J R R Tolkien Collection - Marquette University Libraries

02/24/2026

This appears to be an excellent conference with an impressive group of speakers. For those who cannot travel, it is possible to attend on Zoom!

09/29/2025

If you enjoyed the trailer you will love the finished documentary, now available! All fans are welcome to contribute.

Premiering September 22, 2025 (Hobbit Day).At Marquette University, archivist Dr. William Fliss is building the Tolkien Fandom Oral History Collection, an ef...

09/15/2025

A talented filmmaker named Andrew C***s decided to make a short documentary about the Fandom Oral History project, our effort to archive brief testimonials from Tolkien fans. The piece will be released on YouTube on Hobbit Day. Here is a trailer.

Releasing September 22 (Hobbit Day!), The Muster at Marquette is a short documentary on the Tolkien Fandom Oral History Project: a quest to preserve 6,000 vo...

08/08/2025

It’s been ages since we posted anything. Marquette endures and researchers visit and projects continue! Here’s a neat item we recently acquired: A Tolkien-themed map created in 1967 of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Frodo Lives!

02/27/2025

For those of you using the fan dataset, the 11th eored of data has been added to it, bringing the total to 1,320. Feel free to download and play with the data!

This data set consists of the text of recorded sound interviews collected by Marquette Archives staff from fans of English author J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), along with information describing the interviewees (e.g. Age, Gender, Location). Each fan was given up to three minutes total to respond to th...

12/20/2024

In 2025 the two public showings of original Tolkien manuscripts will happen on March 21st and September 19th. Space is very limited, so register soon. It is the perfect Christmas gift for the Tolkien lover in your life. A waitlist will activate once all the spots are taken.

Since the late 1950s, Marquette Libraries' Department of Special Collections has been home to the original manuscripts of J.R. R. Tolkien's beloved classics, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

11/21/2024

Christopher Tolkien is being celebrated this weekend with a wonderful online centenary conference hosted by the Tolkien Society. It is free to attend! If you want to learn about Marquette’s relationship with Christopher—including many details never shared before—be sure to tune in at 3:30PM (EST) on Saturday!

The Tolkien Society is pleased to announce it will be hosting the online Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November 2024. This November marks 100 years since the birth of Christopher…

10/30/2024

A paper conservator from the Midwest Arts Conservation Center (MACC) visited us for two days this week to examine selected Tolkien manuscripts and advise on how to maximize our care for the collection. The past 10 years have made clear that JRRT’s corpus of manuscripts, here and abroad, are world cultural treasures. We must make sure they are preserved to the best of our ability!

07/09/2024

If somebody wishes to purchase this lot and then donate it to Marquette we would be eternally grateful! You will be most sumptuously feted. A gentle reminder to all private collectors with deep pockets: You can't take it with you!

J.R.R. TolkienAutograph manuscript calligraphic transcripts of the poems ‘Namárië’ and ‘A Elbereth Gilthoniel’, 13 pages of autograph manuscript commentary on the poems and Elvish languages, and 21 related letters to the composer Donald Swann&nb...

07/09/2024

The 10th éored of fans has mustered and the dataset has been updated. Up to 1,200 now!

This data set consists of the text of recorded sound interviews collected by Marquette Archives staff from fans of English author J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), along with information describing the interviewees (e.g. Age, Gender, Location). Each fan was given up to three minutes total to respond to th...

03/13/2024

Exciting news! It is good to see this finally coming to light. The editors delved deep into the manuscript drafts at Marquette of the poems that appear in The Lord of the Rings.
https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=55644&fbclid=IwAR0oCLcKcaPcMupTnqSqNbxe_0iisw_29EmXgfGVr6wtjJ-Hb6i12JfqoEk

Announcing today is a huge new collection of Tolkien Poems, to be released in September. More details will be added here as they become available. Press...