The Stephen and Peggy Ren Medieval Studies Collection was established in 2010. Stephen (’82) is a computer engineer with International Business Machines (IBM), and Peggy is a software engineer with Dassault Systems. They have two daughters: Maureen (’13) and Sarah (’15).

The Rens have a fascination with Church history. From this has grown a deep interest in the impact of the Middle Ages on contemporary Catholicism, inspiring them to establish a fund that will one day support the Medieval Studies Collection. They value the role of academic libraries in connecting scholars to current information and discoveries. Equally important to the Rens is supporting the Hesburgh Libraries as a place to preserve and study the past.

Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute Library is internationally prominent and absolutely unparalleled in North America. The current collection includes materials that support research of the Medieval British Literature Initiative with purchases relating to Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and medieval British studies in general. The collection includes current and contemporary scholarly publishing, as well as recent acquisitions of fifteen rare books published from the 1600s to the 1900s, as well as Corpus Christi Apocalypse, a beautifully illustrated fourteenth-century manuscript.