There are thousands of photographs in Special Collections, and they may be found in many different places. While we do have a photograph collection, some photos are part of individual manuscript collections or vertical files. Photographs can be difficult to organize and describe, and they may not always be described in a way that enables the type of search and retrieval you need for a particular project. Nevertheless, we have many ways to help you locate relevant photographs, and we are happy to help you with the search process.
In addition to the electronic resources listed above, don't forget that there are many photographs in our manuscript collections, and you can search the finding aids for those collections online (see the Manuscript Collections section of this LibGuide for information on how to do this). You may find specific descriptions of individual photos or less specific descriptions of groups of photos; it all depends on the nature of the collection you are looking at.
Finally, the most substantial source of college photos is our photograph collection, and that collection has no database or searchable discovery tool available for public use. However, Special Collections staff can use various methods to search for you if you have a specific topic such as a person, place, or event that you are researching. To ask for a photo search, please visit the reading room during open hours, call, or email using the contact information at left and provide as much detail as you can about what it is that you are looking for.