huntington Beach wetlands, 20th century.
Phil Townsend Hanna Collection: Californiana and Baja Californiana, including many western cookbooks
Local history of Southern California
(for more information: Blais (the online catalog), the card catalog, or Contact Special Collections)
Ida Rust Macpherson Collection: By and About Women
William McPherson Collection: Orange County, Citrus, Avocados, 19th and 20th centuries
(more information | San Gabriel Mission Marriage Investigations digital collection)
George Martin Papers: papers and scrapbooks from 1900–1962, Los Angeles area
William Smith Mason Collection of Western Americana: c1600 to present
Howard Mills Collection: World War II War bond drives, Los Angeles area
Pacific Steamship Company Papers: 19th and 20th centuries
Marion Parks Papers: histories and photographs, Southern California, 1920–1940s
Rude-Frankenfield Papers: correspondence, legal and personal papers, and ephemera going back to the early 1800s
San Gabriel Mission Matrimonial Investigation Records: 1788–1861 (part of the William McPherson Collection)
H. Jerry Voorhis Papers: H. Jerry Voorhis (U.S. House of Rep., 1936–46) So. Calif., 1919–84
Wagner Collection of Western Americana: Early exploration of the west coast of North America, 1500–1800
War Relocation Authority Records: Carey McWilliams; Japanese-Americans, 1940s
(more information | view online finding aid at the OAC)
Water Resources Collection: Owens Valley, Colorado River, Imperial Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles area, 1880s to present
Claremont Colleges Archives
Includes Claremont Graduate University, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pomona College, and Pitzer College. The Scripps College Archives are located at Denison Library on the Scripps campus.
For more information on each of these, you can use Blais, the card catalog, or Blais (the online catalog), the card catalog, or Contact Special Collections.
Campus organizations’ records and scrapbooks
Catalogs, yearbooks, directories, and handbooks
Dissertations and master’s theses from Claremont Graduate University, formerly Claremont Graduate School
Faculty and administrative papers and files
Maps and plans
Oral histories
Papers of Robert Bernard, James A. Blaisdell, William W. Clary, William L. Honnold, E. Wilson Lyon, Joseph B. Platt; leaders of The Claremont Colleges.
Photographs
Student publications including Collage, Pomona Student Life, and other student newspapers
Student scrapbooks
Ellen B. Scripps Collection
(view online finding aid at the OAC)
Scripps College Archives (located in Denison)
Max Yavno Photograph Collection
(view online finding aid at the OAC)
Claremont Local History
(Local history of the town and environs of Claremont, California)
Claremont Courier, 1908 to present, on microfilm
(for more information: Microforms Collection or Contact Special Collections))
Claremont Community Players Collection
Frampton Collection: various views of Claremont and of The Claremont Colleges, 1945–1967
Maps
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Oral histories
(for more information: Blais (the online catalog), the card catalog, or Contact Special Collections)
Wheeler Scrapbook—Book One, Page 1 (more information).
Personal scrapbooks
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Pomona College histories
(for more information: Blais (the online catalog), the card catalog, or Contact Special Collections)
Survey of Historic Claremont
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Vertical Files
(for more information: Contact Special Collections)
Wheeler Scrapbooks: Pomona College and Claremont history from 1884 to 1938
Drama
(see also Literature)
Bernard H. Craven Playbill Collection: from drama, dance, music, and film productions from 1966–1987
Dryden Collection: John Dryden (1631–1700), English drama
Geraldine Womack and Norman D. Philbrick Library of Dramatic Arts and Theatre History: English and American drama, 1700 to present
Irving Wallace Archive: Irving Wallace, 20th century author
Elbert A. Wickes Theatre Arts Collection: material on the Abbey Players, 20th century Irish drama, and on early 20th century American theater tours
Education
(see also Claremont Colleges Archives)
Early American School Books Collection: over 100 volumes published between 1713 and 1879; given by Mrs. George Mauger
Oxford Collection, William W. Clary: material on the history, governance, and system of education at Oxford University
European History, Economics, and Political Science
Bodman Collection: Italian Renaissance, 15th and 16th centuries
Mavor Collection of Russian Economic History: 1875-1924, includes original Russian materials
Napoleonia: Published memoirs of Napoleon's aides; histories and reports. France, 19th century
Nineteenth-Century Political Pamphlets: Great Britain
Nordic Collections: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, 1700 to present
Oxford Collection, William W. Clary: Oxford University and the city of Oxford, England, 1200 to present
John I. Perkins Collection (located in the Rare Book Room at Denison)
Alexander Pogo Collection on Classical Antiquity (located in Denison)
Tschebotarioff Papers: Russia, 20th century
Wellingtoniana: biographies, autobiographies, and histories of the Duke of Wellington and the Peninsular War, 1807–1814
Michael G. Wilson Collection
Geology
Woodford Collection
Literature
(see also Drama)
Matthew Arnold Collection: works by and about Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), English poet
Bodman Collection: Italian Renaissance, 15th and 16th centuries, the Medici circle
Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning Collection (located in Denison)
Burton Collection: editions of Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) by Robert Burton (1577–1640), English author
Corrin Collection: 19th and 20th century authors including Blake, Coleridge, Fitzgerald, Hardy, Milton, and Shelley
Bernard H. Craven Playbill Collection: 20th century playbills
Dryden Collection: John Dryden (1631–1700), English author and playwright
T. S. Eliot Collection (located in Denison)
Phil Townsend Hanna Collection: Californiana and Baja Californiana
Ernest Hemingway Collection
T.E. Lawrence Collection
Arthur Machen Collection: letters, and works by and about Arthur Machen (1863–1947), Welsh novelist and essayist
Joaquin Miller in 1874, from the Joaquin Miller Collection.
