Upcoming Events: October 2025

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Drop in to one of this month’s Exhibit Open Houses to meet and speak informally with one of the curators of the fall exhibition, Mapping Global Dante in Translation. Learn how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Divine Comedy over the centuries and across the world and discover the Library’s many Dante editions.

Thursday, October 3, 2:00 – 3:30pm | Exhibit Open House with curator Giulia Maria Gliozzi (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate)

Thursday, October 10, 2:00 – 3:30pm | Exhibit Open House with curator Inha Park (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate)

Thursday, October 17, 2:00 – 3:30pm | Exhibit Open House with curator Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate)

Thursday, October 30 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: Research presentations by 4th-year students in the Italian PhD program (University of Notre Dame) — this year’s speakers are: Elisa Bisson, Inha Park, and Salvatore Riolo.


The Fall 2025 Exhibition | “What through the universe in leaves is scattered”: Mapping Global Dante in Translation

This exhibit traces the global journey of Dante’s masterpiece through rare and valuable printed editions, highlighting how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Commedia. These volumes reveal a dynamic dialogue between Dante’s poetry and the world. A global literary perspective transforms Dante from a monumental yet isolated figure of the European Middle Ages into a central presence in the ongoing international conversation about humanity, the universe, time, eternity, and the power of literature.

This exhibit is curated by Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate), and co-curators Giulia Maria Gliozzi (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); Inha Park (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); and Peter Scharer (Yale, Comparative Literature doctoral candidate). Theodore J. Cachey Jr. (Notre Dame) and Jacob Blakesley (Sapienza Università di Roma) served as consultants on the exhibit.

The exhibit is co-sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies and the Devers Program in Dante Studies. This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.


The current spotlight exhibits are: Portrait of the Artist as a Dance Fan: Edward Gorey and the New York City Ballet (September-October 2025) curated by Rachel Bohlmann (American History Librarian and Curator)…

…and Bibliomania: The Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps (May-December 2025) curated by Anne Elise Crafton (2024-2025 Rare Books and Special Collections Postdoctoral Research Fellow).

All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.


Welcome Back! Fall 2025 in Special Collections

Rare Books and Special Collections welcomes students, faculty, staff, researchers, and visitors back to campus for Fall 2025! We want to let you know about a variety of things to watch for in the coming semester.

Fall 2025 Exhibits

“What through the universe in leaves is scattered”
Mapping Global Dante in Translation

This exhibition traces the global journey of Dante’s masterpiece through rare and valuable printed editions, highlighting how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Commedia. These volumes reveal a dynamic dialogue between Dante’s poetry and the world. A global literary perspective transforms Dante from a monumental yet isolated figure of the European Middle Ages into a central presence in the ongoing international conversation about humanity, the universe, time, eternity, and the power of literature.

This exhibit is co-sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies and the Devers Program in Dante Studies. It is curated by Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate) and co-curators Giulia Maria Gliozzi (Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate), Inha Park (Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate), and Peter Scharer (Yale Comparative Literature doctoral candidate). Theodore J. Cachey Jr. (Notre Dame) and Jacob Blakesley (Sapienza Università di Roma) served as consultants on the exhibit.

Current Spotlight Exhibits

Bibliomania: The Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps

May – December, 2025

Few 19th-century antiquarians matched the obsession or eccentricity of English baronet Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872). A self-described “vello-maniac” (lover of parchment), Phillipps spent his life and fortune amassing what became the largest manuscript collection of his time. It included more than 60,000 manuscripts and 20,000 printed works.

Upon his death, Phillipps mandated that his collection never be dispersed, nor that any Catholic ever be permitted to view his library. After his will was contested, however, Phillipps’ descendants began the century-long process of ridding themselves of the burdensome trove. This exhibit features five manuscripts that have made their way from the Phillipps collection to the University of Notre Dame, testifying to the fraught legacy of one of history’s most extreme collectors. In this exhibit, three medieval charters, a medieval codex, and an early modern treatise are now available for all to see, in direct contrast to Phillipps’ restrictive wishes.

This exhibit is curated by Anne Elise Crafton, 2024-2025 Rare Books and Special Collections Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Ars praedicandi: The Materiality of the Medieval Sermon

June – September, 2025

This exhibit displays a medieval sermon composed from a variety of preaching aids and sourcebooks: bibles, summae, florilegia, and other systematized anthologies. The sermon was the most influential vehicle for religious and moral instruction: virtues, vices, canon law, and living the faith all reached the masses in urban centers through preaching. The physical formats of the manuscripts themselves provide insight into pastoral care in the medieval world. This exhibit emphasizes a few of the many items from the Hesburgh Library’s collection of medieval manuscripts created for and used by actual medieval preachers.

This exhibit is curated by David T. Gura, Ph.D., Curator, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts, Concurrent Professor of Classics and the Medieval Institute.

