New Collection in ASC!

We're so pleased to add the Steven L. Bloom Film Scripts Collection to Archives and Special Collections. You can read all about it at this link.

Welcome

The Archives & Special Collections at Amherst College holds over 80,000 books and 11,000 linear feet of archival materi­als. The department houses major collections of Emily Dickinson and Richard Wilbur books and manuscripts, along with one of the largest collections of Native American literature in the United States. It is the official repository for institutional memory of Amherst College, including records pertaining to academic programs and departments, College administration, alumni activities, and student life. The history of Amherst College and the local community is extensively documented through books, manuscripts, photographs, film, and objects. Other strengths of the collections include: natural history, especially ornithology; missionary activity; travel literature; theater history; international politics and diplomacy, and social justice and activism. Read more about our collection development policy.

Learn more in Plan Your Visit, Frequently Asked Questions, and our blog, The Consecrated Eminence.

Featured images from our collections

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Emily Dickinson daguerreotype

The only known photographic image of Emily Dickinson, this daguerreotype was produced circa 1847. It is related to the Emily Dickinson Collection [MA.00167]. Click on the title above for more from the digitized collection.

Collection finding aid
Indian Melodies

Indian Melodies

"By Thomas Commuck, a Narragansett Indian ; harmonized by Thomas Hastings, Esq." This is one example from the Native American Literature Collection. Click on the title above for more digitized holdings.

Olio 1922

The Olio, 1922

Amherst College Digital Collections makes available copies of the student yearbook. Click on the title above for more from the digitized collection.

Amherst College Commencement programs now digitized!

Commencement programs give an overview of the commencement ceremony at Amherst College from 1822 to the present. Contents of the commencement programs vary by year, but often include information such as the names and hometowns of the graduates, names of speakers at the ceremony, and lists of members of honors societies.

View the Commencement Programs in ACDC

New Digitized Collections!

Three newly digitized collections are available in Amherst College Digital Collections:

Sidney Brooks (AC 1841) Papers
Amherst College Early History Collection
Admissions Office Annual Reports to Secondary Schools

Access the digital collections

Newly digitized: Amherst College Early History Manuscripts & Pamphlets

This collection contains correspondence, petitions, pamphlets and other printed material documenting the early history of the College.

Digital Collection

New digitized collection: College Photographer Records

A selection of photographs taken by the College Photographer for the Office of Public Affairs, approximately 1965 - 2005. Photos include portraits, events such as commencement and reunion, sports games, landscape shots of campus, and John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit to campus for the dedication of Frost Library.

Browse College Photographer Records

Amherst College Olios now digitized

A nearly complete set of The Olio dating back to 1861 is now available online through Amherst College Digital Collections. 

Browse Olios

Listening to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Newly found WAMF reel proves to be a possibly unique recording of a lecture by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on "The Summer of Our Discontent."

Listen to the Recording