August Wilson sitting on steps.

Archives & Special Collections

Welcome to Archives & Special Collections (A&SC), the archives, manuscripts, and rare books department of the University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS)! Our mission is to collect, describe, and preserve our ever-growing collections in order to make them available and accessible to the Pitt community and beyond. In our collections, you’ll find historic documents, photographs, maps, rare books, newspapers, audio and video recordings, and much more.

Visit the A&SC Aeon Research Portal to create a user account so you can start requesting materials!

Start your research here:

Using the Search Box below you can explore different areas of our collections.

Interested in the history of Pitt or archival and manuscript collections? Choose Finding Aids to Archives and Manuscripts from the drop-down menu to search the collections. In addition to documenting the history of Pitt in the University Archives, A&SC is also one of the largest archives of Western Pennsylvania history. Our manuscript collections include (but are very much not limited to) the papers of Pitt faculty, local authors, and genre defining creators.

More of a book person? A&SC houses over 130,000 rare books and printed materials that include 16th century illuminated books, 20th century underground zines, children’s books through the ages, and an abundance of horror. Choose the Rare Books and Special Collections in Pittcat option from the drop-down menu to search for rare and special books.

Digitization occurs across all areas of A&SC. To search what we’ve digitized, choose ULS Digital Collections from the drop-down menu.

Browse Our Digital Collections Browse Our Finding Aids

Read about our efforts to address harmful, offensive, misrepresentative, and racist language in our archival collection descriptions.

Do you have questions or can’t find what you’re looking for? Please contact us so one of our expert staff members can help you.

Explore our collections further!

John James Audubon's plate of 2 purple herons.

We’ve digitized thousands of records from our collections, and you can see them all here! Search our Audubon prints, get acquainted with the City Photographer Collection, or just peruse the collection guides for our materials.

Map of Fort Pitt and parts adjacent with both rivers from 1761.

Interested in more Pittsburgh history? We work in partnership with other organizations in the area, like the Heinz History Center, to bring you more content on our city. Search by institution, topic, or format to find exactly what you want.

Nearly 5,000 students assembled to form the Living Panther to show Pitt Spirit. April 1920

Want to know what the Cathedral of Learning looked like while under construction? Maybe find yourself in your college yearbook? Or learn what Pitt students were talking about in the 1920s? It’s all here for you, from digitized yearbooks to historic photographs to a full run of the Pitt News, and much more. Hail to Pitt!

The Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh Library System is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Dave Burrell Archive. Burrell was an influential innovator in New York’s free jazz scene, playing alongside trailblazing musicians such as alto saxophonist Marion Brown and tenor saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and David Murray. ...more
Avinoff
Dr. Avinoff is known locally as a former Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and as the designer of Pitt's Russian Nationality Room
point pittsburgh
Pittsburgh was selected to join cities worldwide on Google Arts & Culture, and the library is helping to tell Pittsburgh's story
Raising the Dead - Exploring George A. Romero’s Archive
Join us September 21, 2021 for a virtual talk with Dr. Adam Hart, Visiting Researcher with the University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS), exploring the development of the iconic zombie classic using materials from the George A. Romero Archive.  Followed by a discussion with Romero scholar Dr. Tom Fallows of the University of Baltimore Global... more
First Editions of Twain, Hemingway Works Come to ULS!
Actor, bibliophile and philanthropist Richard E. Rauh (A&S ’62, ’64G) has donated his extraordinary collection of rare books and manuscripts valued at more than $1.4 million to the University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS). The Rare Book Library of Richard E. Rauh will be housed in the Archives & Special Collections department of Hillman Library alongside nearly 100,000 other rare books, broadsides, pamphlets, sheet music and serials. For more... more
University of Pittsburgh Library System Acquires Additional Archives for its Horror Studies Collection
The University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) is pleased to announce several significant new acquisitions to its Horror Studies Collection.  First announced during an installment of the ULS Horror Studies Webinar Series, hosted in collaboration with Pitt’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP), the ULS has acquired the papers of Linda D. Addison, the most decorated horror poet today with a total of six Bram Stoker literary awards. ... more
Bing Crosby with the Pittsburgh Pirates
The Bing Crosby Collection, which was amassed by Crosby fan Frontis Wiggins, was recently acquired by the University Library System’s Center for American Music, housed at the Stephen Foster Memorial. The Crosby collection, which is largely material held outside of the singer’s family, includes more than 3,000 albums and... more

Check out our Horror Studies Blog!

University of Pittsburgh Library System - Horror Studies

View our blog and sign up for our monthly newsletter featuring Horror Collection updates, Romero news, horror events, and more!

Take a virtual tour of our new space!

Archives & Special Collections Virtual Tours

Archives & Special Collections resides in a state-of-the-art home on Hillman Library’s renovated third floor. It contains significant physical and digital exhibition space, an expansive reading room, a large classroom, and, the Text & conText Lab, a partnership between the ULS and the Center for Creativity, that allows for the exploration of text in all its forms.

Visit in person during library open hours or take a virtual tour!

Contact Us

Send us an email
Archives & Special Collections (A&SC) - Who We Are

A&SC at Hillman Library
320 Hillman Library
University of Pittsburgh
3960 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-648-8190

A&SC at the Archives Service Center
7500 Thomas Boulevard
Pittsburgh, PA 15208
412-648-3232

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Spotlight on…

Woman wearing a shirt that says "Learn. Share. Transform."

Archives & Special Collections Graduate Student Assistants (GSA) are placed within the University Library System’s Archives & Special Collections (A&SC) during the fall and spring terms of an academic year. In this program, the GSA will gain experience in the skills of an archivist, rare book librarian, or curator of distinctive collections through project-based work and make a public presentation of their work.

We are now accepting applications for the 2024-2025 term.


The banner features an image from the August Wilson Archive.