These and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.

All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.

Special Collections’ Classes & Workshops

Throughout the semester, curators will lead instructional sessions related to our holdings to undergraduate and graduate students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College. Curators may also be available to show special collections materials to visiting classes, from preschool through adults. If you would like to arrange a group visit and class with a curator, please contact Special Collections.

Events

This program is free and open to the public.

Friday, September 12 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm | Exhibit Open House: Drop in to meet and speak informally with curator Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate) about the new exhibit, Mapping Global Dante in Translation. Learn how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Divine Comedy over the centuries and across the world and discover the Library’s many Dante editions.

Learn more about other Special Collections and Hesburgh Library events.

Recent Acquisitions

Special Collections acquires new material throughout the year. Watch this blog for information about recent acquisitions.

Anticipated Closures

Rare Books and Special Collections is regularly open 9:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. The department will be closed for the following holidays and events:

September 1, for Labor Day (Monday)

November 27–28, for Thanksgiving (Thursday and Friday)

Our last day open before the campus closure for Christmas Celebration will be Tuesday, December 23. We will reopen on January 5, 2026.

Hours and other information for all Hesburgh Library locations can be found on the Library Website.

Upcoming Events: February 2025

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, February 27 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “‘Anticolonialism(s) as antiracism(s)?’ Italian Radicals Facing ‘Race’ and the Colonial Question at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” by Silvana Patriarca (Fordham University).


The Spring 2025 Exhibition — Tragedies of War: Images of World War II in Print Visual Culture — will open in February and run through the end of July 2025. Based predominantly on recently acquired Rare Books and Special Collections European holdings, the exhibition commemorates the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) and will explore a diverse assortment of themes including Nazi racial ideology, the Holocaust, Children in War, Resistance, Liberation, and Memories of War. Curated by Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), Jean McManus (Catholic Studies Librarian, University Archives) and Julia Schneider (German Language and Literature and Italian Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Libraries).

(The Fall 2024 Exhibition, Notre Dame Football Kills Prejudice: Citizenship and Faith in 1924, ends January 30. Come see the exhibition while you still can!)

The current spotlight exhibit is Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers (January–April 2025). In 1980, the University of Notre Dame became the first major university to boycott Campbell Soup products in support of Midwestern farmworkers represented by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Toledo, OH). In a few short months, a small and dedicated cohort of students tapped into a growing movement and convinced the campus to act in solidarity. Curated by Emiliano Aguilar (Assistant Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies).

Welcome Back! Spring 2025 in Special Collections

Rare Books and Special Collections welcomes students, faculty, staff, researchers, and visitors back to campus for Spring ’25! Here are a variety of things to watch for in Special Collections during the coming semester.

Special Collections Welcomed Two New Curators in the Fall 2024 Semester

Matthew Knight and Payton Phillips Quintanilla bring subject matter expertise in Irish Studies and Latin American and Iberian Studies.

In addition to stewarding the Hesburgh Libraries’ Irish Studies collections in both general and specialized collections, Knight works with other University faculty members to foster the use of these materials broadly across campus within the larger field of Irish Studies teaching and instruction.

The new Irish Studies Librarian and Curator brings deep expertise in the field of Irish Studies, teaching, and librarianship, including in special collections. He previously served as an Associate Librarian at the University of South Florida and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Celtic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University in addition to an M.A. in Library Science from the University of South Florida.

Phillips Quintanilla is responsible for stewarding the Libraries’ Latin American and Iberian Studies collections in both general and specialized collections. She works within the Libraries and across campus to foster the use of the collections broadly within the fields of Latin American Studies and Iberian Studies teaching and instruction. She also supports Latino Studies students and faculty in collaboration with Rachel Bohlmann, American History Librarian and Curator of North Americana.

Phillips Quintanilla brings deep expertise in the field of Latin American and Iberian Studies and teaching, as well as experience in the cultural heritage sector — particularly in areas of provenance and the stewardship of special collections. Before joining the Hesburgh Libraries faculty, she worked as a Research Specialist in the Pre-Hispanic Art Provenance Initiative at the Getty Research Institute. The new librarian and curator holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures with a specialization in transatlantic early modern literatures and cultures, as well as an M.A. in Spanish from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a Master of Professional Writing from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy from Occidental College.

Read the full press release on the Hesburgh Library website.

Fall 2024 Exhibition — Notre Dame Football Kills Prejudice: Citizenship and Faith in 1924

Continuing through the end of January.

“Notre Dame football is a new crusade:
it kills prejudice and stimulates faith.”

