Special Collections

The Walter Havighurst Special Collections is pleased to announce its new fall exhibit in honor of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War. “The Deadliest that Ever Darkened Earth: Voices from the Civil War in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections” draws from the wealth of Civil War-related materials in Miami’s Special Collections, including diaries, letters, official documents, photographs, printed books and ephemera. The exhibit explores the following topics: fighting for the Union, Miami University and the war, the rise and fall of the Confederacy, the state of medicine during the war, the African American experience, and the practice of journalism during the war. As you browse this exhibit, you will “hear” the voices of Union soldiers, Miami students, Confederate generals and spies, former slaves, African American soldiers, hospital workers, U.S. Sanitary Commission agents and newspaper correspondents as they tell their own stories and experiences during the war.

Walter Havighurst Special Collections is located on the third floor of King Library and is open Monday through Thursday 8:30-5:30, Friday 8:30-5 and is closed on weekends. The exhibit will run through December 23, 2011.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal wedding is just days away on April 29th! Inspired by the upcoming royal nuptials, a mini-exhibit of materials celebrating English royal weddings from the 18th century to the present from the Walter Havinghurst Special Collections will be on display outside the main exhibit room on the 3rd floor of King Library through the rest of the semester. Among the items on display are a contemporary print account of the wedding of King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz in 1761 and a pop-up book depicting the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Traverse landscape and its many meanings with Geodæsia: Land and Memory, a special exhibition in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections at 321 King Library, January 24 to July 31, 2011. Artifacts such as eighteenth- and nineteenth-century maps, portraits, surveying transit, and Indian peace medal illustrate meanings and memories of land in Butler County, Ohio, during the period 1787 - ca. 1826, and inform an interdisciplinary study that incorporates history, material culture, Native American studies, geography, science, and economic issues in early America.

Kalie Wetovick, a graduate assistant in Special Collections, curated the exhibit as part of her master’s degree requirements in History.

The exhibit is in conjunction with an upcoming series of lectures hosted by the Humanities Center, Culture and Memory, which will occur from March 2 to March 24, 2011. The culminating speaker is Dr. Simon Schama, renowned scholar of history and art history. The exhibit Geodæsia was inspired by Dr. Schama’s book Landscape and Memory.

Please visit the Walter Havighurst Special Collections Exhibit Room (321 King Library) to see our exhibit in honor of the Dalai Lama’s visit to Miami University. The exhibit has several related themes. The teachings of the Buddha are illustrated with images and books from the Library’s Instructional Materials Center. The section on the Dalai Lama features selected books by His Holiness from King Library’s circulating collection. Buddhism in North American and Southwestern Ohio include newsletters, photographs, and popular magazines with a Western perspective on Buddhism. Thai Fortune Telling is the theme for three manuscript books from Special Collections. On display are folding books from Thailand. These are the sort of books that would be found in Buddhist monasteries. One book is a dream book; another is a manuscript on astrology. The third book is devoted to fortune telling. Also on display is an ancient Thai palm leaf manuscript book. This exhibit runs through the end of December.

This link will take you to a copy of the exhibit brochure:
http://spec.lib.muohio.edu/Buddhism_for_web_A.pdf

If you're looking for a unique way to celebrate Veterans' Day, American military service, or the civilian support of the military during times of war, you may be interested to learn that the World War II-era posters currently on display in the main stairwell of King Library are available for download -- for free!

The Government Information and Law department teamed up with the Walter Havighurst Special Collections and the libraries' Digital Initiatives department to create high-quality copies from the original World War II posters held at the Miami Libraries.

Because these posters have proven highly popular, and in some cases too popular -- you know who you are -- they've been placed online for easy and free access.

With a little help from the CIM lab staff, and for the standard printing fee, you can create your own life-sized World War II poster. With their stunning imagery, and still relevant messages, they'll be an excellent addition to your dormitory, office, or holiday stocking. Just don't take them off the library walls.

You can download the collection of World War II propaganda posters from this page, or by clicking the images in this post.

If you're curious about more cool Government Documents, stop by the GIL, or come to our Centennial celebration this Friday afternoon (See it on Facebook). We hope to see you soon!

This Friday the Miami University Libraries are celebrating 100 years as Federal Depository Libraries.

Government Publications have been received by Miami since the 1850's, and have always been a cornerstone collection of the Miami University Libraries. This Friday, you can join us for an event celebrating our Centennial as an official Federal Depository Library.

The Celebration is slated for 2:00 p.m., Friday, November 13, in Room 320 of King Library, and will include the presentation to Dean Judith Sessions of a plaque from the Government Printing Office commemorating this rare milestone. The event is open to all members of the Miami University community as well as to the general public. Refreshments will be served.

We encourage you to visit the range of special Government materials already on display in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections, and to enjoy the Government-published World War II propaganda posters lining King Library's main staircase.

Remember that to help decorate the GIL area for Friday, students, faculty, staff and their families can enter the GIL coloring contest. Read more about this activity in our previous post.

If you can't make the centennial event, you find find a few surprises awaiting you in the IMC/GIL throughout the day on Friday. We hope to see you there!

Miami University's Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, Kelli Lyon Johnson, and William A. Wortman have recently edited and published a collection of plays written by Native American women called Performing Worlds into Being: Native American Women's Theater (King Library PS628.I53 P47 2009). In addition to the plays this collection includes production histories, essays, and interviews. These works were first presented at a conference called "Honoring Spiderwoman Theater/Celebrating Native American Theater" in 2007 held here at Miami and have been edited and expanded for this book collection. A cd with video clips and photos is also included. Contributors include Murielle Borst, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Gloria Miguel, Monique Mojica, Julie Pearson-Little Thunder, Vincent P. Scott, Spiderwoman Theatre, etc.

If this fascinating collection piques your interest, you might also want to check out Miami University's Native American Women Playwrights Archive. The archives serves as the repository for Spiderwoman Theatre and can be found in our Special Collections on the third floor of King Library.