MissionThe Special Collections Research Center (including the Belfer Audio Archive) is a hub for primary source research at Syracuse University Library. Our collections are broad and support research and instruction in an array of subject areas.
We collect primary sources that document aspects of American history and culture, particularly:
- 19th century reform movements, especially abolition, women’s suffrage, and utopian communities.
- Literary and artistic expressions of radical ideology.
- Popular culture and mass literature, especially cartoons, dime novels, pulp magazines and science fiction.
- 20th century architecture and design, including the history of plastic.
- History of broadcasting.
- Recorded sound, particularly Edisoniana (cylinders and diamond discs) and select 78 rpm discs.
- Adult and continuing education.
We preserve materials in a variety of formats, from cuneiform tablets and illuminated manuscripts, to the printed page, wax cylinder, and moving image.
We present our collections to constituents in a research setting conducive to individual or collaborative, direct or technology-intensive research methods.
We connect faculty, students and a wider public to our materials and research findings through exhibits, seminars, periodical publications, and digitization.