— Rev. John F. O’Hara, C.S.C., Prefect of Religion,
Religious Bulletin, November 17, 1924

In the fall of 1924, the University of Notre Dame found great success on the football field and confronted a dangerous and divisive political moment. The undefeated Fighting Irish football team, cemented forever in national memory by Grantland Rice’s legendary “Four Horsemen” column, beat the best opponents from all regions of the country and won the Rose Bowl to claim a consensus national championship. Off the field, Notre Dame battled a reactionary nativist political environment that, in its most extreme manifestation, birthed the second version of the Ku Klux Klan. Sympathizers of this “100% Americanism” movement celebrated white, male, Protestant citizenship and attacked other groups—including Catholics and immigrants—who challenged this restrictive understanding of American identity.

In the national spotlight, Notre Dame leaders unabashedly embraced their Catholic identity. They consciously leveraged the unprecedented visibility and acclaim of the football team to promote—within the very real political constraints of the era—a more inclusive and welcoming standard of citizenship. Attracting a broad and diverse fan base, the 1924 national champion Fighting Irish discredited nativist politics and helped stake the claim of Notre Dame—and Catholics and immigrants—to full citizenship and undisputed Americanness.

Curated by Gregory Bond (Curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection, Rare Books and Special Collections) and Elizabeth Hogan (Senior Archivist for Photographs and Graphic Materials, University Archives).

Spring 2025 Exhibition — Tragedies of War: Images of World War II in Print Visual Culture

Opening mid-February.

Based predominantly on recently acquired Rare Books and Special Collections European holdings, the exhibition commemorates the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) and explores a diverse assortment of themes including Nazi racial ideology, the Holocaust, Children in War, Resistance, Liberation, and Memories of War. By examining these topics through images created for personal use by ordinary people and for state-sponsored propaganda purposes, the exhibit presents a visual narrative of the war’s profound impact on individuals and societies, offering deeper insight into how war was experienced and remembered.

Curated by Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), Jean McManus (Catholic Studies Librarian, University Archives) and Julia Schneider (German Language and Literature and Italian Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Libraries).

Spring Spotlight: Building a Campus Boycott to Support Midwestern Farmworkers

Opening end of January.

In 1980, the University of Notre Dame became the first major university to boycott Campbell Soup products in support of Midwestern farmworkers represented by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Toledo, OH). In a few short months, a small and dedicated cohort of students tapped into a growing movement and convinced the campus to act in solidarity.

Curated by Emiliano Aguilar (Assistant Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies).

These and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.

All exhibits are free and open to the public during regular hours.

Special Collections’ Classes & Workshops

Throughout the semester, curators will teach sessions related to our holdings to undergraduate and graduate students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College. Curators may also be available to show special collections to visiting classes, from preschool through adults. If you would like to arrange a group visit and class with a curator, please contact Special Collections.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, January 16 at 5:00pm | The Spring 2025 Italian Research Seminar and Lectures will begin with a lecture by 4th-year Ph.D. student in Italian Rookshar Myram (University of Notre Dame) titled: “Forging Effigies in the Commedia: Deification as Artistry.”

Learn more about this and other Events in Italian Studies.

Recent Acquisitions

Special Collections acquires new material throughout the year. Watch this blog for information about recent acquisitions.

Upcoming Events: December 2024

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, December 5 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “A Reckless and Scandalous Doctrine: Matthias Ferchius, a Franciscan in the Index” by Eva Del Soldato (University of Pennsylvania).


The exhibition Notre Dame Football Kills Prejudice: Citizenship and Faith in 1924 is now open and will run through the end of January 2025.

Tours of the exhibit may be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting Greg Bond at gbond2@nd.edu.


The current spotlight exhibits are Wollstonecraft: Revolution & Textual Evidence (September–December 2024) and A Fourteenth-Century Chanson de Geste Fragment (September–December 2024).

RBSC will be closed during the University of Notre Dame’s Christmas and New Year’s Celebrations,
December 21, 2024 – January 1, 2025.

Upcoming Events: November 2024

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, November 7 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “Literary Celebs: Amalia Guglielminetti, Guido Gozzano and the Price of Fame” by John Welle (University of Notre Dame).

Thursday, November 21 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “The Activism of Imagination: Fictions of Europe Between Utopia and Disenchantment” by Nicoletta Pireddu (Georgetown University).


The exhibition Notre Dame Football Kills Prejudice: Citizenship and Faith in 1924 is now open and will run through the end of January 2025.

Curators Gregory Bond and Elizabeth Hogan will host exhibit open houses on select Friday afternoons before Notre Dame home football games, including on November 8 and November 15. The drop-in open houses will run from 3:00–4:30pm and will feature brief remarks by the curators at 3:15pm.

Tours of the exhibit may be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting Greg Bond at gbond2@nd.edu.


The current spotlight exhibits are Wollstonecraft: Revolution & Textual Evidence (September – December 2024) and A Fourteenth-Century Chanson de Geste Fragment (September – November 2024).

