Special Collections consists of rare books and manuscripts on many subjects that have been acquired over the years through donations and purchases. The diversity of its holdings reflects the Jesuit heritage of Xavier University and the broad research interests of its faculty and students. The majority of Special Collections’ holdings are in Latin and English. French, Spanish, German, Greek, Italian, and other languages are also represented. Materials date from the 13th century forward. Special Collections contains a surviving portion of the original St. Xavier College library, incunabula (books printed before 1501 CE), and works related to the Society of Jesus.
The majority of Special Collections are described in the library's online catalog. An inventory is available upon request for uncatalogued materials.
When searching AllForOne, the library catalog, limit by your search profile to search within University Archives and Special Collections' holdings only.
The majority of medieval manuscripts and fragments in Special Collections have been digitized and are available online through The Peripheral Manuscripts project digital collections platform. The Peripheral Manuscripts Project is hosted at Indiana University Bloomington and was generously supported by a 2020 Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections grant and two grants from Indiana University: a Grant-in-Aid from the Office of the Vice Provost of Research and a Bridge Funding grant from the Office of the Vice President of Research.
These external resources can help you locate titles, authors, or copies of works that you can search for in Xavier's collections. Xavier's holdings are often reflected in these union lists. Some of these resources also provide links to digitized copies of books or microfilms held in other institutions.