A place for news and information about rare books, manuscripts and university archives.
We’ve set up a coloring station in Olin Lobby so people can take a coloring break this week. Printouts of Wesleyan’s Special Collections & Archives coloring book from the New York Academy of Medicine’s #ColorOurCollections online coloring fest are available there, as well as sample pages from some other collections. If you can’t make it to … Read more
Wesleyan’s Special Collections & Archives is participating for the first time in the New York Academy of Medicine’s #ColorOurCollections coloring fest from February 5-9, 2018. Download the Wesleyan coloring book, which features iconic campus architecture, such as Olin Memorial Library (above), archival collections, and illustrations from SC&A’s rare book collection. Send photos and scans of your … Read more
Dr. King inspired many during his four visits to Wesleyan (on January 14, 1962, October 20-21, 1963, June 7, 1964, and November 20, 1966), and his legacy lives on. For example, his 1964 baccalaureate address is as powerful a call to action to us today as it was then: “And so we must move out of … Read more
This fall, students from Helen Poulos’ Introduction to Environmental Studies (E&ES197) class viewed artists’ books about environmental issues in Special Collections & Archives with Rebecca McCallum and learned basic bookmaking techniques from Michaelle Biddle, librarians at Olin Library. Some students chose to create artists’ book for their final projects, and these, as well as posters … Read more
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
Here is the Browning Society, 1873-1874. I do not know anything about this group other than that is what is written and typed on the back of the photograph. During the late 19th and into the 20th century, clubs and societies formed to study the work of Robert Browning. The Wesleyan Argus has several references … Read more
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
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
It’s been a crazy winter in Middletown (but, aren’t they all?)—seems like it was too warm and rainy and there was not much snow. Now it’s March, and spring is on its way—that is, if we get one this year—and my thoughts again turn to bicycling on the roads of Middletown and the surrounding towns. … Read more
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