RBSC will be closed during the University of Notre Dame’s Thanksgiving Break, November 28 – 29.

Upcoming Events: April 2024

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, April 11 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “Boccaccio, the Disguised Revolutionary” by Martin Eisner (Duke University).


In the spring exhibition, Mapping the Middle Ages: Marking Time, Space, and Knowledge, primary objects bring to the fore the tension between literal and figurative arrangements of space, time, and knowledge during the Middle Ages.

This exhibition is curated by David T. Gura, PhD, Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts.


The current spotlight exhibits are Scripts and Geographies of Byzantine Book Culture (February – April 2024) and A Medieval Nun’s Choir Book (February – early April 2024). The current bi-monthly spotlight will run through April 5, with a new exhibit featuring a selection of books from the Arts & Crafts movement being installed on April 8.


Special Collections will be closed on March 29, in observance of Good Friday, and will be open regular hours on Easter Monday (April 1).

Upcoming Events: December 2023

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, December 7 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “Desire, Anxiety, Shame: Transatlantic (Re)Mediations and ‘Italian Culture'” by Loredana Polezzi (Stony Brook University).


The exhibition Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States is now open and will run through the fall semester.

Tours of the exhibit may also be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting Rachel Bohlmann at (574) 631-1575 or Rachel.Bohlmann.2@nd.edu.


The December spotlight exhibits are Football and Community at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (August – December 2023) and TBD (December 2023 – November 2024).

Rare Books and Special Collections will be closed for Notre Dame’s Christmas and New Year’s Break
(December 22, 2023, through January 1, 2024).

We otherwise remain open for our regular hours during Reading Days and Exams, and welcome those looking for a quiet place to study.

Upcoming Events: November 2023

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, November 2 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “The Dilemmas of Friendship in Dante’s Italy” by Elizabeth Coggeshall (Florida State).

Thursday, November 9 at 5:00pm | Book Presentation: La vita dell’altro. Svevo, Joyce: Un’amicizia geniale by Enrico Terrinoni (Affiliate of the Center for Italian Studies). Terrinoni will be joined by Sara Boezio, Charles Leavitt, and Clíona Ní Ríordáin for a roundtable discussion of his book. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies.

Thursday, November 30 at 4:30pm | Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States: A Panel Discussion.

A tour of Hesburgh Libraries’ Fall 2023 exhibition, Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States, precedes the panel discussion (4:30 – 5:00pm). A reception will follow the panel discussion, in the Hesburgh Libraries Scholar’s Lounge.

Free and open to the public; no tickets required.


The exhibition Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States is now open and will run through the fall semester.

A curator-led tour, open to the public, will be held noon–1:00pm on the following upcoming Friday: November 17. Tours of the exhibit may also be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting Rachel Bohlmann at (574) 631-1575 or Rachel.Bohlmann.2@nd.edu.


The November spotlight exhibits are Football and Community at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (August – December 2023) and Path to Sainthood: Brother Columba O’Neill (October – November 2023).

RBSC will be closed during the University of Notre Dame’s Thanksgiving Break, November 23 – 24.

Upcoming Events: October 2023

Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:

Thursday, October 5 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: “The Archival Turn and Network Approach: Examining Evolving Translation Practices and Discourses in the British Publishing Firm Complex, 1950s-1980s” by Daniela La Penna (University of Reading, UK).

Thursday, October 24 at 5:00pm | McBrien Special Collections Lecture Series: “Chief O’Neill in Ten Tunes” by Dr. Seán Doherty (Dublin City University).

Captain Francis O’Neill’s collection 1001 Gems: The Dance Music of Ireland (1907) is so important to the world of Irish traditional music that it’s sometimes called the Bible or simply, ‘The Book’. Starting as a pandemic project, the Irish composer and musicologist Seán Doherty analyzed all 1001 tunes in this influential collection. In this lecture and performance, Seán will discuss the music along with O’Neill’s biography and will play tunes linked to key moments in Chief O’Neill’s life.

Captain O’Neill donated his personal library to the University of Notre Dame, where it is held at the Hesburgh Library. Dr. Doherty’s research visit is supported by the Keough-Naughton Library Research Award in Irish Studies.


The exhibition Making and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States is now open and will run through the fall semester.

Curator-led tours, open to the public, will be held noon–1:00pm on the following upcoming Fridays: October 13 and 27 [tour on 10/27 cancelled], and November 17.

Tours of the exhibit may also be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting Rachel Bohlmann at (574) 631-1575 or Rachel.Bohlmann.2@nd.edu.


The October spotlight exhibits are Football and Community at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (August – December 2023) and Path to Sainthood: Brother Columba O’Neill (October – November 2023).

RBSC will be open regular hours (9:30am – 4:30pm) during the University of Notre Dame’s Fall Break, October 16 – 20.