Latest Post
Congrats to the Class of 2025 Library Student Employees!
Posted April 30, 2025
As the academic year comes to an end, we’d like to recognize and celebrate our graduating student employees.
W&M Libraries Blog
Textbook affordability at W&M
Posted
National surveys indicate that students are now spending about $1200 each year if they purchase all of the textbooks required for their classes. The increase in textbook prices has far outpaced the increase in inflation, nearly doubling from 1998-2008 alone, and going up over 1,000% since 1977.
Murder, They Wrote
Posted
Tracy Melton '85, member of the William & Mary Libraries Board of Directors, considers the words we use to describe crime and death in archival work. Read on to learn more about a nineteenth-century fatality recounted in the Galt Papers.
Language, Identity, and Control: Print Culture and Early Native American History
Posted
A 1677 document in Special Collections explores how the British used print and language to both build relationships with and exert control over Native peoples.
Making a Queen: The Symbolic Imagery of Elizabeth I's Reign
Posted
In 1574, as well as the rest of her reign, Queen Elizabeth I's place as England's monarch was continually challenged based on her mother's reputation, her lack of a husband, her religion, and her gender. Even as one of the most powerful women in the 16th century, she still needed to prove herself.
Libraries in the Library: How We Know What Early Virginians Liked to Read
Posted
Do you keep your receipts? Special Collections has a good number of receipts and these seemingly mundane documents can provide valuable insight into early Virginians' lives.
Explain'd From History: Euhemeristic Mythology and its Ties to Colonialism
Posted
L'abbé Antoine Banier and his Mythology are unique in the position they take on the historical nature of myth and legend. Banier was a proponent of euhemerism, a school of thought that claims myths, legends, and folklore all have real historical basis.
Redrawing France with the "La Hire Map"
Posted
Joe Catanzaro explains a pivotal moment in cartography captured in our collections.
Arthur Lee "Philanthropos" and 18th Century Abolitionism
Posted
Abolition was not a radical nineteenth century idea that miraculously emerged from the political ideologies of the Age of Revolution. A 1767 address from Arthur Lee of Virginia serves as a reminder that the abolitionist movement did not have a linear trajectory, and that individuals protested slavery throughout its existence.
Iconoclasts in the Archives
Posted
Before Jon Stewart '84 and Trevor Noah, before Stephen Colbert and John Oliver and Saturday Night Live, before Tina Fey and Samantha Bee and Andrea Gibson, there was George Jean Nathan and H.L. Mencken. A slice of the Nathan/Mencken story lives in the Special Collections Research Center at Swem Library.
"A Classical Education": A British Student's Outlook, 1808-1812
Posted
This summer we're publishing a series of blog posts written by students for the class HIST 211 Books: Technology and Culture. Their posts are based on materials in the Special Collections Research Center. Check out their bright insights every other week. Today's entry is written by Chela Aufderheide.
Recent Acquisition Documents the Italian Service Unit
Posted
During World War II, thousands of Italian prisoners of war were sent to the United States to help fill labor shortages created by the war.
Travel Grant Recipient Research Report: David Silkenat
Posted
On August 23, 1812, Robert Stevens wrote to his parents in Rhode Island from New Orleans in the aftermath of a hurricane, "a Scene of horror & devastation."
Part medical guide, part... civics textbook?
Posted
In early 1792, Thomas Dobson, a prominent Philadelphia printer in the middle of printing the first American edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, took a much smaller commission: William Currie's An Historical Account of the Climates and Diseases of the United States of America.
Flying Further: More Stories from the William & Mary Flight School
Posted
Recent visitors to Swem Library will have noticed a change in the exhibit facing the front entrance.
The Ghost of Edmund Mitchell
Posted
A daguerreotype of a young Baltimore merchant, the first victim of a bitter, homicidal political era, resides in the Special Collections Research Center in Swem Library—a ghostly message from the past.
Rev. Curtis W. Harris, Hopewell's Drum Major for Justice
Posted
The Reverend Curtis W. Harris is best known for his role in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Civil Rights organization founded by Martin Luther King, Jr., though he has not been studied closely by historians.
The Rising Cost of Information: University of California Splits from Elsevier
Posted
On February 28, 2019, the University of California System announced the end of its relationship with publishing giant Elsevier, when a deal between the two could not be met despite months of negotiation.
Finding my second home in the Reeder Media Center
Posted
It only took one tour of William & Mary for me to know that the College was for me. I remember that day fondly.
Your Whiteboard Responses Help W&M Libraries Build Its Book Collection
Posted
On a whiteboard in the lobby we asked, "Which book best captures your identity or culture?" Students gave us over 50 fantastic responses that highlighted the wonderful diversity in our community!
Getting to know library student assistants: Alicia Draper
Posted
W&M Libraries is lucky to have many talented student employees. Today's post will introduce Alicia Draper.