The Wiggin Library has been at the heart of the school since its beginning when Frederic Huidekoper, son of the founder and the School's first professor and librarian, put his personal library at the disposal of the fledgling institution. It is now one of the foremost resource centers for the study of liberal religion. In addition to the many materials in Unitarian and Universalist history and theology, the library is also strong in related areas of literature, philosophy, and nineteenth-century American culture and thought as well as in the fields of comparative religion and social ethics.

New areas of concern such as ecology and religion and science are covered in depth. There are over 140,000 volumes and 120 currently-received periodicals as well as dozens of runs of historical serials. The archives include papers and other collections from some of our most prominent ministers, including William Ellery Channing, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, A. Powell Davies, Charles Lyttle, Jack Mendelsohn, Kenneth Patton, Vincent B. Silliman, Arthur Foote, John Hayward, and Wallace Robbins.

To use the catalog, click on the link at the right side of the page, then click on Local Catalog, and use the search tools at the bottom of the page. Please note the following:

• Our library catalog may be searched to find material acquired since 1979 and for selected, older Unitarian Universalist materials. For most pre-1979 holdings, you must search the card catalog located in the Meadville Lombard library.

• The current manual setup of the circulation system at Meadville Lombard does not permit the library staff to record whether a book is checked out. Therefore, all books on the electronic catalog will show as available and not checked out, regardless of their actual status.

• If you can not find a book you are looking for, try the University of Chicago Library or one of the ACTS schools (see below for privilege information for these organizations).

• Additionally, the library subscribes to a number of electronic databases, which include access to WorldCat (a catalog of thousands of holding libraries across the globe) and various electronic journals. Search these databases at FirstSearch (contact a librarian for username and password details).

University of Chicago Library Access

Full library privileges at the University of Chciago libraries are open only to students taking a course at the University, although (limited) access to the libraries is permitted for Meadville Lombard students. For further details, please contact the privileges office of the University of Chicago, which is located at the Regenstein Library Room, 100F 1100 E. 57th Street, Chicago, IL  60637. See also the privileges office homepage, or phone them at 773.702.8782 and 773.702.3344.

ACTS Library Access

The Association of Chicago Theological Schools, known as ACTS, is a conortium of twelve theological schools in the Chicago area to provide means for cooperation among the member institutions in the areas of student cross-registration, and libarary access and acquisitions. In order to borrow books from any of the ACTS member libraries, you will need an ACTS library card, which is available from the Associate Librarian, Anthony Heacock.