Special Collections
Special Collections is where history comes alive through extraordinary objects. We have gathered remarkable rare books, manuscripts, artist's books, and historical maps that bring the past to life in vivid detail. Come discover stories and perspectives from across time and place.
- Science Fiction Writers of America Depository CollectionThe Science Fiction Writers of America Depository Collection consists of hardcover and paperback editions of science fiction literature published by the authors who are members of the SFWA professional association.
- Southern California Instruction Librarians (SCIL) DepositoryThe CCLI Southern Region's Depository is a collection of library instruction materials produced by academic libraries in California. Materials were acquired through questionnaires distributed in 1974, 1976, 1900, 1982 and 1984. A directory entitled Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Library Instruction but Didn't Have Time to Ask, was prepared from responses to the 1974 questionnaire.
- United States Volleyball Association Regional Depository CollectionThe United States Volleyball Association Regional Depository Collection was established in 1972-1973 to be one of several regional depositories for the U.S. Volleyball Association's archives.
- Miniature Books CollectionThe Miniature Books Collection consists of unusually small-sized books. Most are United States imprints but some were published in other countries.
- Press Books CollectionThe Press collection represents fine press printing in the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries. It has a particular focus or strength for California presses including the Grabhorn Press, the Grabhorn-Hoyim Press, both of San Francisco and the Fine Arts Press of Santa Ana.
- American Trade Bindings Book CollectionThe American Trade Bindings Book Collection consists of 5095 volumes of fiction and non-fiction published circa 1880-1940. ATB collection is not fully cataloged. Please visit Special Collections for more information.
- Book History CollectionThe Book History Ephemera Collection of 665 cataloged pamphlets, extensive runs of 75 periodical titles, and 20 boxes of realia/facsimiles sheds light on the history of libraries, librarianship, publishing and printing. In addition, there is a small 10 drawer metal cabinet of 3106 bookplates and 2 boxes of correspondences that form part of the Emma Ford Bookplate Collection.
- Foreign Trade Bindings BooksThe Foreign Trade Bindings Books Collection consists of books published in countries other than the United States circa mid-19th century through 1940 which have highly decorated, illustrated cloth bindings.
- Arthur Ransome collectionThe Arthur Ransome Collections consists of books written by Mr. Ransome, the noted British children’s author, and books that formed part of his personal library.
- Dwight Strong Collection of George Bernard ShawThe collection includes first editions and manuscripts including correspondence, personal and professional, by and about George Bernard Shaw.
- Dwight Strong Collection of George Bernard Shaw exhibitOnline exhibit featuring select items from the collection.
- Fairfax Proudfit Walkup Theatre CollectionThe Dr. Fairfax Proudfit Walkup Theater Collection includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, scrapbooks, fashion illustrated plates, dolls, manuscripts, and ephemera pertaining to theater costumes and set design and the professional career of educator, designer, and playwright Fairfax Proudfit Walkup. Includes some materials relating to her work at the Pasadena Playhouse.
- Frederick Faust CollectionThe Frederick Faust Collection consists of published pulp novels by the author best known by the pen name of “Max Brand". The author lived from 1892-1944.
- James Boyer May (Amsberry-May) PapersThe collection contains personal and business correspondence, poems, stories, articles by James Boyer May (1904-1981), Trace typescript issues, Trace, publisher's information and broadsides.
- Lee Broadbent Brass Rubbings collectionCollection consists of 52 brass rubbings, loose sheets, an album, and a handwritten notebook detailing the contents of the collection.
- Lester W. McLennan Collection of SitwellianaThe McLennan Collection of Sitwelliana includes the works of and about Sir Osbert Sitwell and his brother, Sacheverell Sitwell. Sir Osbert Sitwell was a distinguished English poet and novelist. His brother, Sacheverell Sitwell,was also a poet and an art critic. They were the brothers of Dame Edith Sitwell and were members of a family of British eccentrics and intellectuals.
- Philip MacDonald CollectionThe Philip McDonald Collection consists of 61 volumes and 3 boxes pertaining to the career of British Author Philip McDonald who wrote mysteries in the "thriller" sub-genre.
- Postcard collectionSmall collection of assorted postcards, the bulk of which are of cities and sites in California. It also includes other states, Canada, and Europe.
