A place for news and information about rare books, manuscripts and university archives.
Freshman beanies, a 1927 letter sweater, a 1970 “Strike” arm band, a 1985 Feminist House T-shirt, and more—this exhibition includes items of student apparel that were (or could have been) worn on a day-to-day basis, and those that were not are evocative of key social and academic aspects of student life. The show is on … Read more
SC&A doesn’t just contain the textual and photographic record of Wesleyan’s history, we also have some sound recordings — from speeches and lectures to cds of recent student groups, such as the Wesleyan Spirits, the New Group and Quasimodal. If your group has produced a cd, please consider depositing one copy with SC&A (for safekeeping) … Read more
This morning the Introduction to Environmental Studies class (E&ES 197) taught by Helen Poulos visited Special Collections & Archives to learn about artists’ books that address environmental issues. It’s a large class, so students were split into two groups. Their backpacks and other paraphernalia more than filled our closet! Making an artist’s book that expresses … Read more
Sponsored by the Council of State Archivists, Electronic Records Day is October 10, 2015. You’re probably creating all manner of electronic records in your everyday worklife, such as Word docs, pdfs, Excel spreadsheets, and webpages. But you’re also creating them in your personal life. Your texts, your email, all those selfies you’re taking? They’re electronic … Read more
Can you read the text on this page? Neither can I! But it’s one of many foreign-language Bibles in our Special Collections that I’ve had to catalog. Back in the early 19th century, the British Foreign and Bible Society was hard at work on its goal of translating the Bible into as many foreign languages … Read more
Olin Library staff members recently had the pleasure to meet Bunmi Alegbeleye, Professor of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, while he recently visited Olin Library as a guest of Michaelle Biddle, Collections Conservator and Head of Preservation Services. He also met with Digital Projects Librarian Francesca Livermore and received … Read more
As part of my internship at SC&A I created finding aids for three collections. The most notable among these is the finding aid for a collection that I processed during my internship dealing with Wesleyan President James L. McConaughy, his wife Elizabeth, and son James Jr. The collection entitled, McConaughy Family Papers, details important aspects … Read more
Pictured above is the earliest known photograph of the Wesleyan campus, a view of South College taken in 1865. In front is what is believed to be part of the graduation ceremonies held 150 years ago for the Class of 1865. Our best wishes to the Class of 2015!
A Spatial History of Wesleyan University combines geographical and quantitative analysis with archival and oral history research to interpret the past in place. It is the product of the Spring 2015 course in Digital History at Wesleyan taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of History Amrys O. Williams, part of the university’s Digital and Computational Knowledge … Read more
One hundred and fifty years ago, William North Rice, class of 1865, wrote the above in his diary on the day that President Abraham Lincoln died. Rice would devote his life in service to Wesleyan, becoming the university’s first professor of geology and serving three times as acting president. Below is the diary opened … Read more
