Special Collections

"The American Presidency" exhibition, drawing on rare memorabilia and biographies in the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries' Special Collections, will open with a talk by presidential historian Thomas Alan Schwartz Feb. 20. Read More

A lecture related to little-known African American sports history on Feb. 7 will lead off a series of events celebrating African American History Month at the Central Library. Read More

A program that creates in-depth learning experiences for undergraduate students with diverse library resources has been endowed with a $1 million gift by alumni Poppy and Richard Buchanan. Read More

"Cultures in Clay," a new exhibit at Vanderbilt Divinity Library, spotlights a 4,000-year-old cuneiform writing system on tablets used by ancient Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Read More

Vanderbilt has acquired the George Clulow and U.S. Playing Card Co. Gaming Collection—one of the world's premiere collections of books about card games, games of chance, playing cards and chess. Read More

Three Metro Nashville high school students researched the earliest books acquired by Vanderbilt Libraries while participating in Mayor Megan Barry's Opportunity NOW youth employment program. Read More

Some 300 boxes containing the rarest and earliest portions of the J. León Helguera Collection of Colombiana, which documents centuries of Colombian history, have been acquired by Vanderbilt Libraries. Read More

The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery presents “Race, Sports and Vanderbilt: 1966–1970,” which will showcase photographs, front pages from "The Tennessean," and related artifacts from this time period, beginning Friday, Sept. 23. Read More

Valerie Hotchkiss, a library director and professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will join Vanderbilt Aug. 1 in the role of university librarian, with responsibility for nine divisional libraries and the Television News Archive. Read More

Enjoy eating a sweet treat and gazing at the moon through a telescope on Library Lawn when Dyer Observatory and Vanderbilt Libraries present "Moon Watch and Moon Pies" the evening of March 15. Read More

Kathleen Smith, associate director of special collections for Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Library system, and her team occasionally find themselves on the receiving end of unique objects that have been passed along to the university, from vintage movie posters to—as in the case of items highlighted here—armaments and other war-themed matériel. Read More

Vanderbilt Libraries will celebrate Open Access Week by hosting two Wikipedia edit-a-thons Oct. 15 and 23. The community is invited to participate. Read More

Vanderbilt Central Library's second Wikipedia edit-a-thon, scheduled for Nov. 1, will focus on global connections. Read More

A new Vanderbilt residence hall pays tribute to the legacy of civil rights pioneer and former Vanderbilt Divinity School assistant dean Kelly Miller Smith. Read More

Vanderbilt Central Library shares stories of journalists and others who put their lives on the line for freedom in a new exhibition open to the public. Read More

Vanderbilt Libraries pay tribute to renowned sports writers and alumni Grantland Rice and Fred Russell in a new exhibition. Read More

Author Michael Sims, a former employee of Vanderbilt Special Collections, will read from his new book on Henry Thoreau April 11 at the Central Library. Read More

Book artist Barry Moser and author Ann Patchett will hold a public conversation March 27 at the Vanderbilt Central Library. Read More

Vanderbilt University Heard Library's Special Collections has received a Golden Globe and two other major film awards given to the late film director Delbert Mann. Read More

Claire Van Vliet, founder of an independent press dedicated to the finest quality craftsmanship and collaborative spirit, will speak at Vanderbilt University Central LibraryNov. 7. Read More