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About Special Collections

Mission

The mission of the Special Collections Department is to support the Libraries and Media Services at the University of Vermont in its efforts to further the creation, application, and dissemination of knowledge by providing access to research materials relating to the study of Vermont, the history of the University of Vermont, and the history of the book as a form of humanistic expression. The department also preserves these materials for the use of current and future researchers, and to fulfill its role as a link in the network of institutions responsible for maintaining the documentary record of Vermont. The department also serves as the repository for the printed treasures of the Libraries which are placed in Special Collections because of monetary value, fragility or challenging format.

Staff Directory

Holdings

The Wilbur Collection includes some 80,000 books and pamphlets, approximately 200,000 photographs and other pictures, upwards of 7,500 printed and manuscript maps, and more than 8,000 linear feet of Vermont manuscripts. Contemporary Vermont materials, such as legislative records and state agency documents, are acquired on a continuous basis. The department also maintains an extensive reference file of news articles and pamphlets on issues pertaining to Vermont and Vermonters. Thus researchers have access to a wide range of materials documenting both historical and current Vermont topics.

The Rare Book Collection contains a wide range of rare and antiquarian volumes, with noteworthy concentrations in modern fine printing, early illustrated editions of Ovid, Canadian history, Chiswick Press imprints, modern literature, New Englandiana, and Americana.

The University Archives house records--administrative files, faculty lecture notes, student diaries, and assorted other UVM-related papers--from the 1790s to the present. The Archives is located in the Library Research Annex; however requests for material may be directed to the on-site reference specialist in Special Collections.

Library Instruction

Special Collections offers course-related sessions which introduce students to both the rare book and Vermontiana collections as well how to conduct research in Special Collections. Instructional sessions have been held to support courses in Environmental Studies, History, Political Science, Historic Preservation, Literature, Geography, French, German, Classics, Botany, Vermont Studies and other disciplines. We are continually working with faculty to discover new uses of our collections. To schedule a session, contact us at uvmsc@uvm.edu or 656-2138. Instruction sessions generally take place in the Special Collections reading room.

Published Guides to the Collections

Chaney, Michael P. Sources for the Study of Canadian-American Relations: Manuscripts at the University of Vermont Library.

Charles Whittingham, Printer, 1795-1876 : An Exhibit of his Works at Bailey/Howe Library at the University of Vermont, October-December 1983.

Henry Stevens : Green Mountain Boy, 1819-1886 : An Exhibit in Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont, November 1986-January 1987.

Graffagnino, J. Kevin Vermont Historical Resources: The Manuscript Holdings of the Wilbur Collection, University of Vermont.

Marshall, Jeffrey D. Photographs in the Special Collections Department, Bailey/Howe Library.

Marshall, Jeffrey D. Vermonters in the Civil War: Manuscripts in the Special Collections Department, University of Vermont Library.

Sources for the Study of Canadian-American Relations : Manuscripts at the University of Vermont Library, edited by Michael P. Chaney.





Special Collections
Bailey/Howe Library
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
802-656-2138
Fax 802-656-4038
uvmsc@uvm.edu
    © University of Vermont Libraries, 2003
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