LTPSC New Resources

New biographies of Louisa May Alcott

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:41:25 +0000

Two new biographies of Louisa May Alcott have been published in recent months. They are some of the newest additions to the Louisa May Alcott collection.

Yona Zeldis McDonough’s Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott is aimed at a juvenile audience. McDonough narrates Alcott’s life and provides a list of Alcott quotes, a chronology of her life, and a brief list of sources for readers who want to study Alcott’s life further. She also prints two poems Alcott wrote before the age of twelve. The biography is illustrated by Bethanne Andersen, a former illustration professor at BYU.

Harriet Reisen’s Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women was published in October 2009. The book grew out of research for the documentary of the same name, which was broadcast as part of the PBS American Masters series last week (28 December 2009). The book chronicles Alcott’s life and career, beginning with her parents’ courtship and marriage and highlighting parallels between Alcott’s fiction and her real-life experiences.

New resources for the literary author collections

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:36:21 +0000

BYU actively collects works by and about five British and American literary authors: William Wordsworth, Robert Burns, Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott, and Walt Whitman. To help researchers better explore the contents of these collections, Special Collections is adding new resources to our website. Each of the pages for the five author collections will soon be supplemented by a set of “Collection Highlights” pages, which list early editions, selected biographies, criticism, reference works, and other printed works within each author collection (call numbers are provided for all items listed on the pages). These pages are great introductions to these authors’ publishing history and how the authors and their work have been received critically and popularly over the years.

As of August 14th, 2008, Collection Highlights pages have been completed for the Louisa May Alcott and Robert Burns collections. Look for additions to the Whitman, Melville, and Wordsworth collection pages in coming weeks.

HBLL digitizes a medieval manuscript

Tue, 03 May 2011 17:59:01 +0000

L. Tom Perry Special Collections holds around two dozen medieval manuscripts (or manuscript fragments). Recently, the library digitized one of these treasures: an English manuscript dating from 1343 entitled Regimen Animarum. The manuscript was written for the Archbishopric of Canterbury. The text is in Latin and is a religious manual for ecclesiastical officials, covering preaching, teaching, and administering religious rites and sacraments. It also contains four leaves of music, a version of the New Office of the Corpus Christi, a portion of which is shown above.

The manuscript can be viewed online here or by searching the library’s Digital Collections.

Online resources from the JFC Harrison Collection

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:09:15 +0000

The Harold B. Lee Library has scanned and made available the British Social Periodicals held in the JFC Harrison collection online at the Internet Archive. The collection includes full-text scans of periodicals related to political, cultural, and social movements, including temperance, free-thought, and working-class educational associations. The digital collection also includes literary items related to Special Collections’ current exhibit, Literary Worlds.

Updated list of British social history periodicals

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:48:05 +0000

The list of periodicals related to British social history has recently been updated to include single-issue holdings and other titles from the J.F.C. Harrison Collection. The newly-added periodicals cover such topics as free thought, Methodism, and temperance.

Harrison Collection periodicals now online

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:39:10 +0000

A select number of British sociopolitical periodicals from the JFC Harrison Collection have recently been scanned and added to the Internet Archive. A total of 16 volumes from ten periodicals are now available. Titles include the annual journal of the Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society, John Bright’s Speeches on questions of public policy, and several titles produced by Temperance societies and labor unions. BYU anticipates adding the remaining periodicals from the Harrison Collection to the Internet Archive later this year.

Philip II letters now available online

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:26:43 +0000

The library recently completed its newest digital project, the digitization of a collection of letters from Philip II, King of Spain, related to naval wars with France and England during the period 1592-1597. These letters were previously available in incomplete black and white facsimiles. The letters have been re-scanned in full color and the digital collection includes details like outer addresses and wax seals. The letters can be accessed from the HBLL Digital Collections page or from http://lib.byu.edu/dlib/phil2/.

New digital collection in French history

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:26:31 +0000

One of Special Collection’s best resources in early modern history is our French Political Pamphlets collection. It consists of over 2,100 short works printed in France between 1550 and 1650. These pamphlets describe and react to the social, political, religious and economic issues and events of the period, including France’s Wars of Religion, the Edict of Nantes, and the Thirty Years War. Some of these pamphlets are unique resources not held by any other library in the world.