Ida Rust Macpherson Collection: By and About Women
Addison M. Metcalf Collection of Gertrude Steiniana: Gertrude Stein papers, manuscripts, photographs, books (located in Denison)
Joaquin Miller Collection: letters, photographs, and works by and about Joaquin Miller (1837–1913), California poet and author
Oxford Collection, William W. Clary: Literature and drama relating to Oxford University, England, 1200 to present
Geraldine Womack and Norman D. Philbrick Library of Dramatic Arts and Theatre History: English and American drama, 1700 to present
John I. Perkins Collection (located in the Rare Book Room at Denison)
Upton Sinclair Collection
Edward John Trelawny Collection
Irving Wallace Archive: works and papers of Irving Wallace, 20th century American author
Mrs. Humphry Ward Collection: correspondence and notebooks of Mrs. Humphry Ward, 19th century English novelist and essayist
Michael G. Wilson Collection
Mining and Metallurgy
Hoover Collection
Music
Robert Guy McCutchan Collection of Hymnology: 17th to 20th century American and British hymnals
Lee Pattison Papers on the Federal Works Project in Music: Lee Pattison, WPA papers, 1936–37 (located in Denison)
John I. Perkins Collection (located in the Rare Book Room at Denison)
Charles K. North and Herbert R. Rifkind Collection: flute music scores
Ernestine Schumann-Heink Collection: personal music library of Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936), Austrian-born opera singer
John Laurence Seymour Collection: scores and librettos of 17th to 20th century European operas, given by John Laurence Seymour
Nepal
Nepal Papers: Merrill Goodall's papers relatig to Nepal 1951–1971
Oxford
William W. Clary Oxford Collection: Oxford University and the City of Oxford, England, 1200 to present
Religion
Bodman Collection: Italian Renaissance, 15th and 16th centuries
China Missionaries Collections: Grace Rowley papers
(view online finding aid at the OAC)
China Missionaries Oral History Project: transcriptions, 20th century
Reverend Walton E. Cole Papers
Congregationalist Church Papers: California and the Southwest, 1900–1960
Crispin Collection: early Bibles, missals, and psalters
Robert Guy McCutchan Collection of Hymnology: 17th to 20th century American and British hymnals
Nineteenth-Century Religious Pamphlets: England
Oxford Collection, William W. Clary: material on John Wesley, Methodists, and Tractarians
John I. Perkins Collection (located in the Rare Book Room at Denison)
Michael G. Wilson Collection
Russia
Elliott Papers: Scrapbooks of Raymond Morgan Elliott's travels in Russia, 1918–1919
Jordan Photograph Collection: fifty photographs from the time of the Russian Revolution
Mavor Collection of Russian Economic History: 19th and early 20th centuries
Tschebotarioff Papers: Russia, the Ukraine and the Cossack movements
Scandinavia
Nordic Collections: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, 1700 to present
The title page of Athanasii Kircheri’s Mundus Subterraneus from the Hoover Collection.
Science
Hoover Collection: on mining and metallurgy
Michael G. Wilson Collection
Woodford Collection: on Geology
Theater
(see Drama)
United States and North American History and Politics
(see also California History)
William B. Allen Civil Rights Papers: Papers of William B. Allen, member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission 1987–1992
Averell Collection: Civil War manuscripts of Maj. Gen. William Woods Averell
Rupert Hughes Collection of Material on George Washington
William Smith Mason Collection of Western Americana: c1600 to present
General Jose Maria Maytorena Papers: 1910 Mexican Revolution
Mexican Newspapers Collection: 1821–1927
Pacific Steamship Company: company records, 19th and 20th centuries
H. Jerry Voorhis Papers: H. Jerry Voorhis (U.S. House of Rep., 1936–46) So. Calif., 1919–84
Wagner Collection of Western Americana: early exploration of the west coast of North America, 1500–1800
War Relocation Authority records: Carey McWilliams; Japanese-Americans, 1940s
(more information | view online finding aid at the OAC)
Water
Nepal Papers: Merrill Goodall's papers relating to Nepal 1951–1971s
Metropolitan Water District
(part of the Water Resources Collection)
Shoemaker Collection
(part of the Water Resources Collection)
Water Resources Collection: Southern California, Owens Valley, Colorado River, Imperial Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles area, 1880s to present
Western Americana
(see California History and United States History and Politics)
Women’s Studies
China Missionaries Collections: Grace Rowley papers
(view online finding aid at the OAC)
Ida Rust Macpherson Collection: By and About Women
Ellen B. Scripps Collection