Finding materials
Use the resources below to search for materials held in the Special Collections department.
- Library Catalog : the main Library catalog contains records for the books, serials, theses and dissertations held in Special Collections. On your results page, use the “Location” menu to narrow your results to a specific topic or format, for example Bafford (Photography books and serials).
- Special Collections Search: this catalog searches only materials held in the Special Collections department, including photographs; archival collections; comics, fanzines, and pulps; and UMBC publications.
- UMBC Digital Collections: a selection of digitized and born digital items from Special Collections. Highlights include the Lewis Hine child labor photographs, Hughes Company glass negatives collection, UMBC photographs and publications, and the Joseph L. Arnold manuscript, “History of Baltimore: 1729-1920.”
- Browse all finding aids
- Browse by subjects and material format
Video Tutorials
- Searching Special Collections
- Searching for Photographs in Special Collections
- Searching the Archival Collections in Special Collections
Research guides
Getting started
- Visiting Special Collections
- Finding Primary and Secondary Sources
- Primary Sources
- Primary Sources for Historians
- Local History Resources
- Citing Primary Sources
By topic
- Center for the History of Microbiology / ASM Archives
- Comics in Special Collections
- History of Photography
- History of UMBC
- LGTBQ+ research guide
- Maryland Traditions Archives
- Parapsychology
- Researching African American Photographers
- Radical Literature collection
- Sci Fi & Fantasy Fanzines at UMBC
Research consultation
You can schedule a research consultation with an archivist using the online appointment system. Consultations are conducted remotely by default but you can specify an in-person meeting in your request.