News & Notes

Spring 2008 Semester Schedule

Closed January 21 and February 22. Please remember to make research appointments with the Archivist!

Exhibitions

"Behind the Scenes at a Presidential Inauguration" is the newest exhibit from Special Collections, located in the lobby of the Mudd Learning Center. Very few but those intimately involved in the process realize how much work goes into pulling off a presidential inauguration. "Behind the Scenes" provides a peek behind the curtain into a few steps of the process, such as the creation of special accompanying events and schedules, writing press releases and speeches, shaping scripts and floorplans, and the publication and dissemination of promotional materials. A number of documents and artifacts are provided to illustrate each step, including William W. Whitehouse's regalia and a letter to Albion College from President Richard Nixon congratulating them on the inauguration of Bernard T. Lomas, in addition to other interesting items. For more information on Albion College presidents and principals, please see the online guide compiled by Special Collections at http://www.albion.edu/
library/specialcollections/Histories/CollegePresidents/.

Currently on display on Mudd Level 3 outside of Special Collections is "Images of Spring", an homage to birds, butterflies, flowers, and all things green! "Images of Spring" includes a number of items from the college's rare books collection, including Studer's Popular Ornithology (1881), plates from Audubon's Birds of America, and Daniel McAlpine's The Botanical Atlas (1884). Also on display is poetry from the collection, including Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1882), The Nature Poems of George Meredith (1898), and Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1864), in addition to much more. It might just help to put a little "spring" back in your step! Click here for information on other exhibits from Special Collections.

New Research Guides

Our newest research guide is the result of a project for the Central Michigan University graduate course, "The Underground Railroad in Literature, History, Film and the Arts" with Dr. Maureen Eke. The guide is entitled an Interactive Map of Michigan Underground Railroad Sites, and it provides narrative, images, transcriptions and links to additional information on over sixty different individuals, locations, and state historical sites known or believed to have been involved in the Underground Railroad in Michigan. Related items from the Albion College Rare Books collection were digitized to enhance the site, which also contains a timeline and comprehensive bibliography to abolitionist activities in Michigan.

Special Collections would like to thank...
The Marilyn Crandell Schleg family and Alby Zatkoff, Class of 1976, for their continued support. Please see our Gifts page for a list of recent collection supporters. For additional information on past donors, please see Legacy of Friends, part of the Friends of the Albion College Library website.