Search the Collections

Special Collections and Archives is home to Washington and Lee University's documentary heritage, manuscript collections, rare books, photographs, audiovisual material, oral histories, and select artifacts. From Roman coins to 21st century zines, our collections span across disciplines in support of the Washington and Lee curriculum.

The Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives are housed in the Wilbur C. Hall Law Library, located within the Washington and Lee University School of Law. 

Collection Guides

Collection guides allow for the discoverability of manuscript and archival collections. They provide descriptive information which allows researchers to determine if a collection might be beneficial to their area of research. Our collection guides database is available online.

The database contains collection guides for material owned by Washington and Lee University as well as our community partners. Special Collections and Archives has partnerships with the following organizations: Rockbridge Historical Society, Brownsburg Museum, Historic Lexington Foundation, and Lime Kiln Theater.

Rare Books and University Publications

Rare books and university publications are cataloged in the library catalog. Researchers are encouraged to limit search results to Special Collections and Archives by using the Advanced Search feature.

Book collections from specific donors or those that relate to Washington and Lee University history have been curated to allow researchers the opportunity to limit their search by that collection. Curated book collections include the Liberty Hall Academy Library, the Franklin Society Collection, the Jargon Society Collection, and the Ted DeLaney, Jr. Collection.  

Digital Collections

Collections and items that have been digitized can be accessed through the Digital Archive. Digitized content includes university publications, such as The Calyx and Ring Tum Phi, as well as oral histories, photographs, and manuscripts. 

The Digital Archive also serves as the online repository for digitized content from our community partners.

Archived Websites

University Library uses Archive-It to crawl, capture, and archive websites, in particular those associated with Washington and Lee University and our community partners.