Collection Development -- Rare Books/Special Collections

Books extracted from manuscript collections and items acquired by the curators in support of all the collecting areas are represented in the book collections. Unique materials include first editions, fine ephemera, broadsides, chapbooks, artists books, and bookplates. Special book collections exist as well in the following subject areas: Americana, Apiculture, Botany, Book Arts, Ice Skating, Horses, Sundials and Horology.

Archives & Special Collections collects:

• Materials that support advanced study in social, political and cultural history of Latin America emphasizing authorial economies, works from early private presses, works that illuminate the public exchange of ideas, products of the people's press, and artists books, and sources that enable the interdisciplinary study of American history (such as travel literature)
• Early translations of works of American literature (18th through 20th centuries)
• Organizational records (e.g. book clubs, salons, literary societies) and related primary sources that support research and scholarship in print culture. Emphasis on source materials that enable study of readership, constructions of cultural identity, and materiality of the book

For inquiries about the collection or possible donations please contact the curator, Melissa Watterworth Batt or (860) 486-4508.

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This page is maintained by M. W. Batt