Marsha Gontarski Collection

Scary Books for Children?: Edward Gorey in the Marsha Gontarski Children’s Literature Collection

Black and white illustration taken from The Gashlycrumb Tinies of a two little girls at a table, one skeletal and dead, presumably related to the large bottle atop the table. It is captioned “Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin."

This is a guest-post by students Josalin Hughes and Julia Kleser, Editing, Writing, and Media majors, whose project for their Advanced Writing and Editing course this semester is to help create content highlighting portions of Special Collections holdings. As we progress from the otherworldly and spooky atmosphere of October and deeper into the holiday spiritContinue reading “Scary Books for Children?: Edward Gorey in the Marsha Gontarski Children’s Literature Collection”

Responding to Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Children’s Book Calls for Peace

War & Peace for Children The Special Collections book we’re highlighting today has a very specific mission: to teach children (and perhaps, the adults reading to or with them) about the post-nuclear world, and about the need for peace. On the Wings of Peace: In Memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a 1995 collection ofContinue reading “Responding to Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Children’s Book Calls for Peace”

The History of Paper Engineering

The following blog post was written by Special Collections & Archives staff member April Martin. Literature with functional qualities such as pull tabs or pop-ups are often considered children’s entertainment. However, paper products with mechanical elements were originally created as tools used by adults. Religious calendars, calculation tools, and navigational aids were found in theContinue reading “The History of Paper Engineering”

Accessioning a Rare Book Collection : Part II

After the successful transport and unloading of the Marsha Gontarski Children’s Literature Collection, I began the process of creating an inventory of all the books in the collection — an excel spreadsheet that is currently at 300 entries and steadily growing. This spreadsheet will serve not only as a record of all the books received in theContinue reading “Accessioning a Rare Book Collection : Part II”

Accessioning a Rare Book Collection: Part I

One of the most common questions I get from undergraduate students during instruction sessions is some variation of “How do materials end up in Special Collections?” There are many answers to this question, of course, but one of the most important ways we receive materials is through donations. With our rare book collections, we are particularlyContinue reading “Accessioning a Rare Book Collection: Part I”