DATABASE OF DESCRIPTIVE RECORDS -- In addition to this printed inventory, the Archives maintains a database of descriptive records for its processed collections.  These records describe the collection at the collection, series, container or folder level, and item level for certain collections.  These descriptions provide even more details about the items in the collection, and they should give the researcher a clear idea as to whether he/she would like to examine the collection, series, folder, or item being described.  To search this collections database by keyword, please click HERE.

LIST OF PROCESSED COLLECTIONS -- What follows here is a list of processed collections open for research for which a printed inventory/finding aid is available.  Links to many of these finding aids have been established, and links to more finding aids will be put up as time permits.  To view an available inventory/finding aid, click on the appropriate collection title. In addition, descriptions for these collections have been entered into the Archives local database. 

ART:
 

MANUSCRIPTS:
 

RECORDS:
 

SCRAPBOOKS:
 

The Archives does have several collections open for research that either have no finding guide or have only a preliminary inventory available.  Please contact a staff member for assistance in using these collections.  These collections are:
 

2.  THE LIBRARY

RARE BOOKS COLLECTION—Of the more than 7,800 titles in the rare books portion of the Rare and Special Books Library, approximately 750 titles have been fully cataloged. These catalog records appear in a closed card catalog in the St. Louis Room.  A shelf inventory of all rare books has been created and is being maintained in the St. Louis Room.  This inventory provides author, date, language, general size, and general subject information about each book.  This rare books inventory is accessible through a local database, with all of the above mentioned access points being searchable, and in printed form.  Currently, access to this database is available only in the St. Louis Room.

The rare books collection is very strong in early works in Catholic theology and philosophy, including various editions of works by St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine.  The collection also contains a number of titles by members of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) including Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, Francisco Suarez, and Athanasius Kircher.  Nearly one half of these 7,800 books are written in Latin.  Another significant collection within the Rare Books Collection is the Moore Carpenter Recusant History Collection.  This collection contains more than five hundred books, pamphlets, and manuscripts related to the history of the English recusants, those English Roman Catholics of the period 1570 to 1791 who refused to attend services of the Church of England.

SPECIAL BOOKS COLLECTION—All of the more than 15,000 titles in The Special Books Collection of the Rare and Special Books Library have been catalogued.  The bibliographic records for these books appear in the Saint Louis University Libraries Catalog.  The Special Books Collection contains the following categories of material:  books written by University faculty, staff, students, or alumni; books containing chapters, essays, or introductions written by University faculty, staff, students, or alumni; formal publications of Saint Louis University, including catalogues, newspapers, magazines, and yearbooks; autographed copies, limited editions, first American editions, and technical reference books on archives, manuscripts, and rare and special books.  In addition, The Special Books Collection has strengths in the following areas:  American history, particularly the history of the westward movement and the Mississippi valley; the Civil War; St. Louis area history; American Catholic Church history, particularly in the St. Louis area; Jesuit missionary activities in the Americas; editions of Shakespeare.

3.  THE MUSEUM

In the same manner as for the archival collections, a printed inventory is available that lists each processed object or collection of objects in the Museum collections.  Also, a more detailed description of each object has been entered into the same local database as the archival collections.

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