The content of the collegiate church archive and library date back to the beginnings of San Candido. The Benedictine monastery founded in 769 probably already housed a library and a scriptorium. When the monastery became a collegiate foundation around 1140, canons took over the archive and library and expanded them. For example, Gerold von Tessenberg (canon from 1271, dean from 1301-1308, then bishop of Cittanova) transferred his considerable library to the monastery.
The greatest benefactor was Dr Nikolaus Pol (ca. 1465-1532). He left incunabula and manuscripts to the library in San Candido, including many works by the Catalan Raimundus Lullus (ca. 1232-1316), a theologian and philosopher far ahead of his time. This means that San Candido must have been a place of Lullus research in the 15th/16th century, certainly an important spiritual and intellectual centre.
Part of the collection is presumed to have fallen victim to the great fires of 1413 and 1554, as almost all of the archival records relating to the building history of the collegiate church, for example, are missing. According to archivist and librarian Paul Helmschlager, who died in 1462, some items were also stolen.
In 1771, canon and historian Josef Resch wrote a repertory. Shortly afterwards, in 1785, the monastery was dissolved and parts of the collection were transferred to Innsbruck, Vienna, Munich and Oxford. The rest of the archive remained unnoticed in the granary until it was rediscovered by Joseph Zahn and Arnold Luschin in 1865.
Around 1900, Provost Josef Walter initiated a thorough review and reorganisation of the archive holdings and asked Franz Sießl, Andreas Bergmann and Karl Staudacher to compile portfolio lists. In 1973, Provost Hans Huber organised the restoration the granary and conversion into a museum. The library and archive were then housed there. It was historian Egon Kühebacher from San Candido who carried out the actual work.
Today, the collection includes around 1300 parchments and writings, around 60 manuscripts, around 280 incunabula, countless files and the so-called newer library with around 1500 works from the 16th century onwards.