Literary commonplace books flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Compilations of excerpts from beloved, meaningful, or thought-provoking texts, typical literary commonplace books like this one offer a window into the reading habits of their makers.
This graphically arresting envelope depicts President Abraham Lincoln as the Great Comet of 1861, which could be seen with the naked eye throughout the summer in much of the United States. The anonymous illustrator has combined several visual elements to create greater meanings: the white stars on a blue background representing both the heavens and … Read more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Special Collections & Archives is open by appointment only. We will be open by appointment when allowed by the Current Alert Level on campus and when the library is open.
WesScholar, a permanent home for the innovative work of our community, including student theses and dissertations and faculty scholarly and creative outputs, is an essential piece of the library’s support for scholarly communications. Over the past year, the Library and ITS worked to update and improve WesScholar, and move it to a new locally supported … Read more
Have you been affected by racism? Have you participated in Black Lives Matter activism? Have you worked against systemic racism in other ways? These stories are often not well-documented in university archives. Wesleyan’s Special Collections & Archives seeks to improve this gap in the historical record. To help center Black experiences in our collections, we … Read more
The Wesleyan community has responded in wide, inspiring ways to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is rare that we know what will become a historic moment while it’s occurring, but it’s clear that we are all living and making history right now. As an archivist, I am always interested in recording these efforts so that they … Read more
As we near the end of Black History Month, today’s archival discovery was pretty great. While processing material, a small box of slides was found with a label that made us pause. The yellow slide box said “Selma 1965”. A closer inspection of the material showed a set of color photos of the march on … Read more
There are some new exhibits in Olin Library displaying the wide array of materials that can be found in Special Collections & Archives.
Since February of 2019, I have had the pleasure of working as an intern with Wesleyan’s Special Collections & Archives. What started as a 60-hour practicum for my Masters of Library Science coursework became a six-month journey in learning about and working in archives.
