The Library of the Medieval Institute

The Library of the Medieval Institute boasts some 95,000 volumes together with various collections of handbooks, series, pamphlets, reprints and photographic materials. These are supplemented by microfilm and microfiche copies of some 3,000 medieval manuscripts and facsimile reprints from European libraries and a collection of more than 200 medieval seals in facsimile. In accordance with its collection development policy, the Medieval Institute Library's collection continues to grow substantially each year with generous support from the William J. Corbett and Margaret Conway library endowments for Medieval Studies. Over the years the institute has also built up valuable collections of medieval manuscripts, incunabula and rare books, now preserved in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Also found there is the John Augustus Zahm, C.S.C., Dante Collection containing early and rare editions and an extensive and valuable set of literary studies of the Divine Comedy from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

What sets Notre Dame's Medieval Institute apart is its convenient gathering in one place of most of the printed materials essential to medieval studies. The reading room holds on reserve major dictionaries, bibliographical guides, reference works and primary source collections. The Astrik L. Gabriel Universities Collection in a separate room offers unrivaled resources, both published and unpublished, for the history of medieval universities. Another room holds a large collection of manuscript catalogues and materials pertinent to paleography, diplomatics, and early printed books. The institute's academic concern with intellectual history is evidenced by its extensive holdings in medieval philosophy and theology, and its comprehensive collection of primary and secondary materials on medieval education.

Research in the institute is also supported by the University's Milton V. Anastos Collection in Byzantine Studies, with extraordinary holdings in the intellectual history of the Byzantine empire.  Since 1999, medievalists at the University of Notre Dame have also benefited from library acquisitions purchased thanks to an NEH Challenge Grant and the matching funds it generated.