Archives and Special Collections

The Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center, a $2.7 million, 15,000-square-foot facility on the fourth floor of Stewart Center, opened to the public on January 12, 2009. The Karnes Center brings together, for the first time, Purdue’s special collections and archives into one centralized, state-of-the-art facility. The space features an entry hall/exhibit space, a researcher reading room with permanent displays, an instruction center, a processing center for receiving new materials, and offices for staff and faculty members.

The facility serves as a repository for the Libraries' rare collections that will make materials more readily accessible to visitors and scholars. The archives are equipped with security, fire suppression and climate control systems to protect collections that include the papers and effects of such Purdue-affiliated luminaries as humorist George Ade, cartoonist John T. McCutcheon, Nobel Prize winning chemist Herbert C. Brown, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan, and aviator Amelia Earhart. Previously these items and tens of thousands of other books and artifacts were distributed throughout seven buildings on campus.

The Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center is located on the 4th floor of the Humanities, Education and Social Sciences Library (HSSE) within Stewart Center. Visitors can find the Archives by first entering HSSE and then taking the elevator or stairs to the 4th floor.