A multi-year project to digitize the pamphlets is now underway. Over 500 pamphlets were digitized during year one of the project and are now available online at http://www.lib.byu.edu/dlib/fpp/. This site includes a fuller description and commentary on the French Political Pamphlets collection and a bibliography of the collection along with browsable images.

UA 827 Brigham Young University photographs of campus buildings

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:01:38 +0000

The Brigham Young University Archives is pleased to announce the availability of a new digital collection: Brigham Young University photographs of campus buildings (UA 827). This collection contains photographs of the numerous buildings that have served students and faculty over the years at Brigham Young Academy and Brigham Young University. The photographs cover the years 1882 to 1985.

Brigham Young Academy Campus, 1902

The easiest way to access the images is through the finding aid which is available through the BYU Finding aids website. You can search for the name of the building that you are interested in (for example, the Maeser Building or the Academy Building) and access the digital images by clicking on the thumbnail image in the search results. This will take you to the digitized contents of the folder of photographs of that particular building.

You can also go directly to the finding aid for UA 827 and scroll through the list of buildings or search within the collection. Once you have located the building that you are interested in, click on the thumbnail to access the digital file of photographs. Each thumbnail represents the digitized contents of a folder of photographs. Go ahead and see what you can find.

If you have any questions about this digital collection, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu

Class Schedules and Commencement Programs available online

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:41:52 +0000

The Brigham Young University Archives recently added two new titles to its digital collections: class schedules and commencement programs. Both titles may be accessed through the BYU History Collections website. Both the class schedules and the commencement programs are accessed using dropdown menus. Select the year that you are interested in and the title will open for you. We hope that you find these new digital collections useful.

If you have questions about the content on the BYU History Collections website or would like to suggest potential content, please email the University Archivist at gordon_daines@byu.edu.

Guide to Manuscript Collections concerning the history of Brigham Young University located away from campus

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:00:56 +0000

Brigham Young University has a rich and varied history. While the bulk of historical manuscripts relating to the history of Brigham Young University are housed in the University Archives, there are numerous other repositories that hold materials that shed light on the university’s history. In 2006 the University Archivist prepared a guide to archival and manuscript materials dealing with the history of Brigham Young University that are held by other repositories in the state of Utah. That guide is available here.

If you would like to learn more about the resources available for studying the history of Brigham Young University, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.

Alumni, Come Home–An exhibit celebrating Homecoming at BYU

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:22:32 +0000

The L. Tom Perry Special Collections is currently hosting a small case exhibit in honor of Homecoming at Brigham Young University. The exhibit features two Banyans that illustrate the importance of Homecoming to students in the 1960s, a list of activities from the 1970s (come see what Colonial Days was all about), and two flyers inviting alumni to return to campus to participate in Homecoming activities. It will run through October 17th, 2010.

President Benjamin Cluff began what would become our Homecoming with the establishment of Founders Day in 1891 to remember individuals who had established Brigham Young Academy and helped it to flourish. The first Founders Day was held 16 October 1891, and quickly became an annual tradition. The first event officially called Homecoming was held in the fall of 1930. According to the Wilkinson centennial history, Homecoming was associated with a football game and parade from the very beginning. “During the halftime of the November 15 football game with the Montana State Bobcats, floats, costumed students, stunts, and people depicting various periods from 1875 to the year 2000 paraded past the stands.” Founders Day became an integral part of Homecoming, while retaining its purpose of honoring the university’s founders.

White and Blue Homecoming headline, May 1920

Homecoming has always been important to Brigham Young University. The May 28, 1920 issue of the school’s newspaper The White and Blue featured a large headline announcing that “Hundreds of Old Grads Return for Homecoming.” The full newspaper is available through the BYU History Digital Collections and this specific article can be accessed here.

If you would like to know more about the resources available for studying Homecoming at BYU, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.

