The Institute Archives and Special Collections research room will be closed to all researchers until further notice.
See: COVID-19 Outbreak Communications
You may email lib-archives@rpi.edu with any questions you have.
Archivists will respond to reference queries.
Conducting research in the Institute Archives and Special Collections at Rensselaer:
We schedule research use of the collections by appointment only. Please schedule on-site research with an Archivist well in advance of your visit. Contact us at lib-archives@rpi.edu to discuss your research. For the campus community, the Archives general business hours are Monday – Friday, 9-12 and 1-4.
Due to the volume of queries, please note that emails will be responded to as soon as possible. In some cases please expect a week or so for a response from an Archivist.
About the Archives:
Students in the Main Building.
The Institute Archives & Special Collections are housed in the Fixman Room on the 3rd floor of Folsom Library. Archival collections provide documentation of the development and growth of the Institute. Materials include: records of the presidents and senior administrators, Board of Trustees minutes, department records, and campus publications.
Dr. Robert R. Gilruth and George M. Low
Special collections – manuscripts and rare books – focus on nineteenth and early twentieth century science and technology. Subject areas include civil engineering, especially bridge, canal, and railroad design and construction; mechanics and mechanical engineering; geology; chemistry; physics; mathematics; and architecture. Among the department’s collections are the materials of John and Washington Roebling, Eben Norton Horsford, Amos Eaton, George Low’s NASA papers, and the Gerald and Sue Friedman History of Geology Rare Book Collection.