Sweet as Molasses: Making a Molasses Cake

When thinking about a recipe to try for this year’s Great Rare Books Bake Off, I tried to find something that required minimal ingredients and was something that I had never tried before. A lot of the required ingredients for cakes that I kept finding required a large amount of eggs, flour, and sugar, until

Get Ready to Vote on Election Day!

November 8th is National Election Day! Election Day is the annual day set for general elections, both for federal, state, and local governments. The University has an important resource, FSU Votes , that may come in handy before casting a ballot. There, you can learn more about obtaining a sample ballot, tracking a mail-in ballot, instructions

The Bee’s Knees

This is a guest contribution to Illuminations for The Great Rare Books Bake Off by Mila Turner, FSU’s Social Science Data & Research Librarian  Today I’m sharing a recipe for a Bee’s Knees cocktail with a delicious taste and an even richer history.  It’s simple and easy to make yourself, or to enjoy at your

American Archives Month

Happy American Archives Month! This month is intended to raise public awareness about the importance of historic documents and records. Join us though out this month to learn more about how our staff makes history accessible to the public! FSU Special Collections and Archives will celebrating American Archives Month multiple ways throughout October: Want to

Welcome Back FSU!

Welcome back to all the new and returning students and faculty! We hope you all had a great first week back on campus. FSU Special Collections and Archives are excited to welcome you all and wish you luck with the fall semester! Be sure to come visit the SCA Reading Room to come see our

LGBT Oral History Project of North Florida

Oral history is one of the biggest components of understanding the queer experience. Most LGBTQ+ history has been passed down orally, rather than through written material. Oral histories have special characteristics that other resources in our collection don’t have – intimacy. They provide a first-hand view and help us understand a specific moment in time

Pride Month in SCA

Happy Pride Month! Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that LGBTQ+ individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. Throughout the month of June, the blog will be highlighting

New to Diginole: Commencement Invitations and Programs

The Spring 2022 semester just came to a close and with it meant a new class of graduating Florida State University students. Here at Special Collections & Archives, we have commencement materials from almost every graduating class in the history of FSU. Our Commencement Program collection contains various materials related to commencement, including programs, announcements,

To Glove or not to Glove? Myths of Proper Handling of Special Collections Materials

When you come into work with materials in Special Collections and Archives (SCA), there’s the preconceived myth that to touch the materials you must wear gloves.  That these old books you must not touch with your bare hands at all. This is WRONG. In most SCA spaces, gloves are not required to touch the majority

Pies for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!  Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (or the Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. The holiday was founded in 1988 and has