Special Collections & Archives at Wesleyan University
A place for news and information about rare books, manuscripts and university archives.
The following was written by archives intern Owen Thompson: As part of my ongoing internship in SC&A, I recently digitized and made available in WesScholar an unusual book for Wesleyan’s Adopt a Book program. The volume, Pictures of Middletown and Wesleyan, was adopted by library staff and friends in honor of former Assistant University Archivist … Read more
How did people really feel about nuclear weapons back in 1945, just after the first bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Here’s one way to find out: The Atomic Age Opens (New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1945) gives a view into the public mindset in 1945, and some of the questions that were … Read more
We’re not exactly sure what’s going on in this unidentified photo from about the mid-1970s. We think it possibly could be a riff on a Last Supper motif, which wouldn’t be the only time Wesleyan students have done this. I’m a bit concerned about the gentleman with the bat. Maybe it relates to this painting, … Read more
Here’s a nice shot of an unidentified DJ in the studios of radio station WESU in the fall of 1969. At that time, the station was located on the lower level of Clark Hall. Check out those 45s!
Over the decades, hundreds of distinguished guest lecturers and visitors have shared their wisdom with Wesleyan. One of them was civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis, who came to campus in April 1998. Rep. Lewis began his career at the height of the civil rights movement in 1963, and among his numerous activities, … Read more
This week, I showed Sarah Croucher’s summer Field Methods in Archaeology (ARCP 373) class a selection of resources that help researchers discover who previously lived in various Middletown buildings and what the residents’ occupations were. One indispensable source is city directories, and SC&A has them for Middletown for the years 1868 through 1927. Here’s one … Read more
A patron called and described a photograph that she had in her possession and wondered if it had something to do with Wesleyan. I asked her to email a digital copy, and I found the identical image in the 1914 Olla Podrida. Turns out what she owned was a photograph of the 1913 Wesleyan University … Read more
Wondering what to do before you graduate? Here’s what one student did, back in 1929… Paul S. McElroy graduated from Wesleyan in 1930, but the year before that, he spent time in Egypt, teaching English at the American University at Cairo. While there, he and some of the faculty members of the American University took … Read more
During Reunion/Commencement Weekend, my colleague, Music Librarian and World Music Archives Director Alec McLane, and I co-presented a WESeminar on events surrounding the last few days in April and the first few days in May 1970 at Wesleyan, which included rallies in support of the Black Panthers in New Haven, calls for a strike to … Read more
The Hall Laboratory of Chemistry is shown in the above photograph taken around the early 1930s. It was situated directly across from Olin Library on Church Street and the two buildings were designed by Henry Bacon (whose papers are held by SC&A), sharing architectural elements. Constructed from 1925 to 1927, it was demolished in late … Read more
