LibGuides: American Studies: Special Collections and Archives

Find Archives & Collections

ArchiveGrid
Descriptions of archival collections held by libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives worldwide.
WorldCat
Searches the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. Helpful for locating newspapers held locally.
TARO
TARO (Texas Archival Resources Online) makes descriptions of the rich archival, manuscript, and museum collections in repositories across Texas available to the public. Consider these an extended table of contents which describe unique materials only available at the individual repositories. In most cases, the collections themselves are NOT available online.
Austin History Center
The Austin History Center provides the public with information about the history, current events, and activities of Austin and Travis County. AHC collects and preserves information about local governments, businesses, residents, institutions, and neighborhoods. Subject guides compiled on a range of topics can help pinpoint AHC resources that fit your research needs.

Archives in the U.S.

Academy Film Archive
"...includes include Academy Award® nominated films, the annual Oscar® telecasts, documentaries, silent movies, experimental films, film industry related interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, home movies, a wide range of international cinema and much, much more."
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
Houses the world’s largest collection of materials related to cartoons and comics, including original art, books, magazines, journals, comic books, archival materials, and newspaper comic strip pages and clippings.
Black Film Center & Archive
"The only archival repository in the world that is wholly dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people."
Northwestern Special Collections
Collections include the 60s, Social History, Twentieth-Century Music, Literature & Arts, Theatre and Women's History. The Music Library at Northwestern University contains extensive holdings of printed music and archival materials documenting music composed since 1945.
Ray & Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies (Bowling Green State)
An impressive collection of materials, manuscripts and ephemera related to the entertainment industry and popular entertainment, post-1876.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
"Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, one of The New York Public Library’s renowned research libraries, is a world-leading cultural institution devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences."
University of Florida Popular Culture Collections
Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts, the Jim Liversidge Collection (pop culture history) & the Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection.

Archives @ UT

Highlighted Resource

Science Fiction Archival Collections
This wiki serves as a resource for information on the location of Science Fiction / Fantasy / Speculative Fiction archival collections, including the papers of SF writers and the records of SF organizations.