At the core of the collection are books sent to Minnesota in the late nineteenth century from the German monasteries that were supporting the American Benedictine missions. By 1877--twenty years after arriving in Minnesota--the monks had built up a library of almost 1200 books, mostly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In that year two windfalls from Germany doubled the size of the collection. In September the monastery of Ottobeuren sent 1062 books, ranging from incunabula (books printed before 1501) to more current publications. In December the monks of Metten, the grandmother abbey of Saint John's, sent another 179 books covering a similar chronological span. In the following years the collection of old and rare books continued to grow. Abbots bought books while on visits to Europe, monks sent off to studies acquired books and manuscripts, and benefactors began to see Saint John's as a place to bequeath their own bibliographic treasures. Meanwhile, visionary librarians invested in the research tools essential to a major theological research library.

Today Saint John's Rare Books include the core collection of mostly theological works acquired during the past 150 years, supplemented by acquisitions related to the liberal arts mission of Saint John's University and donations by generous friends. Especially notable among the gifts are significant examples of the art of printing from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries donated by the late Alfred G. ("Al") Muellerleile, founder of the North Central Printing Company of Saint Paul. An extraordinary collection of papal, royal, and presidential autographs was given by the late Dr. James Kritzeck, alumnus of Saint John's Preparatory School, professor of Oriental languages at Princeton, and Director of the Institute for Advanced Religious Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The Kritzeck Collection includes autographs (many of them holograph letters) from thirty Popes beginning with Gregory X (1210-76), several Doctors and Saints of the Church, ten Holy Roman Emperors, almost every English monarch since Henry VII (1457-1509), eighteen French Kings, several Russian and Spanish monarchs, the Bonapartes, and several American presidents.

The Saint John's Rare Books have been catalogued but few of the holdings are included in the library's electronic library catalogue. A short-title list of incunabula has been prepared for web users; lists of manuscripts and sixteenth-century imprints are in preparation. Inquiries about the collection can be directed to Fr. Columba Stewart OSB, Curator of Research Collections (cstewart@csbsju.edu). Information about manuscripts acquired by the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library can be obtained at the HMML website.