Manuscripts
Finding Manuscripts
There are a variety of ways to search for manuscripts at BYU-Idaho:
| Browse Alphabetical List of Manuscript Collections |
Use the library catalog on
the internet. Select Advanced Search and in the
Limits select "Special Collections".
Use the Manuscripts
Collection Descriptions page. This
page allows you to search BYU and BYU-Idaho's
manuscript collections and receive more detailed
information about the collection's availability
and contents.
Some collections have a digital content on our Oral
History Interviews page.
To find collections outside of BYU and BYU-Idaho visit our other
repositories page.
About Manuscripts at BYU-Idaho
The manuscript section of the Special Collections & Archives collects, by definition, historical materials originating outside of the university. Material created by BYU-Idaho is housed in the Archives. The Manuscripts section arranges and describes material collected by the University. Manuscripts may be either personal or corporate. A manuscript collection may be comprised of the letters and journals of an individual or the correspondence, administrative files and financial records of a business, corporation or family.
Manuscripts are organized differently than books in a library. Instead of being arranged by subject they are grouped by the creator of the papers or records. For example, the manuscript section holds the Ruth Barrus collection and the Great Feeder Canal Company collection. Collections vary greatly in size and composition.
Each collection has a finding aid, called a register. The register contains an introduction, a biographical sketch or agency history, a scope and content note and an inventory of the collection.
Manuscript collections can be viewed in the reading room. After the researcher has determined that the Special Collections & Archives holds a collection that they are interested in the researcher can request a box from the collection. An employee will retrieve the box and bring it to the researcher in the reading room. View the Reading Room Rules online and sign the form to have access to reading room materials, copies are also available in the reading room.