LTPSC New Resources

Queen Victoria’s journals

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 15:29:46 +0000

The British Commonwealth is celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee (the 60^th anniversary of her accession to the throne) this year, with big events planned this weekend. The only other British monarch to reign for 60 years was Queen Victoria, who celebrated her diamond jubilee in June 1897. As part of the jubilee celebrations, the Royal Archives has digitized Victoria’s journals, which she kept from age 13 until her death in 1901. They will be freely available online ONLY for the month of June.

Printed editions of Victoria’s girlhood journals and her Journal of Our Life in the Highlands are available in Special Collections, as are printed editions of Victoria’s letters and the letters of her husband, Albert, the Prince Consort. In addition, Special Collections owns several original letters and drawings by Victoria, as well as books formerly owned or gifted by her. These items, and more material pertaining to Victoria’s life and reign, can be found by searching the library catalog for “Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901.”

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 869 Collection of Brigham Young University photographs and negatives

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:00:51 +0000

The Brigham Young University Archives is pleased to announce the availability of a new digital collection: Collection of Brigham Young University photographs and negatives (UA 869). This collection contains photographs and negatives of students, faculty, activities, and organizations at Brigham Young University. It also includes images of the performing arts and various colleges and departments. Materials date from approximately 1876 to 1996.

Early cougar mascots named Cleo and Tarbo, 1920s.

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 subject that you are interested in (for example, “Cosmo” or “cheerleaders”) 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 869 and scroll through the list of images or search within the collection. Once you have located the image(s) 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

Celebrating 100 Years of the Karl G. Maeser Memorial Building

Wed, 02 May 2012 21:13:16 +0000

Soon after the death of Karl G. Maeser in 1901, students and alumni began considering ways that they could memorialize their beloved teacher. They eventually decided that a memorial building dedicated to classroom instruction would be appropriate. The original proposal called for the building to be constructed on the southeast corner of lower campus, but this idea was abandoned when the university acquired land on nearby Temple Hill. It was decided that the memorial building should be placed on Temple Hill and in 1907 construction began. The building opened to class work in the fall of 1911 and was formally dedicated in May 1912. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Karl G. Maeser Memorial Building.

The Karl G. Maeser Memorial Building shortly after its completion in 1911

Originally designed as a classroom building, it has served thousands of students. The Maeser Memorial Building has also served the university as an administration building, housed devotionals and faculty meetings in its assembly hall, was the home of the College of Commerce and Business Administration, and housed several academic departments. It also briefly served as the home of the Student Army Training Corps in 1918. Today it is the home of Brigham Young University’ Honors Program.

The Maeser Memorial Building is one of the statelier buildings on campus. The interior is finished in oak with marble on the main stairways and the exterior is constructed of oolitic limestone. The building cost over $130,000 to build and nearly half of that was donated by the Jesse Knight Family. The rest of funds were raised by the Alumni Association. Over 1600 students, faculty, and alumni contributed to making the building a reality.

The University Archives recently opened a small exhibit containing materials that help to tell the story of the construction of the Karl G. Maeser Memorial Building. Come on down to Special Collections (1130 HBLL) and enjoy the exhibit.

Intercollegiate Athletics films

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:00:18 +0000

The Brigham Young University is pleased to announce the availability of use copies of films of various Brigham Young University athletic programs. The use copy DVDs are part of Series 2 and Series 3 of UA 5426 Intercollegiate Athletics films. The materials date from 1930 to 2009. The original films used to create the use copies are available in Series 1. A finding aid for the collection is available here.

Series 2 contains DVD recordings of sporting activities at Brigham Young University provided by Intercollegiate Athletics from 1930 to 2009. The recordings were made from the original film reels which are contained in Series 1. Information about the contents of Series 2 can be accessed here.

Series 3 contains DVD recordings of original films which do not include any sport related material. Information about the contents of Series 3 can be accessed here.

The use copy DVDs may be accessed and used through the L. Tom Perry Special Collections reading room (1130 HBLL) of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University. If you have any questions about UA 5426 Intercollegiate Athletic films, please contact the University Archivist at (801) 422-5821 or gordon_daines@byu.edu.

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.

New critical works on Romanticism

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:47:51 +0000

Here are some of the newest additions of critical works to the Rowe Collection of William Wordsworth. And check out the new LibGuide for the Rowe Collection at http://guides.lib.byu.edu/speccoll/wordsworth.

Rowan Boyson, Wordsworth and the Enlightenment Idea of Pleasure. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Laura Dabundo, The Marriage of Faith: Christianity in Jane Austen and William Wordsworth. Mercer University Press, 2012.

Mary Jacobus, Romantic Things: A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud. University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Adam Potkay, Wordsworth’s Ethics. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.

New resources for 19th century literature

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:16:00 +0000

The Harold B. Lee Library has recently subscribed to a number of electronic resources related to 19th century American and British literature. Here is a short list, with links. These resources can also be found using the A to Z database finder on the library’s homepage.

Queen Victoria’s Journals: scanned versions of the Queen’s surviving journals, from 1832 to 1901.
The Lily: A Temperance and Feminist Newspaper, 1849-1856: America’s first newspaper for women, edited by Amelia Bloomer.
Victorian Popular Culture: Scanned books, objects, and documents pertaining to Victorian and Edwardian popular entertainment, including optical entertainment, the theatre and music halls, circuses and sideshows, spiritualism, and magic.

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.