Special Collections & Archives

News and more from ZSR’s Special Collections & Archives

Preservation Week 2015

Preservation Week is an annual event sponsored by ALA which is focused on bringing attention to preservation issues. This year, April 26 – May 2 has been designated as the week to celebrate and bring attention to our preservation needs. In 2004, Heritage Preservation carried out the first national survey, called the Heritage Health Index.... Continue reading “Preservation Week 2015”

Matthew Campbell Lecture in Special Collections

Please join us in the Special Collections & Archives Reading Room (ZSR 625) this evening at 5 p.m. for a lecture by renowned Irish poetry scholar Dr. Matthew Campbell. Dr. Campbell is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of York and has written extensively on Irish and English poetry. His books include Rhythm and... Continue reading “Matthew Campbell Lecture in Special Collections”

Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indian, by George Catlin (1841)

Book-making now-a-days, is done for money-making; and he who takes the Indian for his theme, and cannot go and see him, finds a poverty in his matter that naturally begets error, by grasping at every little tale that is brought or fabricated by their enemies. Such books are standards, because they are made for white... Continue reading “Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indian, by George Catlin (1841)”

Preserving Indentures from the Dalton Family Papers

The Dalton Family Papers include materials from several generations of this family from Stokes County, NC. The Dalton Family papers are frequently used by our patrons in Special Collections. I recently encapsulated about 200 indentures in polyester (mylar) from this collection. Encapsulating a document involves creating two identically sized sheets of polyester which are attached... Continue reading “Preserving Indentures from the Dalton Family Papers”

Poetry Month: A Celebration of W. B. Yeats

ZSR Special Collections & Archives will celebrate Poetry Month on Thursday, April 16 with a special Library Lecture event. In coordination with the current Special Collections exhibit, W.B. Yeats and his Books, Dr. Jeff Holdridge of the Wake Forest English Department will give a talk entitled “The Sterner Eye:  Yeats and the Inhuman.” The lecture... Continue reading “Poetry Month: A Celebration of W. B. Yeats”

Repairing Shakespeare with a “tacket”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a “tacket” as a nail; in later use, a small nail, a tack: a hob-nail with which the soles of shoes are studded. In the case of book preservation, a tacket is a physical connection between a loose board and the book itself with linen thread. I learned to make... Continue reading “Repairing Shakespeare with a “tacket””

W.B. Yeats and His Books

2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of William Butler Yeats, one of the most important and influential literary figures of the 20th century. In celebration of the Yeats sesquicentennial, Z. Smith Reynolds Library’s Special Collections department has opened an exhibit of materials from its extensive Yeats collection. William Butler Yeats was born in... Continue reading “W.B. Yeats and His Books”

Preservation Training From Our Friends at UNCG

We go to training for a variety of reasons, but often because you may have good basic skills, but need to get to another level. You need someone at a higher skill level to show you the ‘tricks’ that will help you excel and help your work rise to a higher level of accomplishment. Isabella... Continue reading “Preservation Training From Our Friends at UNCG”

Philomathesian Banner Finds a Cozy Home

In November, Claudia Walpole, a textile conservator came to ZSR Library and did a conservation assessment of our Philomathesian banner. The Philomathesians were a literary society on the old campus. Claudia discovered the banner was painted by abolitionist David Bustill Bowser (1820-1900) because she found his name was on a small shard of paint that... Continue reading “Philomathesian Banner Finds a Cozy Home”

ZSR Receives Preservation Grant

Special Collections & Archives at ZSR was recently awarded a Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant will fund a visit by nationally known facilities consultant, Thomas Wilsted, in 2015. Continue reading “ZSR Receives Preservation Grant”