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Using & Accessing Materials

Quaker & Special Collections is open to all users, including students, faculty, and staff of the Tri-College community, scholars, and the public. Users must register and sign in each day when they arrive and agree to abide by our Reading Room policies.

Except for open stack Quaker materials, all materials must be used in the Reading Room. Patrons may bring pencil and paper, laptops, tablets, and/or reference materials to the tables, and will be asked to store all other personal belongings in the provided lockers on their arrival.

Visitors are encouraged, but not required, to contact Quaker & Special Collections prior to their visit. Prior notice allows us to pull together a list of potential resources and to have resources ready upon your arrival. If you have a question about materials in a certain collection, visiting the collections, or anything else, please contact us.

Quaker & Special Collections does accept requests for information via email (preferred) and phone from patrons unable to visit the collections. In general, Quaker & Special Collections staff can provide up to half an hour of research free of charge; after that, researchers will be expected to make other arrangements.

Use of the Reading Room is reserved for those using our materials.

Reproduction Policies & Fees

Accessing Materials

To find materials in Quaker & Special Collections, researchers may need to search in several places. Tripod, the Libraries’ online catalog, contains the records for all books held by Quaker & Special Collections, and some of the manuscript materials.

  • Tripod

    Tripod, the Libraries' online catalog, contains the records for all books held by Quaker & Special Collections, and some of the manuscript materials. If there is an online guide to the collection, the Tripod record will provide a link to this guide. Some ephemera can be found through searching Tripod, and there is an index to the newspaper issues held by Quaker & Special Collections.

  • TriArte Database

    A small amount of the art held in Quaker & Special Collections is available online. The TriArte database allows you to browse by format or to search. In almost all cases, records in Triarte include an image of the art as well as descriptive information.

  • Triptych

    Collections in Triptych include Bi-Co News photographs, Friendly Association for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures materials, the Cope-Evans family papers, historic photographs of Haverford College, Quaker broadsides, Quaker journals and diaries, images of Quaker meeting houses, and materials related to Quakers and slavery. Some material can also be found in digital exhibits.

  • Triceratops

    Materials in Triceratops include recordings of speeches, oral histories, and digital versions of Quaker serials. Also included are minutes of various faculty, administration, and student committees; these may be accessible only to those on campus.

Quaker & Special Collections also captures various parts of the Haverford College website as well as websites of Quaker organizations for historical purposes.