Special Collections Blog Archive
"Sea Fables Explained"
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Imagine, if you will, a creature with a lower body made of the skin and scales of a carp, a human-like upper body with prominent ribs, "thin and scraggy" arms, "skeleton-like" fingers, the head of a small monkey, and the teeth of a catfish. Sound familiar?
Building a Library in the Seventeenth (and the Twenty-first) Century
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Many of the books in Swem Library's Special Collections have been gifted by individual donors who have themselves built up their own private collections. This practice of endowing educational institutions with the tools of study has long antecedents, but in the seventeenth century a librarian actually laid out a plan for building a library and advocated wider access for scholars.
Is Smaller Better? (When talking about textbooks)
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The University of Leiden in the Netherlands, founded in 1575, is the country's oldest; it is also now one of the study abroad opportunities offered to William & Mary students. In the first three quarters of a century annual enrollments showed a four-fold rise, with the result being that the Elsevier family in Leiden, who already operated a printing press, decided to get into the early modern equivalent of the text-book industry.
"A Christmas present of real and enduring value" : Ferdinand Seidel's Natural History with 179 Copperplate Engravings.
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"Buy 5 Get 1 Free" - that is how the publisher advertised the 1805 edition of Ferdinand Seidel's Naturhistorisches Kupferwerk : mit erklarendem Texte nach Buffon, acquired this fall by Special Collections.
"'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
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Everyone knows these famous lines even if the rest of the poems escapes them. "A Visit from St. Nicholas," more popularly known as The Night before Christmas, was written in 1823 by Clement C. Moore (1779-1863) and is a staple in many families' holiday traditions. But what accounts for the poem's enduring popularity?
Lasting Impressions: Printing from the Fifteenth Century to Today
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In the basement of Swem Library is a room used mostly for storage. Along two walls are machines and wooden cases full of drawers. The machines are printing presses and the cases are filled with type – individual letters cast in metal, designed to be set by hand and printed on the machines.
100 Years of Student History
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If you're a senior at the College, you may know the Colonial Echo through their emails reminding you to get your portrait taken.
Art in the SCRC Collections
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SCRC has an active instruction schedule during the academic year, as professors from all departments bring their students in to see the amazing materials housed in Special Collections. However, many may be surprised to learn that SCRC houses objects, texts, and ephemera related to virtually every discipline.This week included a reminder of how rich a collection we have related to the arts.
Ramsey Stereograph Collection Grants the Illusion of a 3-Dimensional Trip through Time
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This year Kelvin W. Ramsey (Class of 1979), recently donated an additional 159 items to his collection of stereographs and magic lantern slides housed at the Special Collections Research Center.
The Library of Lady Jean Skipwith: "a small, but well-chosen library"
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The recent acquisition of seven letters written by Sir Peyton Skipwith and one by Sir Gray Skipwith reveal what Sir Peyton thought of his wife Lady Jean's library. The library is featured in an exhibit, Exceptional in Any Age, at Swem Library that will run through October 2016.
Story of Boyhood Reveals Well-Known Nature Advocate's Skill in Inventing
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Tucked among countless other books in the Special Collections stacks of rare books lies a rather unassuming looking text. It is green, with a lone tree pictured in the center of the cover and a grapevine frame going around, with the title, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, spelled out in gold lettering.
A Sculptor's Sketches
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While his family was busy with operating the Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Norfolk-born Alexander Galt, Jr. (1827-1863) possessed artistic aspirations.
Remembering the 1918 Earthquake and Tsunami in Puerto Rico
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On October 11, 1918, an 7.5 magnitude earthquake shook the homes of residents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Within minutes, the town was inundated by a large Tsunami. Destruction of buildings and homes in Mayaguez and surrounding towns was widespread.
The £105.00 Mystery: Horatia Nelson's Book
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If you like old books, look carefully at any inscription you find within – you may have a valuable treasure as well as an unexpected mystery to solve.
First Woman in the British Parliament
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Just as Great Britain is on the eve of having its first woman prime minister to serve since Margaret, Lady Thatcher stepped down in 1990, Swem Library's Special Collections received a fewletters written by Nancy, Lady Astor, along with a printed image that she captioned.
Scrapbooks of a Young Theater Fan
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Alma Mae Clarke Fontaine (1909-1999) loved the theater. As a young woman living in New Rochelle, New York, she kept scrapbooks between 1923 and 1926 to document her trips into New York City to attend the theater. These erudite scrapbooks reveal a avid but thoughtful audience member.
Panama Canal, Then and Now
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The Panama Canal is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. In June 2016, an extensive nine year expansion to accommodate larger and deeper shipping vessels was completed. The Panama Canal is just as significant to industry and consumer savings today as it was when it first opened in 1914.
Letters Home from World War I
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After an exchange of words with his father and an undisclosed dispute with the local sheriff, Carson J. Dale (1888-1916) abruptly left his home in Wiggins, Mississippi and headed to England to join the fight in WWI. Under the guise of being Canadian, he joined the 1/6th Gloucestershire Regiment.
"Gore for President": Gay & Lesbian Activism in the 2000 Campaign
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In 2000, the presidential election pitted Vice-President Al Gore against George W. Bush in a contentious and mudslinging campaign season. Issues at the forefront of the campaign focused primarily on domestic topics, such as Medicare and Social Security reform, foreign policy, and taxes.
