The Penn State Libraries' Special Collections Library holds several archival collections relevant to research into the history of sociology.

This collection contains the organizational records of the ASA, dating primarily after the 1950s. There are rich sources related to the development of the organization, its committees and sections, annual meetings, funded programs, the history of teaching sociology, surveys of sociology departments, and publication files.

Horowitz (b. 1929), professor of sociology, was head of Transaction, a major publishing house in the social sciences. The archives include Horowitz's personal and professional correspondence, and collected papers of sociologist C. Wright Mills.

Bernard (1903-1996) was an active sociologist, author, feminist, and professor at Penn State, 1947-1964. This collection includes articles, book fragments, drafts, published copies of her fiction and non-fiction, awards, plaques, photos, book reviews, speeches, and correspondence.

Bernard was a Penn State professor of sociology and the author of more than a dozen books and 200 scholarly articles. This collection includes book manuscripts, book and movie reviews, class materials, research notes, newspaper clippings, journal articles, personal and professional correspondence, diaries, photographs, postcards and memorabilia.

Lewis A. Coser (1913-2003) and Rose Laub Coser (1916-1994) were German-born, progressive academic sociologists. This collection consists primarily of dissertation research, published works, and reviews, including Rose Coser's notes on sociologist Anne Parsons.

Joan Huber was a Penn State alum and sociologist. This collection includes publications, research and reference files, correspondence, and personal academic files reflecting her lifelong interest in class structure and social stratification in American society.

Bill Form, as he was widely known, was a prominent academic figure in industrial sociology, specializing in analyses of the fragmentation and stratification of working classes in the Americas and Europe. The bulk of these papers consist of correspondence of various types: editorial correspondence in relation to his scholarly monographs and his family history and autobiography, correspondence concerning the controversy over the content and direction of the American Sociological Review, confidential reviews of manuscripts, confidential letters of recommendation, and general correspondence.

The collection selectively represents the career of sociologist Edward A. Tiryakian through primary sources that include correspondence, lectures, syllabi, reports, photographs, notes, drafts, reprints, and unpublished writings.