Spring Exhibits and Events in SCUA

There's a lot to see in SCUA for the Spring Semester! Our long-anticipated exhibit of our fantastic magic lantern collection is on display now in the Donor Hall. Sources of Wonder: The Homer and Betty Peabody Magic Lantern Collection will run through the end of June 2012 and features hundreds of colorful slides in diverse categories, as well as lanterns of all types and sizes. Browsing through these cases in the Donor Hall is great fun, but if you can't stop in to see them yet, browse our online exhibit of the collection.

To celebrate both the exhibit and Love Library's recent 40th anniversary, the Library is holding a "Victorian Valentine Magic Lantern Show," performed by the American Magic Lantern Theatre in Love Library 108 on February 14th at 7p.m. Have you submitted an entry for the "Did You Fall in Love in Love Library?" contest yet? The deadline to submit your story is Feburary 9th, and winners will be announced at the Valentine's Day show. Prizes include a romantic dinner at the Hotel del Coronado, so make sure you submit your story soon!

We're also celebrating Love Library with a supplementary Valentine's Day display in the foyer outside Special Collections on the 4th floor of the Library Addition. Entitled Cupid's Curiosities, this vibrant collection features lovely selections from the John and Jane Adams Postcard Collection and the John and Jane Adams Greeting Card Collection, the Vince Meades Sheet Music Collection, as well as love poetry and correspondence from various manuscript collections. Stop by SCUA to browse song titles from the early twentieth century, such as "I Love Me" and "Ookey Snookems," and to read heartfelt love letters from "Joe" to his sweetheart "Jessie." Another early twentieth century highlight is the Mary Leihr Scrapbook (finding aid forthcoming), in which Mary compiled all the letters, comics, and cartoons written for her from the road by Al Logan, who was a traveling salesman and adoring beau.

In the SCUA Reading Room, you'll find an expanded instance of our popular Discovering the Source: Exploring Primary Sources in Special Collections. This highly visual exhibit introduces examples of the many different types of primary sources that can be found in our collections: diaries and journals, audio/visual sources, ephemera, maps, correspondence, photographs, artifacts, and more! By examining clusters of examples in each category, we explore how each type can be used in research in any discipline, and consider what kinds of questions primary sources can both raise and answer. Whether they are consulted in their original format, in an edited compilation, on microform, or online, primary sources can produced as many questions as they resolve; this powerful quality is what makes primary sources signficant to almost every discipline, and what makes them fun! So stop in to SCUA this spring to puzzle through unfamiliar handwriting, look closely at the details in a photograph, or listen carefully to a voice in an oral history. You'll be surprised at what you find!