Special Collections & Archives at Wesleyan University
A place for news and information about rare books, manuscripts and university archives.
Rebecca McCallum It’s been just over a year since the Occupy Wall Street protest movement began. In honor of the anniversary of the movement’s beginning (on September 17, 2011), here are some images from a new addition to our collection, just cataloged this week: an artist’s book consisting of 24 plastic cards, made to look like credit … Read more
To our student workers, without whom the library could not function: You never know how much of an impact you may make on us! Special Collections & Archives recently received a gift of a 1577 English legal book, presented to Wesleyan University “in honor of Kent Olson, Wesleyan Class of 1977, whose intelligence, energy and … Read more
…nor a library closure due to noxious fumes will keep Special Collections & Archives from the preparations for the New England Archivists workshops on Friday (23rd) and meeting on Saturday (24th). Our apologies to the students, staff, faculty, and other researchers who planned to use SC&A holdings on Thursday. We hope to be open our … Read more
Last spring, a group of rare, Jewish-related books arrived at Special Collections & Archives, as a result of a new partnership between Wesleyan University’s Special Collection & Archives, Wesleyan’s Jewish and Israel Studies Program, and Middletown’s Congregation Adath Israel. These rare books from Adath Israel are now on long-term loan to Special Collections & Archives … Read more
The other day, I discovered a mystery in Special Collections: an extremely skimpy catalog record for a book in our collection. All it said about this book was: Bible. N.T. [for New Testament]. French [Nouveau testament] [S.l. : S.n., not after 1762.] 665 p. ; 19 cm. Title page missing. What does all that mean? … Read more
Throughout history, artists and writers have commented on, protested, or memorialized events current to their time, and today’s artists continue to do the same. Special Collections & Archives recently acquired a set of broadsides (that is, printed large single sheets of paper, like a poster) that are part of the “Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here” project. … Read more
Wesleyan’s Special Collections & Archives owns two Roman coins from the 1st century CE. The first of these coins, a silver denarius minted in 80 CE by Emperor Titus, is connected to the early history of printing. According to the Renaissance humanist Erasumus, an exemplar of this coin was given to the famous Venetian printer … Read more
A publisher’s proof copy of a novel, with the author’s own edits and revisions hand-written throughout, gives us a rare glimpse into the author’s writing process. What sections did he or she cut? How were phrases rewritten, or words exchanged for other, better choices? We have such a view into the writing process of the … Read more
