Why Use Our Collections?

The Lear Center offers a unique opportunity on campus to analyze rare materials. Students can learn the basic research skills necessary in researching primary source materials. Because many of the items in the collections are unique, there is the potential for significant discoveries to be made. Many of our manuscript collections have been largely unused and any research performed on these documents will bring to light something new. We have collections in all subject areas with particular strength in the following fields:

• English and American literature
• American History
• Environmental Studies
• Women's Studies
• Book Arts and the history of printing
• Children's literature and illustration
• History and Architecture of Connecticut College and New London