About
The Archives and Special Collections of St. Edward’s University, housed in Munday Library, consists of thousands of feet of historically significant items that support research, teaching, and learning. It is the role of the Archives to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to these materials. The collections are open to the SEU community and the general public.
Our collections focus on the history of St. Edward’s University, Texas craft brewing and distilling, the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Catholicism in Texas, jazz, and English literature.
The Archives & Special Collections of Munday Library serves the St. Edward’s campus community through:
Supporting Research: We provide scholars and students with access to unique and often unpublished materials which can be used to support academic research across disciplines.
Experiential Learning: The Archives facilitates experiential learning through hands-on engagement with historical artifacts. These primary source materials include manuscripts, letters, photographs, maps, and artifacts that offer firsthand accounts of historical events. These materials provide students with tangible evidence to analyze and interpret, allowing them to develop critical thinking skills and gain a deeper understanding of historical contexts.
Instruction: Professional archivists teach valuable research skills, including archival research methods, document analysis, and preservation techniques. By teaching students to use primary source materials from the archives, students learn to question assumptions, challenge historical narratives, and engage in critical dialogue about the past.
Community Engagement and Outreach: Through engaging programming and active donor relations, the archives is uniquely positioned to find underrepresented voices and untold stories and bring them to the forefront. Archives programming allows the campus community to engage with the social, political, and cultural dynamics that have shaped their community.
Interdisciplinary Exploration: Our collections contain materials relevant to a wide range of topics, allowing students to explore interdisciplinary connections and perspectives. Even a single collection can include materials relevant to several topics, encouraging students to make connections across different fields of study.
Digital Access: Recognizing that digital accessibility enables remote learning and broader public engagement with archival materials, Munday Library is committed to expanding access to its unique historical materials beyond the physical confines of the archive. Through ongoing digitization projects, the archives provides access to thousands of documents and photographs online.
