Blog post by Discovery Fellow Aron Ali-McClory Hello! My name is Aron Ali-McClory, and I am an organizer and student who has been using the University Archives to explore the history of the student movement at the University of Florida, prompted by a manuscript which had been given to me known as Berkeley of the South. The student movement, consisting of intertwining lineages and legacies of student protest and activism, is something that is usually viewed through its most memorable events. My research through the Discovery Fellowship has sought to understand the context in which the student m ..read more

By Discovery Fellow Ziad El-Rady As a paper artist, I was drawn to the Special Collections by the treasure trove of pop-up and movable books found in the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature. As a game designer and D&D Dungeon Master, I knew these 3-D structures had great potential to immerse players into the environment and bring blind and low-vision players to the table. These players have no problems joining in on your average D&D game. Narration that includes details about things like smell and body language help for roleplay, but when battles take place, much of the ..read more

By Discovery Fellow Gregory Nobleza When I began the Discovery Fellowship, I really wanted to look at the indigenous plants and landscapes of Florida, such as what information related to plants has been cataloged throughout the centuries and how indigenous people continue to use plants in the digital era. The P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History contained many different approaches to this topic.             One of the first things that I looked at were writings by John and William Bartram.  They recounted their encounters with native ..read more

By Discovery Fellow A. Bones Starting this fellowship, I expected to be able to clearly pinpoint the exact sources through which the vindictive and villainous perceptions of wolves began. Wolves historically have always been the villain, which made a younger me feel both sorry for them and curious about why people hated them so much. We love dogs after all, don’t we? Why not their bigger, wilder ancestors?   The sixteenth-century writer and naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) gathered as many accounts of wolves from Biblical and Classical authors as he could in his Natural Hist ..read more

We’re off and running with our new cohort of Undergraduate Discovery Fellows! This semester, we’re pleased to welcome four new fellows to the collections. You’ll hear more about their projects on this blog over the coming weeks, but for now, we’ve been excited to introduce them to the collections and to each other. Aron Ali-McClory (’25) Will be using University Archives materials to investigate the history of student and union protests on the UF Campus A. Bones (“Bones”) (’27) Will be looking at portrayals of wolves in the nineteenth century science, news, and literature. Ziad El-Rady ..read more

As we prepare to welcome our new cohort of Discovery Fellows for 2024, we want to look back at the results of our 2023 fellowship cohort.  In previous years, students concluded their fellowships by writing a second post for the Storied Books blog.  This cohort of students were instead asked to give a five-minute talk about the research topics that they had formed during their work with the collections, followed by the chance to take questions about future research plans and how they might incorporate their experiences into the rest of their undergraduate career.  The talks were ..read more

During World War II, the American government placed a significant emphasis on directing female opinion as it pertained to the war effort. They launched a targeted propaganda campaign designed to both inform and entice women, offering them opportunities to take on roles that had previously been devoid of feminine influence. Despite an unprecedented surge in female labor across various industries deemed crucial to the war effort, it became evident that these newfound responsibilities would be transitory, leaving women with an inaccurate perception of enduring opportunities in traditionally m ..read more

Submitted by Discovery Fellow Morgan Fischer Our favorite books from our childhood can evoke the most powerful feelings of nostalgia. They stick with us. Even if you don’t think about them for years on end, the moment you catch a glimpse of the cover you would huddle with under the bedcovers, devouring until your mom told you it was time to go to bed, all of those feelings come rushing back. While millions of new books are published each year, there are some that have remained in print over decades, inspiring readers and making memories across generations. The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series ..read more

Submitted by Discovery Fellow Preslie Price I have always been enthralled by 20th century war propaganda since first cracking open a history book in middle school on World War I and II. When I began the DiscoveryFellowship, I was interested in combining that fascination with my passion and love for music of the century, especially surrounding the question of how the pair intersected before the development of mass media such as radio and TV. This notion drew me towards the subject matter of sheet music, which was a popular means of sharing songs across the country and overseas during war time ..read more

Submitted by Discovery Fellow Carly Achinapura In my research, I have been looking into how texts regarding female chastity are directed toward women of different social classes in Victorian England. I am especially interested in how these texts address the archetype of the ‘fallen woman’ – a woman whose loss of her virginity places her on the path of ruin and, oftentimes, death. In researching 1800s conduct literature and theology pamphlets, I discovered the pamphlet “An Address to Young Women on the Preservation of a Virtuous Mind, and Virtuous Conduct.” The pamphlet was written in 1844 by R ..read more