ACMRS On-line Resources:

The Robert S. Lopez Collection
at Arizona State University

Robert S. Lopez was the Sterling Professor of History and founder of the Medieval Studies Program at Yale University. During his more than 40-year career in Renaissance studies he established a global reputation as one of the foremost scholars in the field. He was best known for his ground-breaking economic interpretation of the Renaissance, and his major book, The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, continues to be a standard reference for all Renaissance scholars.

Following his death in 1986, the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies was able to purchase Prof. Lopez's private collection of books and papers to use as the foundation of its research collection. Nearly five thousand items were received, consisting of both printed books and assorted separata, the latter consisting primarily of off-prints and photocopies of individual articles that were sent to Prof. Lopez by his colleagues or collected by him for their special value. The Collection thus preserves those books, articles, and basic sources that were considered by Lopez and his colleagues to represent the best work in the field during the period of his primary activity from roughly 1930 to 1980.

When the Lopez collection arrived at the Arizona State University Library it was divided into two parts. The books were cataloged individually and merged with the general library collection according to Library of Congress standards, while the separata and miscellaneous materials were placed in Special Collections, which is now administratively part of the Department of Archives and Special Collections. The latter are sorted by principle authors and types into archival boxes and available for consultation through the Luhrs Reading Room on the Fourth Floor of the Hayden Library building on the Arizona State University main campus in Tempe. A guide to the collection is also available in the reading room and below. For those scholars not on the ASU campus, individual items can be searched and photocopied on a limited basis.

Introduction to the Lopez Collection (ASU Library, 1988)

A Survey of Lopez's Work and Its Contribution to the Field

A Preliminary List of Books from Lopez's Personal Library

Guide to Lopez Materials in Special Collections

Series A: Off-print Collection

Alphabetical List of Authors (Boxes 1-58)

Full Catalogue of Off-prints (in progress)

Series B: Special and Oversize Materials

Summary List of Materials (Boxes 59-62A)

Full Catalogue of Special and Oversize Materials