Latest Post
Reading Tea Leaves at Special Collections
Posted June 26, 2024
Written by Dan Du, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina - Charlotte (Special Collections Research Center travel grant recipient, 2023-2024)
Special Collections
Rest in Peace Colonel Clifford C. Neilson
Posted
Rest in Peace, Colonial Clifford C. Neilson. We are honored to have your combat diary in our collections.
Dueling at William & Mary
Posted
How frequent was student dueling at William & Mary in the 19th century? Amy Weitzman weighs in!
Do we have a Spy Map from the Civil War?
Posted
Has Special Collections acquired a Jamestown spy map from the Civil War era? Lindsay Bliss weighs in!
SCRC Accepting Applications for 2024-2025 Special Collections Research Travel Grants
Posted
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) of William & Mary Libraries is pleased to announce that it will award travel grants to faculty members, graduate students, and/or independent researchers to support research use of its collections. Writers, creative and performing artists, filmmakers, and journalists are welcome to apply.
Price, the Nicholson Library, and our troubling past
Posted
Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved, the week of its dedication, May, 2022
The Family Business: Thomas L. Ennis and George O. Ennis
Posted
Photography was a rapidly changing profession in the mid-19th century.
SCRC now accepting 2023-2024 Research Travel Grant applications
Posted
The SCRC is now accepting applications for its 2023-2024 research travel grants.
All Aboard! Tourist Manuscripts at the Special Collections Research Center
Posted
This post is written by one of our 2020-2021 Special Collections Research Travel Grant Recipients, Kevin James (University of Guelph).
Welcome to Special Collections, American Indian Initiative!
Posted
On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, Special Collections Research Center was delighted to collaborate with Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in welcoming over 25 guests and staff of the American Indian Initiative.
Dog-Eared Delights: A Library Open House for Our Canine Friends
Posted
Bring your four-legged friends to a tail-wagging celebration of Special Collections’ Chapin-Horowitz Dog Book Collection, the second largest collection of books about dogs in the United States. We’re opening our Reading Room for a full day of literary exploration and activities, with librarians and archivists on hand for chin scritches and belly rubs.
Black History Month: Education, Play, and the Legacies of Carter G. Woodson
Posted
Black History Month can trace its roots back nearly a century, to the work of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a historian of African American History.
A Century of Reflection: Celebrating Charter Day in 1923
Posted
This post is written by Jennifer A. Merriman
Stereoviews and Culture: Love Letters and Tiger Skins
Posted
Valentine-related stereoviews are rare. There are many series of views that depict love, courtship, and marriage.
Stereoviews and Culture: Santa and His Reindeer
Posted
Last year when I wrote about Santa stereoviews, I stated that I did not know of any stereoviews that depicted reindeer. Now, I stand corrected.
Stereoviews and Culture: Thanksgiving
Posted
Although National Thanksgivings were periodically proclaimed from Colonial times in America, Thanksgiving as a Holiday was not formally adopted until Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving in 1863.
Jack-O-Lanterns: Pumpkins were a thing before “Pumpkin Spice”
Posted
Pumpkins are squash plants native to Americas and did not make an appearance in Europe until the early 1500’s.
Stereoviews and Culture: Theodore Roosevelt, The Stork, and Teddy Bears
Posted
Stereoviews offer a great window into the world of popular culture from the 1860’s into the 19230’s.
-
SCRC Accepting Applications for 2022-2023 Research Travel Grants
Posted
The SCRC is accepting applications for the 2022-2023 round of Research Travel Grants.
Searching for Women’s Voices in the Archives
Posted
On the 17th of October 1834, a fourteen-year-old Chinese girl arrived on the shores of New York City. The ship’s passenger list included her name as “Auphmoy” which was later phonetically shortened to Afong Moy—because of this, we do not know her real Chinese name. So began Afong Moy’s story as the first known female Chinese immigrant to the United States.
New Exhibit, "Milestones: Superhero Comics by Black Writers, Artists, and Editors"
Posted
Altogether, William & Mary’s Richard Wright Collection of Graphic Images of African Americans holds more than 1,500 comics.