Creighton University Archives and Special Collections

Welcome to the homepage for the Creighton University Archives and Special Collections. We are located in the basement of the Reinert Alumni Memorial Library on Creighton University's Omaha Campus. We also manage and maintain the Rare Books Room, found on the first floor of the library.

The Creighton University Archives collects, maintains and provides access to collections that appeal to a variety of researchers: archival holdings related to the history of Creighton University; rare books and other valuable print materials; and special collections from literature, health, art, religion and other fields.

This website is intended to introduce you to some of the collections found in our holdings and invite you to dig deeper by setting up an appointment to visit the Rare Books Room and use our collections for your scholarship and research.

Featured Sites

We want to draw special attention to a few of our collections that have dedicated websites allowing you to delve deeping into these collections and engage with their stories from the comfort of your home.

 

 

If you are interested in the history of Civil Rights in Omaha then you should check out the Fr. John Markoe, S.J. and Omaha DePorres Club Site. This site, currated by a Creighton Honors Program class in the Spring semester of 2025, tells the story of a West Point cadet who struggled with alcholism turned Jesuit priest and Civil Rights activist. Forming the Omaha DePorres Club in 1947, Fr. John P. Markoe and club members engaged in protests, sit-ins, and boycotts to fight back against the discrimination and desegregation that black members of the Omaha community faced every day.

 

If you are interested in imaginative short stories featuring a wide cast of animals and people with a lesson to be learned then the Carlson Fable Collection Site may be for you. Fr. Gregory Carlson, S.J. has amassed a collection of over 11,000 fables books and over 10,000 artifacts featuring all sorts of depictions from your favorite fables. Fr. Carlson has collected books and artifacts from all over the world with 79 languages and 23 dialects represented. A majority of the materials relate to the three major fable writers; Aesop, Jean de La Fontaine, and Ivan Krylov.
If you want to explore the story behind the theft of more than 23,000 rare books at the hands of Stephen Blumberg then explore our site: The Book Bandit: Rare Books, Libraries, and Theft. This site was created in the Spring of 2023 by the students in the Honors 390B course at Creighton University. The students explore the life, activities, and trial of Stephen Blumberg. Their multidisciplinary approach to this story allows visitors to dive into the case like never before by exploring the history of books and libraries, learning what makes a book rare and valuable, and finding answers to some legal and scientific questions about book theft and obsessive book collecting.