Overview of Holdings
Materials are selected for inclusion in Special Collections based upon one or more of the following elements: significance to areas of focus, enhancement of existing collections, rarity, fine printing and, in some instances, intrinsic value. Breadth in areas of focus offers opportunities for scholarship across the curricula. A wide range of areas encourages the knowledge and use of fine books by students and scholars. Specific imprints are selected to support the manuscript collections, increase existing holdings of important writers, or to collect examples of the book as an artistic artifact.
Areas of Focus
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Major Established Areas
- American history and culture
- Artists/illustrators
- Biblical texts/Theology
- Bibliography/the writing process
- Book as art form
- Elements of fine printing
- Fine/private presses
- First edition poetry
- History of the book
- Irish Literary Renaissance
- Local/Pennsylvania history
- Pre-Raphaelite artistic/literary movement
- War/wars (authors on war)
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Areas of Some Strength:
- African-American Artists
- Architecture
- Biology/Botany/Natural History
- Children's Literature
- Contemporary issues, (19th - 20th centuries)
- Early English history
- Early Pennsylvania printing
- History of higher education
- History of the sciences, social sciences, technology
- Illumination (Anglo-Irish manuscripts,
- Pennsylvania fraktur)
- Language/linguistics
- Literary circles
- Musicology
- Personal letters/narratives of literary, historical figures
- Political thought
- Significant American authors
- Three-Dimensional/Unusual imprints
- Western European history/diplomacy
- Women's history/feminism
- Women authors
- Writer as artist
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Areas to be Further Developed:
- Art in science/science in art
- Book collectors/collecting
- Development of Psychology as a discipline
- Early geography/exploration/geologic surveys
- Early Pennsylvania politics
- Early travel narratives
- Environmental protection
- Ethnic cultures
- History of American education
- History of photography
- History of theatre and costume
- Humor
- Manufacturing/business/labor relations
- Mythology/legend/folklore
- Pantisocracy (Lake Poets)/utopian communities/protest movements
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