Myths Busted in My First Archives Job

Lisa Play was an archival assistant in 2019. Archives are social places! Talk to your peers! That isn’t to say the Reading Room isn’t quiet, because it is. However, if you think archives are places where talking doesn’t happen, that’s false. There’s a lot of communication that happens between scholars, archivists, and archival assistants to

Be Rootin’, Be Tootin’, Be Readin’: A Look Into Cowboys Across Special Collections

The Wild West has been a source for literary inspiration as long as people have lived and settled there. Special Collections and Archives hosts a variety of Wild West stories across popular mediums, including dime novels and small books. First published in 1860, dime novels became a popular source of media for young audiences and

Impressive Fabrics: The Ina VanStan Printing Plates

Ina VanStan (1901-1989) was a Professor of Clothing and Textiles at Florida State University. Her studies focused on a variety of fabrics pre-Colombian Peru, as well as other cultural artifacts from that time. The Ina VanStan Printing Plates contain twenty-three printing plates of various sizes depicting fabric patterns from Van Stan’s studies of Peruvian fabrics.

A Uniting Flame: Looking Back on the 50th Anniversary of the Westcott Fire

An iconic structure of Florida State’s campus, the gothic-styled Westcott Building was once threatened by a massive blaze on April 27, 1969. The fire started in the roof above the fourth floor, spreading beneath the sheetrock ceiling and causing intense damage throughout the fourth floor. The Westcott Building housed the University’s administration as well as

Ikebana Insights with the Katherine Wallick Collection

Are you intrigued with the delicate art of Japanese flower arrangement? So was Katherine Wallick, the treasurer of Virginia Peninsula Chapter of Ikebana International from 1972-1973. Wallick took a variety of workshops for her craft, including workshops with Ellie O’Brien in 1970 as well as Jackie Kramer of Holland. Researchers can track Wallick’s progress as

State of Cinema: The Richard Alan Nelson Collection

Florida has long played host to the production of films and television series, from seminal horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954, parts of which were filmed in our very own Wakulla Springs!) to the current production of Bad Boys for Life (currently filming in Miami and slated for a 2020 release). The Richard

“Field Flowers,” a bouquet of poetry from Eugene Field

Long known as the “Poet of Childhood,” Eugene Field is famous for his satirical and whimsical poems that evoke dreams, mischief, and romance. One of his most well-known poems “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” conjures images of the three eponymous sailors casting nets for stars in a crystal-brilliant sea in a child’s dream.  All night long

Everglades National Park Commission Papers

In our current climate of growing environmental concern, the condition and protection of national parks has become a recurring part of our 24-hour news cycle. Everglades National Park is Florida’s most famous national park and is as central to the state’s identity as its famous beaches. According to the National Park Foundation, over one million