Welcome to Wesleyan’s new University Archivist, Amanda Nelson!

On January 16, 2019, Amanda Nelson joins the library staff as University Archivist.  Amanda comes to Wesleyan from the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Maryland.  At AIP, she had a wide range of archival duties, including both behind-the-scenes collection and technical management and outreach and public services.  Amanda worked extensively on AIP’s oral … Read more

Coeducation Collection now digitized

Special Collections & Archives holds a rich collection of documents and photographs related to the Wesleyan’s first period of coeducation, 1872-1912, and it has been recently digitized and is fully available online. The Coeducation Collection finding aid has been updated to provide links to the digital files. You can also browse the collection. This is … Read more

Photographs by Nancy Albert in new exhibition; donates papers to Wesleyan

Nancy Ottmann Albert’s evocative photographs of vanishing New England structures and landscapes will be featured in “Documents in Black and White,” a new exhibition opening in Olin Library on Oct. 5, 2016. The show is being presented in conjunction with the formal announcement of Ms. Albert’s gift of her papers to the library’s Special Collections … Read more

New exhibition: “A Stellar Education: Astronomy at Wesleyan, 1831-1916”

The new SC&A exhibition, “A Stellar Education: Astronomy at Wesleyan, 1831-1916,” is now open. It explores the study of astronomy at Wesleyan from the University’s founding in 1831 through the construction of Van Vleck Observatory in 1916, which celebrates its centennial this year. Items on display include atlases, textbooks, photographs, an original Henry Bacon Van … Read more

Happy New Year! Party like you’re in a Fellini movie!

In October 1973, the Friends of the Davison Art Center held a Fellini Ball, a fundraising event that took place in the newly-completed Center for the Arts. The inspiration was the work of the great Italian director Federico Fellini, whose iconic works include La Strada, 8 1/2, and La Dolce Vita. Guests attended as their favorite … Read more

New exhibition: “Textile Messages: Wesleyan Student Apparel Through the Decades”

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

CDs of Wesleyan student groups in the Archives

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

New finding aids completed in SC&A

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