- Romance Fiction CollectionThe collection consists of romance novels from the mid-20th century to date published by American and British publishing companies. The ephemera boxes primarily contain publishers' advertising copy, guides to the writing and marketing of romance novels and announcements pertaining to romance genre fan organizations and meetings
- Rare & Unusual Books, Pamphlets & Manuscripts of the 15th-20th Centuries CollectionBrowse cataloged rare books in OneSearch. The inventory contains the complete list of books, including titles not cataloged in OneSearch.
Map collections
- Roy V. Boswell Collection for the History of Cartography (CSUF)The Collection for the History of Cartography was founded in 1971 by Roy V. Boswell and Ernest W. Toy, Jr., to provide a resource for scholarship and education in the history of cartography. The collection contains 1532 maps and 3089 volumes of books, pamphlets and periodicals. The maps range in date from 1285 to 1900. The books, pamphlets and periodicals form a reference collection for the study of cartography, geography, exploration and navigation from ancient times to 1900.
- David Rumsey Map CollectionThe David Rumsey Map Collection, established 35+ years ago, holds 150,000+ maps spanning the 16th to 21st centuries. Focused on the Americas, World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania, it includes atlases, globes, wall maps, and more. From 1550 to present, it offers diverse cartographic materials like atlases, charts, and manuscripts. Launched in 1996, digitization has made 125,000+ items accessible online, continuously updated. The site is free, providing high-res cataloged map images and innovative tools for comparison and analysis.
- Open Historical MapOpenHistoricalMap is a project designed to store and display map data throughout the history of the world. This is a work in progress, we'll be playing around with many new features as we time-enable the site. We encourage you to start playing around and editing data, too.
- Open Street MapOpenStreetMap is built by a community of mappers that contribute and maintain data about roads, trails, cafés, railway stations, and much more, all over the world.
- Los Angeles Public Library Map CollectionThe Map Collection of the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library is one of the largest in American public libraries. In this collection are 85,000 maps, some 2,000 atlases, over 1,000 gazetteers, some 20 serial titles and over one thousand books supporting the study of maps and mapping. The emphasis of this collection is on Los Angeles, Southern California and California but in many cases the scope extends to national and international coverage. The great majority of the chronological scope is post 1900 but there is a representation of 19th Century maps in California.
- Wiley Digital Archives This link opens in a new windowThe Royal Geographical Society (RGS) digital archive is representative of the worlds largest private collection of maps and charts, containing more than 150,000 maps, atlases, manuscripts, field notes, expedition reports, diaries, etc. Founded in 1830 to promote the advancement of geographical sciences, the Society is today a 16,000-member professional organization with contributions from some of the most influential geographers of the last two centuries and serving as an information exchange for geographers, explorers, soldiers, administrators and naturalists.
World History
- Captain P. Markham Kerridge Angling collectionThe Capt. P. Markham Kerridge Angling collection was founded at California State University, Fullerton with a large donation from Captain Kerridge on March 11, 1969. Freshwater angling is the basic focus of the collection, but related and overlapping subject areas include: ichthyology, fly tying, entomology, recreation, travel, conservation, ecology, and stream management. Items acquired in the last decade are cataloged on the library's on-line catalog.
- History of Photography collectionThe History of Photography Sample Collection contains pamphlets about the techniques of photography, some photographic equipment and many samples of historic photographs and the different techniques in photography from the 19th-20th centuries.
- J.D. Behrens East Asian collectionThe J.D. Behrens East Asian Collection was donated on December 15, 1965 by retired missionary Jerry Behrens who was age 82 at the time of the donation. Mr. Behrens was a missionary in China. The collection consists of artifacts and costumes from China.
- Major-General R.L. Eichelberger papersThe Major-General R.L. Eichelberger Papers are a Xerox copy of a collection of documents and papers about Russo-Japanese relations in Siberia in 1918/1919, reported from the United States position.
- War Memorabilia CollectionThe War Memorabilia Collection provides a wide scope of the major wars that involved the United States Military up to World War II. Included are records pertaining to the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Civil War (1861-1865), Spanish-American War (1898), Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), World War I (1914-1918), and World War II (1941-1945). Particularly significant items include World War II 16 mm newsreels films for selling U.S. war bonds; 15 World War II scrapbooks of newspaper clippings; Don C. Eckels' World War I memorabilia pertaining to American Expeditionary Forces servicemen in France from 1918-1919; the Durkee and Blackdon family letters covering military and personal family matters from 1771-1802 and 1862-1893, which were donated by Miss Florence Durkee of Brea, California in 1973.

Pollak Library South, Room 352
Email: uasc@fullerton.libanswers.com
Phone: (657) 278-3445