Brigham Young University’s Centennial History available online

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:00:12 +0000

As part of the university’s centennial celebrations in 1975 Brigham Young University published a four volume history entitled Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. This history chronicles the remarkable growth of the university from a small church academy into a first-class university. The centennial history was edited by emeritus president Ernest L. Wilkinson and contains a wealth of information on the early history of the university. We are pleased to announce that this invaluable resource for studying the history of Brigham Young University is now available digitally. The university also produced a one volume summary, Brigham Young University: A School of Destiny, of the official history and it is also available digitally. There are several ways that you can access these important resources:

Go to the BYU History Digital Collections and select the volume that you are interested in from the dropdown menu under “Brigham Young University: The First One Hundred Years. To access the one volume summary, click the link below the dropdown menu.
Go to Scholarsearch and run a search for “Brigham Young University The First One Hundred Years” or “Brigham Young University A School of Destiny.” Click into the record and scroll to the bottom. Use the links to access each volume.
Go to the Internet Archive and search for “Brigham Young University The First One Hundred Years” or “Brigham Young University A School of Destiny.”

If you have any questions about the history of Brigham Young University, contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5281 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.

History of Y Mountain

Wed, 18 May 2011 17:00:15 +0000

University Communications recently released a video documenting the history of Y Mountain.

The video relies heavily on information from the University Archives as well as oral history interviews with individuals knowledgeable about Y Mountain. You can learn more about the history of the block Y and the activities associated with the block Y.

If you would like to know more about the resources for studying the history of Brigham Young University, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.

Course Catalogs available digitally

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:29:47 +0000

Brigham Young University publishes a course catalog every year that describes graduation requirements, department majors, individual courses, instructors, and all other aspects of university operations. The most heavily used portion of this catalog is the brief descriptions of individual courses which include a short summary of the content of the course, number of credit hours and course number.

The University Archives recently had our collection of the course catalogs covering 1901-2007 digitized and the complete run is now available through the Internet Archive. To access the course catalogs go to the BYU History digital collections. The course catalogs are listed under the University Publications section of the site. Select the year you are interested in from the dropdown menu and that particular course catalog will be pulled up for you.

If you would like to know more about the course catalogs or other materials documenting the history of Brigham Young University, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu

The Banyan

Tue, 11 May 2010 16:47:22 +0000

In 1911 Brigham Young University began to publish a yearbook. The name of the yearbook, the Banyan, was taken from a statement made by Karl G. Maeser comparing the influence of the university on Church education to a banyan tree. The Banyan was supervised by the Student Publications Board. It had its own faculty adviser and students did the majority of the work on the yearbook. The Banyan aimed to capture student life on campus through a combination of text and images. The Banyan features class pictures as well as photographs of athletic events, student activities, and clubs. It also includes information on student government and descriptions of campus life. The Banyan was published through 1985.

The University Archives recently had our collection of the Banyan digitized and it is now available through the Internet Archive. Follow this link to the Internet Archive’s search page http://www.archive.org/search.php and use the search term “banyan” plus the year that you are looking for to locate a particular copy of the Banyan. For example, if you were looking for the 1965 Banyan your search string would be “banyan 1965.”

If you would like to know more about the Banyan or other materials documenting the history of Brigham Young University, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu

New Digital Collection

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:38:13 +0000

The University Archives is proud to announce that a project to digitize the early student newspapers of Brigham Young University is underway. We will be digitizing the Academic Review, the BYA Student, the Normal, and the White and Blue. Several issues of the Normal

Masthead of the Normal

and the White and Blue

Masthead of the White and Blue

are already online at the BYU History digital collections site.

Student publications got their start in 1884 when the Polysophical Society of the Brigham Young Academy began to publish the Academic Review. This literary periodical ran through May 1885 and contained information about the Academy, reports on campus events advertisements, and other interesting information. In 1891 a new student paper was begun and titled the BYA Student. This periodical featured content similar to its predecessor and lasted for about five months. Six years later (in 1897) students decided to give it another go and established The White and Blue. The paper was originally published every other month but eventually gained enough traction that it was decided to publish it twice a month. The White and Blue ran through 1921 when it was supplanted by the Y News. The White and Blue featured more original student writing and reporting than its predecessors. It included essays on the character of Brigham Young University, information from the various school classes, literary essays, poetry, information on sporting events, and other interesting details of student life. These early student papers are a wonderful window into student life from the 1890s through the early 1920s. They help us gain a better understanding of what it was like to be a student at Brigham Young University during an important transitional period in the university’s history.

If you have any questions about these early student newspapers, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.