Join us this month to learn more about the History of Special Collections at the Marriott Library with Archiving the Archives – an exclusive community showcase – on Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26, from 4:00 – 6:00 PM in the Rare Books Classroom on Level 4. There will be a brief presentation that begins at 4:00 pm, but guests will be welcome to join any time during the two-hour period. Space will be limited to 40 people per evening and reservations will be required. Reserve your spot by emailing Lyuba Basin at lyuba.basin@utah.edu.  Special Collections Brochures University of U ..read more

The Rare Books Department and Special Collections welcomes U back to school with our latest digital exhibition, A History of Special Collections.  A New Family Encylopedia Charles A. Goodrich (1790-1862) T. Belknap, 1834 AG5 G6 1834 From the John R. Park Library Collection. Co-curated by Lyuba Basin and Rachel Ernst, this digital exhibition explores the history of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library. From its early antecedents in the Utah Room to its present-day iteration, we trace the growth of the department and its collection, and highlight the staff and facu ..read more

The Day of the Dead is an indigenous-based celebration to honor ancestors and to center the cycle of life-death in collective memories. In 2003, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared El Día De los Muertos as a Cultural Heritage for Humanity. This celebration represents the amalgamation of pre-colonial religious rites and Catholic feasts. It brings together two universes, one marked by indigenous belief systems, the other by worldviews introduced by the Europeans in the sixteenth century. Through the times, the celebration has experienced mult ..read more

When the name of Western Americana, Rare Books, and University Archives was changed to “Special Collections” in 1971, it reflected a major shift in the holdings. In addition to the growing emphasis of rare books, Special Collections Director, Everett Cooley, was also made responsible of the impressive Middle East Library – under the premise that it was a “specialized” collection. The Middle East Library had been established alongside the Middle East Studies program in 1959 with the arrival of Dr. Aziz Suryal Atiya.    Dr. Atiya was a prominent scholar, writer, historian, and librarian wh ..read more

“… And ye high heavens, the temple of the gods, In which a thousand torches flaming bright Doe burne, that to us wretched earthly clods, In dreadful darknesse lend desired light; And all ye powers which in the same remayne, More then we men can fayne, Poure out your blessing on us plentiously, And happy influence upon us raine, That we may raise a large posterity, Which from the earth, which they may long possesse, With lasting happinesse, Up to your haughty pallaces may mount, And for the guerdon of theyr glorious merit May heavenly tabernacles there inherit, Of blessed Saints for to increa ..read more

Color Standards and Color Nomenclature Robert Ridgway (1850-1925) Washington, D. C.: The author, 1912 QC495 R5 Robert Ridgway, ornithologist and full-time curator of birds at the United States National Museum, was renowned for the accuracy with which he painted birds and was unmatched in his eye for the coloration. Despite his success, Ridgway felt a deep frustration for the lack of standardization in color and color theory during this time. So he took it upon himself and published his own work. A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists was published in 1886, when Ridgway was only thirty ..read more

“To the King, the French Constitution, and the laws of the realm…” Brevet de libraire: au nom du roi … accordons au Sieur Jourdan (Augustin) France. Ministère de l’intérieur: June 27, 1828 Z145 A83 F73 1828 “What is a printing house and what does it comprise?” This was often the first question, of many, that was posed to aspiring printers in eighteenth-century France. In those days, if you wanted to become a printer you had to be accepted not only by the Guild, but also by the royal court. In addition to a rigorous test that included composing a page of text from a manuscript copy — repeat ..read more

Co-curated by Lyuba Basin and Rachel Ernst Level 4, Special Collections Exhibition Gallery J. Willard Marriott, The University of Utah August 21, 2023 through December 8, 2023 For the curators, archivists, and librarians working in Special Collections Divisions across the state and the country, maintaining a historical record through the collection of manuscripts, multimedia, and printed forms is not only important to their work, but also necessary to their institutions. Despite all of this, we are often unaware of the need to maintain our own records for future use. A History of Special Col ..read more

“Out of the forest at last there stood the mountain, wholly unveiled, awful in bulk and majesty, filling all the view like a separate, new-born world, yet withal so fine and so beautiful it might well fire the dullest observer to desperate enthusiasm.” — John Muir, Steep Trails (1918) Local Conditions Chandler O’Leary (1982-2023) Tacoma, WA: Anagram Press, 2010 N7433.4 O45 L63 2010 Last month, the Book Arts community unexpectedly lost one of their most talented members. Chandler O’Leary passed away on April 2, at the age of 41, after a brief and sudden bout of severe pneumonia. She leaves be ..read more

“The world is everything, and that is the case.” Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951) New York; London: Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc., 1922 BC135 W5 1992 Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was born on April 26, 1889 in Vienna, Austria. He was raised Catholic, despite his mostly Jewish ancestry. Coincidentally, he attended the same school as Adolf Hitler during the years 1904-1905. Wittgenstein was the son of an industrial steel tycoon and the youngest of nine children. His father, Karl Otto Clemens Wittgenstein, raised his children to use the family name and b ..read more