Onsite Use of Special Collection Materials
Be sure to plan ahead if you’d like to use special collections materials onsite in our reading room.
Request the materials you'd like to view and schedule an appointment at least 10 days in advance. If you plan to request 10 boxes or more, please contact us directly at special.collections@umich.edu at least 2 weeks in advance of your visit.
During your visit, you can capture images using your camera or phone. There may be some exceptions, especially with fragile materials.
Get started
To get started, make sure you’re registered as a researcher to access our materials.
See our introduction to finding special collections and archival materials if it’s new to you.
Request materials
We use a few different tools to describe our varied collections. How you place a request depends on where you found the item.
As part of your request, you need to make an appointment to use the materials. Once you have an appointment slot, you can continue adding materials to it.
Library Search or Subject Vertical File
From U-M Library Catalog Search or the Labadie Collection Subject Vertical File listing:
- Select Request this. Log in if needed. You'll arrive at our reading room request form.
- Complete the form — including making an appointment.
Online finding aid
From the online finding aid you’re interested in:
- Select Request from the top of the finding aid. Log in if needed. You'll arrive at our reading room request form.
- Information about the finding aid will display on the form with a list of checkboxes by box. Select Expand All to see a detailed content list for each box and select the respective checkbox to request it. If a single box number is repeated in the selection list, it only needs to be checked once.
- Complete the form — including making an appointment.
Make an appointment and submit
At the end of your reading room request form, you'll need to either select an appointment you've already scheduled from the drop-down menu or the New Appointment button.
For a new appointment, select an open date from the calendar and set the length (the default is 1 hour). Available appointment times will populate for you to choose from. You'll then provide an appointment name and whether it's available to proxies. After submitting, we will email to confirm your visit date and time.
A number of our collections are located off-site and require time for us to make them available. Our staff may contact you to reschedule depending on the delivery schedule.