Since our last update on our long-term conservation project, Special Collections staff has continued addressing the conservation and access challenges in the Catholic University’s Rare Books collection. As “Part I” and “Part II” of the conservation blog posts reported, our work with our partner Quarto Conservation has focused on books that varied in date range Read More
Category: Rare Books
The Archivist’s Nook: Conservation in Rare Books, Part III
Posted in: Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: None | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Tolkien, Milton, and Rare Books
Encountering a book once owned, signed, or inscribed by a distinguished person, is in some way encountering the person who signed it or closing the distance to only “a few handshakes away”. Holding the very same volume, read by someone we admire, turning the same pages, can become a transformative and inspirational experience. Books such Read More
Posted in: Blogs Digital Scholarship Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: association copies, autographs, books, John Milton, marginalia, Mullen Library, rare books, research, Robert T. Meyer, special collections, Tolkien | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Special Collections Resources on the History of Mexico
Scattered throughout Catholic University’s Special Collections are a range of resources related to the history of Mexico. We are happy to offer a new Library Guide to those materials. Here are a few of the highlights: The National Catholic Welfare Conference, forerunner of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, became involved in U.S.-Mexican affairs just after its Read More
Posted in: Blogs Catholic History Digital Scholarship Humanities Rare Books Religious Studies The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: Archives, catholic history, Mexico, research | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Neither Quenya nor Klingon – Glagolitic books in the Clementine Library
– How many languages does the Church speak? – All of them. (a Sunday school joke) By proclaiming being “Catholic” (meaning “universal”), the Catholic Church highlights its missionary effort to bring the light of the Gospel to every corner of the world and all nations. And often, there’s no other way to reach a community Read More
Posted in: Blogs Digital Scholarship Rare Books Religious Studies The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: Albani Family, Clementine Library, Croatia, glagolitic, Pope Clement XI, rare books, Slavic languages, slavs, St. Jerome, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Ukraine, Ukrainian Catholics | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Bewitching Tomes
Wandering through the Rare Books stacks is always an adventure. The shelves hold all kinds of secrets, waiting for the right librarian to pull them, or the right researcher to request them. But on a rainy October afternoon, with Halloween on the mind, it is the witchcraft books that stand out to me. The Rare Read More
Posted in: Blogs Digital Scholarship Humanities Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives, Catholic University, Halloween, Salem witch trials, The Archivist's Nook, Witchcraft | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Adeptio-Rare Book Acquisitions, 2021-2022
Special Collections, including the Rare Books Department, like the rest of the world, is continuing to emerge from the shadow of the COVID Pandemic. We continue to purchase new books and related materials, which we reported on in our November 2020 and November 2021 blog posts, and are pleased to announce further acquisitions during the 2021-2022 Read More
Posted in: Blogs Collection Management Digital Scholarship Humanities Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: France, Italy, Jansenist, Mexico, rare books, Sammelband | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Rare but Numerous – ‘Imitation of Christ’ in Rare Books
“Why do you need so many copies of the same work in your collection?” Such a question can be easily asked by any patron after finding in the library catalog that Rare Books houses 36 cataloged copies of The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. It blows some people’s minds and raises questions: Why Read More
Posted in: Blogs Collection Management Digital Scholarship Humanities Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: devotio moderna, Imitation of Christ, modern devotion, rare books, spirituality, Thomas a Kempis | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: Of Art and Industry – A Sample of 19th Century Literature in CatholicU’s Rare Books
The nineteenth century was a period of rapid growth and change for England and America, and one can find a microcosm of these changes reflected in the English novel, in both the pages themselves, and the culture around printing their printing and distribution. Further advancements in printing, and intense industrialization had made books cheaper than Read More
Posted in: Blogs Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: Charles Dickens, Henry James, John Henry Newman, Mary Shelly, rare books | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: A Patron “Saint” – The Bookish Legacy of Msgr. Arthur Connolly
I am glad to place this collection where it will be of so much benefit to students of history, yet I must confess I feel as if I were bidding good bye to friends who have become very dear to me…I have grown to love them for the many hours of pleasure they have afforded Read More
Posted in: Blogs Rare Books The Archivist's Nook Uncategorized University Archives | Tags: arthur connolly, Boston College, Mullen Library, Museum, museum collection, rare books, The Catholic University of America | Comment
The Archivist’s Nook: A Man for All Reasons – Curating St. Thomas Aquinas
I first encountered Aquinas during my time as a philosophy undergraduate at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, NY, and his proofs for the existence of God had a great impact on my “reconversion,” my coming back home to the Catholic Faith, after years of falling away as an atheist. Thus when I learned Read More
Posted in: Blogs Catholic History Rare Books The Archivist's Nook University Archives | Tags: American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives, Exhibits, manuscripts, online learning, rare books, special collections, St. Thomas Aquinas | Comment