University Resources

Nathan and Jeanette Miller Center for Historical Studies

The Nathan and Jeanette Miller Center for Historical Studies was established in 1999 to create a flourishing environment for the study of history at the University of Maryland. It brings together faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and staff within the university and scholars and teachers throughout the state of Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region to discuss important historical issues, both old and new, from ancient times to the present, and pertinent to all areas of the world, from the United States and Europe to Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

University of Maryland Libraries

UM is home to the largest public research library in the state, with over 3 million volumes, more than 50,000 journal titles, numerous special collections and the latest in technical resources.

Art Gliner Center for Humor Studies

The Art Gliner Center is dedicated to supporting research and teaching on humor and to developing social initiatives promoting constructive uses of humor. The Center has sponsored lectures on such subjects as women's humor, southern humor, humor and effective communication, social and political satire on television, humor and coping with disabilities, and issues involving computer translation programs created by humorous language.

Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies

The Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies (CRBS) promotes teaching and research in the Renaissance and Baroque periods by offering academic and outreach programs in the arts and humanities and allied fields. All of the Center's efforts stem from an appreciation of the European Renaissance traditions of exploration and of attempts to relate older traditions of knowledge to new discoveries and scholarship.

David C. Driskell Center

The David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland celebrates the legacy of David C. Driskell -- Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Art, Artist, Art Historian, Collector, and Curator -- both by preserving the rich heritage of African American visual art and culture, and by fostering the development of future artists and scholars of color. Established in 2001, the Center provides an intellectual home for scholars, museum professionals, art administrators, and artists broadening the field of African diasporic studies. By bringing together the visual arts and the field of diasporic studies in fluid and dynamic ways, the Center offers creative and curricular programming to the University and the greater Maryland and Washington , D.C. communities while serving as a national leader in the field of African American art and culture.

Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies

Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies strives to create an intellectual community both on campus and in the Baltimore-Washington area. The Center sponsors regular conferences, seminars, and lectures, which bring scholars from all over the world to engage in scholarly debate. These conferences and symposia have made the University of Maryland a center for intellectual inquiry about Jews and Judaism. The Center also has enlarged the community of Jewish scholarship on campus by arranging for visiting scholars, faculty, and fellows, and by appointing as affiliate members regular university faculty who sometimes do research on the Jews and Jewish culture.

Area Resources

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts.

National Archives

On June 19, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Archives Act creating the National Archives as an independent agency (48 Stat. 1122) and creating the National Historical Publications Commission (NHPC). Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important, for legal or historical reasons, that they are kept by the Archives forever. Those valuable records are preserved and available to the public.

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian consists of 19 museums, 144 affiliate museums, and 9 research centers. Art and Design, Science and Technology, History and Culture: anything and everything has been researched and cataloged by the institution which has been nicknamed ‘The Nation's Attic.'

Meany Center (National Labor College)

The National Labor College (NLC) is located on a beautiful 47-acre campus in Silver Spring , Maryland . It began with the vision of George Meany that labor have its own college - a national center that would provide continuous labor education for all union activists. The College is also the location of The George Meany Memorial Archives which holds the records of the AFL-CIO, including administrative and staff departments, constitutional trade departments, and some federation-sponsored programs. Dating from the earliest days of the American Federation of Labor (1881), but offering almost complete records from the founding of the AFL-CIO (1955), the collections provide rich resources for historians, political scientists, trade union activists, and undergraduate and graduate students who want to examine a wide range of twentieth-century American political and social issues.

Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library, located on Capitol Hill in Washington , DC , is a world-class research center on Shakespeare and on the early modern age in the West. It is home to the world's largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials and to major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art.

The National Academies

The National Academies perform an unparalleled public service by bringing together committees of experts in all areas of scientific and technological endeavor. These experts serve pro bono to address critical national issues and give advice to the federal government and the public. Four organizations comprise the Academies: the National Academy of Sciences , the National Academy of Engineering , the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America's national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history, and serves as this country's memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust Chartered by a unanimous Act of Congress in 1980 and located adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, DC, the Museum strives to broaden public understanding of the history of the Holocaust through multifaceted programs: exhibitions ; research and publication; collecting and preserving material evidence, art and artifacts relating to the Holocaust ; annual Holocaust commemorations known as Days of Remembrance ; distribution of educational materials and teacher resources ; and a variety of public programming designed to enhance understanding of the Holocaust and related issues, including those of contemporary significance.