University of St. Michael's College, John M. Kelly Library, Special Collections

University of St. Michael's College, John M. Kelly Library, Special Collections

• Universitaire

The University of St. Michael's College, John M. Kelly Library, Special Collections includes the papers of individuals and organizations collected by the Kelly Library for primary source research with particular emphasis on supporting the research and teaching mission of the College programs (Celtic studies, Christianity and Culture, Mediaeval Studies and the Book and Media Studies) and the Faculty of Theology.

Private papers that enrich the research component of the College programs including the papers of Canadian writer Sheila Watson and Marshall McLuhan bibliographer James Feeley, Irish politician Patrick O’Neill, The New Catholic Times Inc. fonds among others. The Collection is particularly strong in the areas of Christianity, Christian spirituality and Catholicism. The archival collections that document the Christian spiritual and faith experience including the Henri J.M. Nouwen Archives and Research collection and records related to Jean Vanier and his communities of l’Arche and Faith and Sharing. The department also houses archival collections that complement the Kelly Library Rare Book Collection including an extensive 19th French theatre collection and a small archives of intellectual and writer G.K. Chesterton.

The Special Collections Reading Room is open Monday to Thursday from 9:30 - 3:45 pm, by appointment only.

An appointment is recommended to consult materials in the collections.

The Special Collections Reading Room is wheelchair accessible.

Special Collections staff are available to assist researchers in locating archival or published material, to advise on research questions and to carry out copying requests.

Requests from researchers of a librarian or archivist to conduct in-depth research fall outside the scope of work we are able to carry out. For example, we are unable to accept requests to search archival fonds or collections for all material related to a person/subject area or date range.

Similarly, we are unable to carry out copying requests that do not indicate specific items/files in an archival collection.

If you are not able to come to the Kelly Library yourself, you may wish to hire an independent consultant to conduct research on your behalf.

Revised by S Rogers, 18 September 2023.