Welcome to the McNeese Archives and Special Collections Department. We collect resources which reflect the history of McNeese, Lake Charles, and the Southwest Louisiana area. Our published resources include newspapers, student theses, rare books, McNeese publications, and local history books. The Department also collects archival resources, including personal papers, business records, audiovisual materials, works of art, and maps. The Department maintains an online digital library of images and other electronic resources beneficial to using and accessing our materials.
McNeese is the only site in the five-parishes of Southwest Louisiana with an archives repository managed by a professional archivist. At present we hold over 300 archives collections consisting of 5,500 linear feet of materials, such as early Lake Charles city records, the McNeese Photograph collection, and records of past businesses, schools, and organizations that do not exist anywhere else. Our rare books include first editions of American writers, including George Washington Cable, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’Neill, William Saroyan, Upton Sinclair, John Steinbeck, Lyle Saxon, Harnett T. Kane, and Tennessee Williams.
The Archives and Special Collections Department staff is ready to assist students and other researchers with locating archival resources. We are open by appointment only. Please call or email to use our materials at least 24 hours in advance. Contact Pati Threatt, Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, at (337) 475-5731 or archivesdept@mcneese.edu.
Visit the Archives home page