Our Archive is located in the basement of the Haas Library on the midtown campus of Western CT State University which is situated on the traditional homelands of the Schaghticoke, Weantinock, and other Native Peoples.
The archive is open by appointment. Click for online research requests.
Our archive maintains the historical records of Western Connecticut State University dating back to its founding in 1903 as the Danbury Normal School and is a significant repository for collections related to local history. Collections include personal papers, local government, and organizational records, visual materials, maps, journals, various media, art, and artifacts. These archival holdings amount to approximately 1800 linear feet.
To browse the collections see the Archival Collections List. To search the descriptions of our collections at the WCSU Archives you may search our collections alone: (https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/public); Search collections including ours around CT (CAO [Connecticut’s Archives Online]); or you will find our collections in the WCSU Library catalog (WestSearch).
The Special Collections Library‘s holdings include:- monographs, and audio-visual materials that pertain to the history of Danbury, Connecticut, and the region
- out-of-print or rare spoken word, opera, and other classical music phonograph recordings
- a portion of the original monograph holdings of the Danbury Normal School’s library
- monographs authored/created by WCSU faculty, students, and alumni
- monographs that supplement subjects in our archival collections
- rare/antique books and other objects donated to the Haas Library or Special Collections that are deemed to be 1) of significant artifactual value and 2) to be unique and essential to support the research needs of the University and the mission of the Archive; and library holdings of significant value to warrant special treatment.
There are approximately 9000 cataloged titles (discoverable via WestSearch) currently held in the Special Collections Library that range in publication date from 1626 to the present. The groupings of materials found in Special Collections are Connecticut Room (relating to CT history), Rare Books, Theses, LPs, and Facsimiles.
The WCSU Archive and Special Collections Library strive to provide broad access to our diverse collections both in-person and digitally. Materials in our collections appear as they originally were published or created and may contain language or images that could be considered by users to be offensive or inappropriate. WCSU does not endorse the views expressed in or by these archival holdings, and provides access to them for research purposes.
The masthead for WestConn’s student newspaper, 1966