University Archives & Special Collections
University Archives and Special Collections are home to the records of Case Western Reserve University, and to Kelvin Smith Library’s rare books and manuscripts collections.
The Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship
The Freedman Center has been relaunched with a new space, new services, and new equipment. Click the link to learn more about the Center.
EXHIBIT
Celebrating CWRU's 200th Birthday!
In 2026, we celebrate CWRU's 200th birthday. For the 150th birthday, or sesquicentennial celebration of the founding of Western Reserve College in 1826, CWRU created heraldic banners representing CWRU's schools from its past. Nine of these have been replicated and are on display in the central staircase of Kelvin Smith Library.
Highlights
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December 03, 2025Thanks to the visionary generosity of the Freedman Family nearly two decades ago, the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship has reopened after an upgrade with a new footprint, new technology, new digital resources and expanded services. This transformation, both physical and technical, was the… -
December 03, 2025In June of 2025, Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) staff pushed together conference room tables and began to unroll large cloth banners and strings of tassels wrapped around sturdy poles. As each banner stretched across the tables, the staff guessed, based on the symbolism, which banner represented which… -
December 03, 2025As Case Western Reserve University marks its bicentennial, we celebrate the vital role the University Archives plays in preserving and sharing the stories of the people, programs and places that brought us to this milestone. Every day, archivists make it possible to explore images, records,…