Indiana State University was originally founded in the nineteenth century as Indiana State Normal School, designed to produce teachers for the state’s children. As a consequence, the university’s library had always paid significant attention to educational materials, both historical and contemporary.
- The Cunningham Collection was the work of ISU’s first librarian, Arthur Cunningham, for whom the present library is named. He created one of the most thorough collections of pedagogical literature this side of the Appalachians. These holdings represent what remains of that collection along with supplementary materials.
- William Floyd was superintendent of Lafayette County schools, and he believed that the character of Indiana children would be shaped by the textbooks they used in school. The Floyd Family Collection are textbooks used in Indiana from 1840 to 1945 along with supplementary materials.
- Benjamin Walker was a teacher at Indiana State University who donated a collection of textbooks used in the United States in the 19th century, along with supplementary materials.
- Special Collections acts as the repository for the publications and administrative materials of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE).
- Special Collections acts as the repository for the publications and administrative materials of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
- Special Collections holds the archives of the National Kindergarten Association (NKA) which existed between 1909 and 1976, which was designed to promote the adoption of public-school kindergarten.
- Part of the Singhurse Collection are the working materials of Beulah Singhurse, a local high school teacher.
