Collections
Trexler Library’s Special Collections & College Archives is the repository for Muhlenberg’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, sound and visual recordings, maps, and ephemera, including material relating to the College's history. Special Collections is responsible for collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and providing access to these unique and rare primary materials for the use of scholars and the Muhlenberg community for research or in the service of instructional programs.
Collection of cuneiform tablets representing business documents in use about 2350-538 B.C. From the Rare Books Collection.
Historical Map Collections
Special Collections and College Archives is the repository for nearly 400 maps and atlases, including engraved maps from the 17th through the 19th centuries by some of the most recognized mapmakers, including Blaeu, Moll, Homann, Seutter, Cary, de L’Isle, Vaugondy, and more, as well as a robust collection of American and international road maps spanning the 1930s through the 2010s. Also represented are a number of 19th-century Allentown and Lehigh County maps. The majority of these maps are included in the Ray R. Brennen Map Collection and the Kaufman-Derrow Map Collection.
Learn more about the historical map collections
Special Collections & College Archives is also a member of the Lehigh Valley Historical Maps Consortium, which seeks to create a centralized inventory of maps of the greater Lehigh Valley region, both digitized and analog, to be of service to researchers and educators. Visit the website.
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Muhlenberg College Collection
This collection contains the published works of the College (the Muhlenberg Weekly, the Ciarla, student handbooks, etc.) as well as collected documentation and archival collections relating to College history, campus buildings, administrators, faculty and staff, student organizations, event programs, and more. For more detailed information about our archival holdings relating to the history of the College, please contact the Head of Special Collections and College Archives.
View the Muhlenberg College Collection finding aids
Many of these materials have been digitized and are available by clicking the images below.
Muhlenberg College’s Robert C. Horn Papyri Collection contains thirty-six pieces of Greek papyri illustrates the variety of types of documents found in the early 20th excavation at Oxyrhynchus (in present day Egypt). Included in the thirty-six pieces are thirteen literary pieces; of those pieces, three (851, 1077, 1227) are theological, five (858, 866, 868, 870, 872) are fragments of unidentified authors, and five (1094, 1095, 1181, 1243, 1246) are from extant classics, either prose or poetry. Additionally there are a variety of business and personal documents: letters, leases, taxes, etc. The papyri range from the first to the sixth or seventh century A.D., and include specimens of both papyrus rolls, and books (papyrus and parchment), and exemplify different types of bookhand. There is one small piece of Latin is among them (872). An amulet (1077) inscribed with verses from St. Matthew, is somewhat of a curiosity.(From notes on the Collection, Robert C. Horn)
Dr. Robert Chisolm Horn, Muhlenberg Class of 1900, taught classical languages at his alma mater from 1904 to 1953, in addition to serving variously as dean, vice president, and acting president. He generously presented his papyri collection to the College.
The Horn Collection pieces were catalogued, transcribed, and translated in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri (1898), edited by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt.
Rare Books Collection
Trexler Library’s Rare Books Collection includes a fine selection of 16th & 17th century Lutheran Bibles and texts, modern first editions, several incunabula, cuneiform tablets, travel narratives, works of American and world history, and examples from the literary canon. Some highlights include Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian and a hand-colored copy of William Blake’s illuminated Night Thoughts.
Pennsylvania German Collection
This collection includes books, periodicals, recordings and ephemera relating to the Pennsylvania German language, history and culture. It is a representative collection of the first one hundred years of German-language printing in America (1748-1848). Included in this collection are the Muhlenberg Papers, consisting of materials by and about the members of the Muhlenberg Family, 1770-1850.
Uncataloged material in this collection includes examples of fraktur, autograph material from various members of the Muhlenberg family, the Scott Brenner broadside collection, and WPA plates of ornamental ironwork. The Heinrich Kelz subject bibliography, available in the reference collection, indexes the Pennsylvania German Collection up to 1968.
Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive
The Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center and Trexler Library’s Special Collections and Archives have partnered to collect, preserve, and provide access to the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive. This collection documents local and regional LGBT life and activism. It includes publications, organizational records, personal papers, oral histories, and artifacts.
For access to the archives, please contact the Special Collections & Archives Librarian at [email protected]. If you are interested in donating materials to the LGBT Community Archive, please contact the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, or the Special Collections & Archives Librarian.
View the collections of the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive
Sam Stovall Collection
Sam Stovall, Class of 1977, donated his personal collection of nearly 1,200 rock ‘n’ roll albums to the College in 1989. Artists represented in the collection span from the Association to the Zombies and include Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles, as well as many others.
A broadcast standard variable speed turntable, capable of playing at 33, 45, and 78 rpm, is available in the Special Collections office for playing records from the collection.
Please contact the Head of Special Collections and College Archives to make an appointment.
- The Beach Boys
- The Beatles
- Chuck Berry
- Pat Boone
- The Channels
- Ray Charles
- Chubby Checker
- The Cleftones
- Perry Como
- The Crests
- The Del-Vikings
- Bo Diddley
- Fats Domino
- The Doors
- The Drifters
- The Duprees
- The Everly Brothers
- The Five Satins
- The Four Aces
- The Four Seasons
- Connie Francis
- Lesley Gore
- The Heartbeats
- Jan and Dean
- Frankie Laine
- Brenda Lee
- Gary Lewis and the Playboys
- The Lovin' Spoonful
- Clyde McPhatter
- The Mello Kings
- Vaughn Monroe
- Ricky Nelson
- Patti Page
- The Paragons
- The Platters
- Elvis Presley
- Johnny Ray
- The Rolling Stones
- The Shirelles
- Simon and Garfunkel
- The Spaniels
- Kay Starr
- The Supremes
- The Temptations
- The Turtles
To browse the collection by composer, select a name from the list above. To search by song or musical title, use the box below.
Abram Samuels Sheet Music Collection
This marvelous collection, gifted to Muhlenberg College in 1991, contains more than 31,000 pieces of American popular music published between 1900-1965.
While the collection is somewhat smaller in numbers than the largest collections of sheet music in United States libraries, its focus on popular music almost exclusively from the decades of the 1920's through the 1950's makes it unique. Most sheet music collections encompass music from several centuries and include classical and sacred music, as well as popular.
Approximately twenty percent of the collection comprises pieces collected specifically by the following composers:
To browse the collection by composer, select a name from the list above. To search by song or musical title, use the box below.
The Paul McHale Papers
The Paul McHale Congressional Papers This collection documents the congressional work of Paul McHale (1950-), U.S. Representative (Democrat) for Pennsylvania's former 15th district from 1993-1998. A Bethlehem, PA native, McHale received his B.A. from Lehigh University in 1972. He served in the Marine Corps from 1972 to 1974 and in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1974 to 2007. He served combat tours in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. In 1997, McHale earned a J.D. from Georgetown University School of Law. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1983 to 1991. Following his time in the U.S. Congress, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense (2003-2009).
McHale was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and he co-founded the National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus. He also served on the Education and Labor Committee, Government Operations Committee, House Administration Committee, Judiciary Committee, Public Works and Transportation Committee, and the Rules Committee.
