Special Collections

Posted on January 12, 2024

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.

Jul 2016

  • July 11, 2016
    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 few letters written by Nancy, Lady Astor, along with a printed image that she captioned.
  • July 6, 2016
    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.

Jun 2016

  • June 27, 2016
    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.
  • June 15, 2016
    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.
  • June 8, 2016
    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.
  • June 1, 2016
    The Chapin-Horowitz Collection is my go-to treasure-trove for fun and unexpected sources on pretty much any undergraduate course topic that comes our way during the school year.

May 2016

  • May 25, 2016
    The records of the Office of the Bursar contain an array of financial information dating back to the 18th century. One of the more interesting aspects of these records that has recently come to light pertains to William and Mary's involvement in the slave trade. Many of the documents contain references to enslaved people who were held by the university as well as payments to slaveholders for the hire of their slaves.
  • May 19, 2016
  • May 13, 2016
    We are very happy to share that we have added the digitized St. George Tucker Almanacs to the Digital Archive! The original almanacs are from the Tucker-Coleman collection, and now researchers can view and download the almanacs, which include Tucker's marginalia on gardening.
  • May 11, 2016
    Cover. Bound Music Collection, Volume 231. Mss. 1.12.