Network News 11 (October 27, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/nnews/nnews-11 Document: Network News #11 - Special Collections on the Internet List: nnews from listserv@ndsuvm1.bitnet or listserv@vm1.nodak.edu Archive: via listserv or ftp from vm1.nodak.edu in nnews directory Date: October 27, 1993 Comments: noonan@msus1.msus.edu Copyright: 1993 Dana Noonan Permission granted to redistribute the unmodified version of this newsletter provided no fee is charged for it. =============================================================================== N N N N EEEEE W W SSSSS NN N NN N E W W S N N N N N N EEE W W W SSSSS N NN N NN E WW WW S N N N N EEEEE W W SSSSS =============================================================================== an update to libraries and information resources on the Internet sponsored by Metronet =============================================================================== Number 11 NETWORK-NEWS October 1993 SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ON THE INTERNET - an update - Now that over seven hundred library catalogs are available on the Internet, savvy users are beginning to ask which ones are worth searching for topic X. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to decide which OPACs you should search for a given topic. The collection size, geographic location, and perhaps even institutional history might provide clues to collection strengths. In addition the guides to graduate level programs in various disciplines could help identify a core group of institutions that "ought" to have strength in a given subject area. HOW TO FIND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS 1. Use the traditional print sources. If the source mentions that Michigan State University has a terrific collection on popular culture (it does!), then you are likely to find some or all of the materials in the collection included in the online catalog. If you can locate a copy of A GUIDE TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS IN THE OCLC DATABASE (OCLC,1988), you will have a head start on locating some of the buried treasures that can be found in the research library catalogs available on the Internet. Many of these collections appear not only in OCLC but in the public access catalogs. 2. Assume that the large research libraries will have materials related to the topic you are interested in researching. Start your search with a major university research library, the Library of Congress or the New York Public Library. 3. Check the library-sponsored gophers for information on collection strengths and special collections. You might want to do a "veronica" search on "special collections" but until gopher administrators use more descriptive titles you will have to plow through dozens of "special collection" entries in order to find the ones you are interested in viewing. 4. Check an online catalog's help screens to see what if anything is said about its special collections. Libraries could and should include more information about their collections in their online catalogs. Search under the name of the library just in case they have cataloged in-house guides to their special collections. Try combining the name of the institution with the words library or special. You will probably get a number of useless entries but may find just what you need. 5. Assume that major libraries will have special collections related to their region. I have not included most of these collections in this guide. 6. Make the obvious and not so obvious connections. The University of Texas at Dallas has a lot of material about the Kennedy assassination - but no special collection of it per se (as far as I can tell). W.H. Auden taught at Swarthmore for a time, so Swarthmore has an Auden collection. The American Geographical Society Archive is located at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Expect to find not only materials on discovery and exploration, but urban and transportation planning listed in the catalog. Collections of the works of popular American authors can be found in many places. Faulkner collections are found many libraries, but odds are that the University of Mississippi may have items not found elsewhere. Always look for local heroes (or demons). Remember that political figures aren't the only ones to give libraries their personal memorabilia. CAUTIONS 1. Many libraries have not finished adding the materials from their special collections to the online catalog. 2. Don't expect to find non-print artifacts to be included in most opacs. Brown has a great collection of toy soldiers but is unlikely to include each one in the online catalog. 3. Don't expect to borrow items from special collections. 