Jean And Alexander Heard Libraries

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries have strengthened their commitment to preserving cultural heritage by joining the Digital Preservation Coalition, a prestigious U.K.-based nonprofit that works with global partners to facilitate long-term digital preservation solutions. The Heard Libraries are one of only six organizations in the U.S. that are full members, including the Library of Congress and National Archives. Read More

In 2022, as Vanderbilt’s 150th anniversary approached, recent graduates Allen Zeng, BA’23, and Richard Zhang, BA’23, set out to capture the essence of the university by photographing its community members. Collaborating with Professor of Art Vesna Pavlović and librarian Yvonne Boyer, the two developed the “Vanderbilt Self-Portrait” project, supported by a Sesquicentennial Grant from the chancellor’s office and a Buchanan Library Fellowship. Read More

Marice Wolfe, of Nashville, the first woman to serve as Vanderbilt’s university archivist, died Jan. 3. She was 86. Read More

Last fall, five Buchanan Fellows at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries began a project to research Vanderbilt University’s first decade, from 1875 to 1885, and curate an online exhibit about what they discovered. In the process, the fellows learned how to find supporting materials, interpret historical objects, examine historically significant documents from Special Collections, and place all of them in the context of the university’s—and the nation’s—history. Read More

'Pressed for Time: Five Centuries of Prints from the May Collection,' on view online and from January through the end of March at the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, was curated by Professor David Price and students in his History of Prints class. Meeting weekly throughout the summer and fall of 2020, the students often were joined by Jack May, a longtime Nashville businessman and print collector, who inspired a new generation of collectors and connoisseurs of print art. Read More

Ediciones Vigía, a publishing house in the town of Matanzas, Cuba, began to create handbills and invitations in 1985 for local cultural events. Displayed through March of this year, these works now can be enjoyed again in the online exhibit Found in Cuba: The Ingenuity and Creativity of Ediciones Vigía. Read More

Clara Morera, The Preboste Juan (King Juan), 2017, mixed media on canvas, 72 x 48 inches (courtesy of the artist and Dorfsman Fine Arts, Miami) Artists from the United States, Cuba and Haiti envision social change through reinterpretation of a lost work Visionary Aponte: Art and Black Freedom brings together… Read More

Murray Hudson, PhD’69, offers tips on collecting, caring for and donating historical printed material. Read More

The power of hope—and a dark history—come to life through violin project Some say the violin is the instrument that most closely imitates the human voice. In March, 22 violins, most of which were played by Jewish musicians interned in concentration camps during the Holocaust, will arrive in… Read More

Above: The Cultures in Clay exhibit includes the Man and Beast seal (Arno Poebel Collection); below, left, a statue of Osiris, mythological father of the Egyptian god Horus, from the private collection of emeritus professor Douglas Knight; and, below right, the Drehem tablet (James Stevenson Collection). Clay… Read More

Richard (BA’57, MD’61) and Poppy (BSN’61) Buchanan will establish the Poppy Pickering Buchanan and Richard D. Buchanan Library Fellows Fund. This fund will benefit students and future library users by supporting strategic projects in which selected students work on multidisciplinary teams under the mentorship of faculty and professional librarians. Read More

Alphabet card, France, early 19th century; from the George Clulow–U.S. Playing Card Co. Gaming Collection, Vanderbilt University Special Collections The George Clulow and United States Playing Card Co. Gaming Collection—one of the world’s premier collections of books about card games, games of chance, playing cards and chess—has been acquired… Read More

The program cover for the Verlaine celebration featured this watercolor illustration by artist László Barta(1902–1961) under the name of Brutus, for a 1936 edition of a collection of Verlaine’s poems titled “Hombres.” Poet Paul Verlaine rocketed between emotional highs and lows, between a life of complete freedom… Read More