The Special Collections Research Center collects, preserves, and provides access to materials documenting the social, cultural, economic, and political history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Our collections and resources support the research, teaching, and scholarship of the University community and scholars around the world. By serving as the essential bridge between past, present, and future, the SCRC provides rich opportunities for students to expand their worldview and for scholars to advance original research.
SCRC has several unique resources for research, scanning, fine printing, recording, teaching, and more, including the Breckinridge Research Room.
Explore the Spaces & Technology in the SCRC
Margaret I. King Library Lexington, KY 40506-0039
Internationally recognized for collecting and preserving lived experiences through oral history, with a catalog of over 17,000 interviews.
Preserving the history of Kentucky politics, government, and materials pertaining to the US Congress.
Documenting Kentuckians who have served in the federal judiciary and their contributions to American legal discourse.
A program unlike any other on campus, the Learning Lab Internship is a paid opportunity for undergraduates to pursue individual, long-term research projects, using rare and unique archival materials from our collections. Through hands-on training in archival management and research methods, interns get to know their chosen collection inside and out as they develop a creative research project showcasing their findings and promoting access to their materials.
A supportive peer environment and close mentoring make the Learning Lab Internship an invaluable personal and professional development experience.
The King Library Press offers apprenticeship opportunities to students and community members interested in fine printing and book arts. Open to all majors at the undergraduate and graduate level as well as faculty, staff, and community members regardless of prior experience, apprentices gain hands-on experience with many aspects of the book arts, including type distribution, printing, book binding, and decorative paper design depending on their personal interests and the needs of the press.
Apprenticeships can last for as little as a semester or as long as several years, and we have extensive experience arranging for course credit both within and outside the university. To get involved, email KLP director Paul Holbrook at peholbr@post.harvard.edu or come visit the press on a Tuesday or Thursday morning.
Newly digitized items and other highlights from among our rare and unique archival and primary source materials.
Kate T. Irvine (left), Mary A. Sullivan (right), and Jacqueline Page Bull (center), the first Director of the Special Collections and Archives Department, in a 1976 photo from the Portrait Print Collection.
1876 letter from C. J. Shoemaker to Colonel Simon S. Bowman from the Wade Hall Collection of American Letters.
1903 lantern slide produced by Dury & Co., photographers from Nashville, Tennessee, of unidentified men leading a plow horse, part of the African American Photographs Collection.