4. Although I was able to verify many of the collections mentioned below, I have little patience with systems with arcane search procedures or poor vt100 connections. I try them once or twice and then look elsewhere. I recommend that you do the same. 5. Very few of the collections of the largest research libraries are included here. Seek and you will find them. 6. The collections mentioned below may not be the best that an institution has to offer; they were just easy for me to identify and check. 7. Expect to find some mistakes in this guide. The author's only qualifications for compiling this list are curiosity and doggedness. A SAMPLING OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES Items marked with a * were verified on the opac before the first edition of this guide was published in Network News #8 (September 1992). Items marked with a + are new entries verified on the opac prior to the release of this newsletter. Armstrong State College (via Georgia State University) + Minis Collection - Georgia and Savannah authors (900) includes strong Conrad Aiken selection Bates College + Maine Small Press Collection + Freewill Baptists + Marsden Hartley - artist/poet + Rabbi Brent Collection Boston University + History of Nursing Bowling Green State University + Great Lakes + Popular Culture Brandeis University + Spanish Civil War Brown University + Brown Military Collection + Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays + Lincoln Collection Bucknell University * D. H. Lawrence Collection (120) California State University, Fullerton + History of Cartography (4300+ volumes & 1400+ rare maps) Calpoly State University, San Luis Obispo + Julia Morgan Collection - San Simeon Calvin College + John Calvin and Calvinism Case Western Reserve University * Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books & Manuscripts Central Connecticut State University + Elihu Burritt Collection - blacksmith & peace advocate + Frederic Goudy Collection + Polish Heritage Collection (3800+) + Bruce Rogers Collection + Mark Twain Collection (300+) + Daniel Webster Collection (100+) Cleveland Public Library * John G. White Collection of Folklore, Orientalia, and Chess (2500+ chess related items in catalog) Colgate University Peace Studies Saperstein Jewish Center Collection Colorado College + Justice Chess Collection (300+) Connecticut College + Downs Angling Collection (1500+) + Gildersleeve Collection - 19th & Early 20th C. Children's Literature Cornell University + Echol Collection on Southeast Asia + Fiske Icelandic Collection + Wason Collection on China and the Chinese Dakota Wesleyan University (via MSUS PALS) * Jennewein Western Library Collection (4000+) Duke University + Carl Menger Collection - economics Eastern New Mexico University + Crocchiola New Mexico Collection + Williamson Science Fiction Library (6000+) Emory University- Theological Library Manning Collection (Cardinal Manning) Fairleigh Dickinson University + Chesler Collection - comic art, satire & caricature (5000+) + Lord Haberly Collection - Gregynog & Seven Acres Presses (750) + Outdoor Advertising Assn. of America Archive (1200+) Florida State University * French Revolution and Napoleon Collection (6000-13000 items) George Washington University Carnegie Collection - 70000+ items from the Library of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Gettysburg College + Civil War Collection - esp. Battle of Gettysburg (2500) + H.L. Mencken Collection (625) Haverford College (via Tri-College catalog) + Quaker Collection Hofstra University Art of the Book + Bloomsbury Group Georgian Poets + Limited Editions Club + Private Presses + G.B. Shaw + Weingrow Collection of Avant-Garde Art & Literature (3000+) + H.G. Wells Indiana University * Elizabeth Ball Collection of Children's Literature (8500+) * Jussi Bjoerling Memorial Collection (3300+ records and tapes) Iowa State University * American Archives of the Factual Film (AAFF) (10000+ non-theatrical) * E.C. Comics (1950s) Johns Hopkins University + Birney Anti-slavery Collection + Byron Kent State University + James Broughton Papers + Children's Literature Collection (archive of Saalfield Publishing Co.) Dramatic Literature and Performing Arts Collection + Virginia Glenn Memorial Collection of Readings in Human Potential History of Printing and Small Presses Collection + George C. Lamb Memorial Collection of Cryptography + James Robert Parish Reference Library + Ulizio Collection (British/American literature) + William E. Warner Collection + Borowitz True Crime Collection + Hart Crane Kenyon College + Typography Lamar University * Justice Cookery Collection (500+) Miami University (Ohio) Louise Bogan + Botanic Medicine Collection William Dean Howells King Collection of Juvenile Literature * A. W. Kuchler Vegetation Map Collection * McGuffey Collection of School Textbooks + George Orwell (5000+) * Paper Science Collection (5000+) Samuel Richey Collection of the Southern Confederacy Andre L. de Saint-Rat Collection (Russian history, art, literature) * Shaker Collection (250) World Cullinary Collection Michigan State University * American Radicalism (12000+) * Conversations from Wingspread Collection (1600+ radio tapes) French Monarchy Collection (9000+) Historical Veternary Medicine (1700+) Illuminated Manuscript Facsimiles * Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection (50000+) (most of the following are sub-sets of the Nye collection) * Comic Art Collection (extensive collection) International Comic Art Collection Popular Fiction: Detective-mystery, Juvenile, SF, Western, Women's * Popular Information Popular Performing Arts Millersville University of Pennsylvania + Ascher Collection of Operetta Music + Pennsylvania Research Collection + Wickersham Pedagogical Collection - pre-1900 textbooks, methodology New York Public Library - just a sampling + Arents Tobacco Collection + Berg Collection of English and American Literature + Dance Collection + Schomburg Collection of Black Culture Northwestern University + 20th Century European Art + Beck Angling Collection + Craig Collection - history of theater + Underground newspapers + Women's Collection - esp. Women's Liberation Movements since 1960's Oberlin College * Edwin Arlington Robinson Collection (100+ items) San Jose State University + Beethoven Studies (opac access to special database) Southern Illinois University (School of Law) + Water Quality Management Plans (Sec. 208) Southern Methodist University Oost Collection (classics) Fondren-Clampitt Collection of Texana Stanford University Barchas Collection - making of modern science Slavica Collections + John Steinbeck State University of New York, College at Buffalo + Creative Studies Collection (5000) State University of New York, University at Buffalo + History of Medicine (10000+) + Polish Room Collection (7000+) + 20th Century Poetry in English Collection (massive collection) Swarthmore College + W. H. Auden + Friends Historical Library + James A. Michener + Peace Collection + Private Press Collection Syracuse University + Rudyard Kipling + Ranke Collection - library of German historian Leopold von Ranke Texas A&M University * Jeff Dykes Range Livestock Collection (18000) * Great Western Illustrators Collection (5000) * Ku Klux Klan Collection (300+) + Science Fiction Research Collection (18000) Texas Tech University + Joseph Conrad Texas Woman's University + Cookbook and Menu Collection + Woman's Collection (42000+) University of California, Irvine (via Melvyl) + Menninger Collection - orchids (2000+) + Wellek Collection of the History of Criticism + Women's Pamphlet Collection University of California, Santa Cruz (via Melvyl) + Gregory Bateson + Robert A. Heinlein + Kenneth Patchen + Santa Cruziana University of California, San Diego + Archive of New Poetry + Baja California + Goodman Collection - Californiana + Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages + Southworth Spanish Civil War Collection University of California, San Francisco History of Health Sciences University of Chicago Louis Szathmary Collection University of Cincinnati + Burnam Classical Library (80000+ items) + Ellison Poetry Collection (10000+) + Jackson Pharmacology Collection + Striker Collection - diabetes (900) + Kandel History of Nursing Collection (2000+) University of Colorado at Boulder (via CARL) * Kelmscott Press Collection * Limited Edition Club Collection * John Masefield Collection * Mountaineering Collection University of Kansas Central American Collection Howey Collection on the History of Economic Thought (10000+) Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements (50000+) University of Kentucky * Applied Anthropology Documentation Collection * Peal Collection - 19th c English/American literature (5000+) University of Maine + Cole Collection (naval history - esp. North Atlantic) * Maine Juvenile Collection University of Maine at Presque Isle Aroostook County Collection University of Maryland + Katherine Anne Porter University of Michigan + Holtzman Faulkner Collection + Hubbard Imaginary Voyage Collection + Labdie Collection of Social Protest Material + McMillan Shakepeare Collection + Worcester Philippine Collection University of Miami Cuba University of Minnesota + Archie Givens, Sr. Collection of Afro-American Literature + Bieler Press + Dahllof Collection of Swedish Americana + History of Exploration (James Ford Bell Library) + History of Information Processing (Charles Babbage Institute) + Kerlan Collection - Children's Literature Research Collection + Modern Greek Collection + Thomas Wolfe University of Mississippi + Blues Archive - music + William Faulkner (2000+) University of Missouri at Columbia + Comic Art de Bellis Collection (Italian late Renaissance) * Howey Collection - pre-1800 English imprints (5000+) University of Nebraska Afghanistan Collection (700+ items in Dari and Pushto) University of New Mexico Batchelder-McPharlin Puppetry Collection * Gigante Collection (scores - including bow marking annotations) University of New Orleans + Louisiana Collection + Ship Collection - naval history & architecture (500) + Von Der Haar Collection - William Faulkner (630) University of Northern Iowa Modern American Fiction Collection (3600+) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill + Bowman Gray Collection of World Wars I & II (16000) * Hanes Collection of Estiennes (16th & 17thc books) + North Carolina Spanish Theater Collection (26000+) University of North Carolina, Greensboro + Randall Jarrell + Women since 16th century University of Oregon + Cooper Collection - esperanto + Oregon Collection University of Pennsylvania + Theodore Dreiser + History of Chemistry + Shakespeare + Spanish Drama of the Golden Age (4000+) University of Pittsburgh + Bolivian Pamphlet Collection * Neitz Textbook Collection - pre-1900 American textbooks (15000+) University of Rochester + Comtemporary American Literature + Dime Novels (10000+) + Ross Collection of John Ruskin (400+) + 17th Century Theology and Politics + Southern Newspapers - esp. Savannah 19th c. (1000 reels) University of South Dakota (via MSUS PALS) * Chilson Western American Collection (20000+) University of South Florida * Henty Collection (300+ works of George Alfred Henty) University of Southern Colorado + American Musical Heritage Collection (6000+ phonodiscs) University of St. Thomas (MN) + Celtic Library (4600+) University of Tennessee Early Voyages and Travels Collection * North American Indian Collection University of Texas at Austin * Aldine Collection - 500+ items from the press of Aldo Manuzio and successors * Benson Latin American Collection (23000+ serials and 77000+ books) Medici Collection - 400 16th and 17th century Florentine and Tuscan books about Medicis and Florence Alfred Cortot Collection - psalters and liturgical music W. E. van Wijk Chronology Collection - 1500 European works on chronology, calendars, etc. University of Texas at Austin, Tarlton Law Library + Law in Popular Culture University of Texas, Dallas + History of Aviation University of Texas, Pan American Lower Rio Grande Valley University of Tulsa + Native American History + 20th Century Anglo-Irish and American Literature University of Virginia African History Collection (7000+) Polish Collection - items in Polish or about Poland (6000+) Sadler-Black Collections of Gothic Novels (1100|) British and American travel accounts University of Washington Forest Resources Collection (23000+) University of Wisconsin - Green Bay + Belgian-Americans University of Wisconsin - Madison + Cairns Collection - works by American women before 1900 + Cole Collection - history of chemistry (675) + Little Magazines + Tams-Witmark Collection - musical theater performance materials (25000) University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee + Archive of the American Geographical Society (includes Mayer & Columbus Collections) + Roman Ecclesiastical Architecture (400) 17th century research collection Vanderbilt University * Baudelaire Center Collection (6000+) (separate database) * Pascal Pia Collection (20000+) * Wills Fugitive/Agrarian Collection (1000+) Washington University + Phillip Mills Arnold Semiology Collection (2000+) * Samuel Beckett Collection (900+) + Krohn Collection - pre-1875 American imprint sheet music + Modern Literature Collection (10000+ volumes & 100000 manuscript etc.) + Von Gontard Collection Williams College + Paul Whitman Jazz Archive + Shaker manuscripts and printed works Wright State University Wright Brothers Collection Yale University + Art of the Book + Holocaust Testimony + Judaica A SAMPLING OF CANADIAN SPECIAL COLLECTIONS McGill University + Colgate Printing Collection + Joubert Collection on French Canada + Lande Collection - Canadiana + Stearn Puppet Collection Queen's University + John Buchan Gothic Fantasy + McNicol Collection - early telecommunications/radio Riche-Coverington Collection - radar and radio astronomy University of Alberta + Curwen Press University of British Columbia + Canadian Childrens Books University of Calgary Canadian Authors' Manuscripts University of New Brunswick + Maritime Pamphlet Collection University of Western Ontario + Stuart Collection of Milton and Miltonia If you know of special collections or special subject strengths I should include, please drop me a note. Aside: the OCLC special collections guide also includes a list of the top 100 authors in the OCLC database. To make the list an author had to have at least 1000 editions listed in OCLC. Shakespeare topped the 100 list, but Erle Stanley Gardner and Nick Carter made it too! =============================================================================== Please do NOT reply directly to the list or this newsletter. Send corrections and/or comments to: Dana Noonan Metronet (612) 825-9312 (612) 224-4801 (612) 224-4827 (fax) noonan@msus1.msus.edu metronet@vz.cis.umn.edu Library User Network BBS (612) 772-7635 Metroline BBS (612) 224-8086 =============================================================================== Metronet >--< linking Twin Cities area libraries and media centers