Manuscripts

Materials in over 3,000 individual manuscript collections emphasize the political, social, economic, and literary history of the United States in the mid-nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Special strengths include Oregon history, politics, and culture; labor history; conservation and environmental studies; feminist science fiction and fantasy; women, gender, and sexuality studies; communal studies; cinema studies; authors and illustrators of children’s literature; the conservative and libertarian movement in the mid-twentieth century; popular literature, with an emphasis on western fiction; missionaries to foreign countries, especially East Asia, and architecture, primarily of the Northwest. Highlights of the collection are a particularly rich and unparalleled collection of feminist science fiction and speculative fiction, including the Ursula K. Le Guin Papers, the James Tiptree (Alice Sheldon) Papers, Suzy McKee Charnas Papers and the Vonda McIntyre Papers; and a robust collection documenting the lesbian land communal movement in Oregon. The topics of women, gender, and sexuality are represented well in our repository. 

Visual Materials

SCUA’s visual collections include approximately half a million photographic images; the third largest collection of children’s literature illustrations in the United States; over 5,000 architectural drawings; and large collections of ephemera, prints, and broadsides. Subject strengths include the history of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, with an emphasis on timber and agriculture; leading Oregon architects; contemporary Indigenous photographers; as well as photographic documentation of various sub-cultures and groups unique to Oregon, ranging from lesbian artist communities to the Rajneeshpuram community in Wasco County. Holdings also include important collections by significant artists and documentary photographers, among them Doris Ulmann, Elizabeth Orton-Jones, Tee Corinne, Steph Littlebird, Zig Jackson, Brian Lanker, and Joe Whittle. 

University Archives 

University Archives collects, preserves, and provides access to records documenting the administration, history, development and culture of the University of Oregon, and its students, faculty and staff. Collections include permanent records produced by campus offices in accordance with the UO Records Retention Schedule. The archives also have a wide range of materials documenting student life and culture, including photographs, campus publications, records of student clubs and organizations, theses and dissertations, and audiovisual materials. Faculty papers are another area of strength, with materials documenting the research, teaching, scholarship and professional contributions of UO faculty.

Athletics Archives

The Athletic Archives preserve and document the rich history of the University of Oregon’s athletic programs through a diverse collection of photographs, documents, memorabilia, and audiovisual materials. Highlighting the achievements of student-athletes, coaches, and teams across a variety of sports, the archives emphasize iconic programs like Oregon football, track and field, and basketball. Beyond celebrating athletic successes, the archives provide a valuable resource for research and scholarship, offering insight into the cultural and historical impact of sport and human performance. They serve as a critical tool for understanding the evolution of college athletics and the university's enduring legacy in the sports world.

Rare Books

Special Collections holds a large collection of rare books covering a range of subjects and variety of materials, including cuneiform tablets, medieval manuscripts, early printed books, fine press imprints, modern first editions, paperback fiction, popular magazines, comic books and zines. 

For more details about what we collect, please refer to our Collection Development Policy, or email us.