Acadia as an institution has been collecting and caring for documents of historical significance to the area since 1846. Books and journals from our Special Collections were once donated or collected to provide the necessary reading materials for our early college graduates. In the early years, our library and archival collections were closely tied together. As modern archival science developed, the archival materials were separated from the library materials.

The Library was first housed in the first College Hall, and despite the fire which destroyed the building in 1877, some books were salvaged. The Second College Hall was home to the Library and University Museum from 1879. In 1914 the library was moved to its own building – known to us today as Emmerson Hall. During the next 30 years, our Special Collections grew, as well as Baptist archival material. In 1965, the Library moved to its current home, the Vaughan Memorial Library. Since then, space has been added for our archival holdings vault, Special Collections, and reading room.