Vanderbilt University Special Collections

The cast of a plesiosaur, a large marine reptile that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, that was once a centerpiece of Vanderbilt’s natural history museum from the 1870s has been unearthed in the basement of Branscomb Quad. Read More

Vanderbilt University is becoming known as a place to study jazz performance and delve into jazz history through the acquisition of the extensive collections of Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef and Phil Schaap. Read More

This free exhibit is part of ongoing Sesquicentennial celebrations and features rare items from Heard Libraries' Special Collections and University Archives. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries have acquired the personal collection of Dom Flemons, a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and cultural historian whose music and research have brought greater awareness to African Americans’ extensive contributions to roots music. Flemons also will be appearing at the Blair School and NMAAM later this month. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries are marking the 50th anniversary of hip-hop in 2023 with the acquisition of eight prints by celebrated hip-hop illustrator and documentarian André LeRoy Davis. The prints engage critical themes in U.S. culture, from immigration and policing to identity and electoral politics. Read More

At Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, the three-dimensional history of the university is collected and lovingly maintained by the staff of Special Collections and University Archives. Their mission is to “preserve the historical memory of the university”—memory that is found in the objects that, by their survival, attest to a timeline grounded in the space between West End Avenue and 21st Avenue South. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives materials and operations will have a new home on campus at 1101 19th Avenue. The historic 1101 building will provide a large reading room and shelving for ready access to the university’s special collections. Read More

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

Members of the Vanderbilt community are being asked to share their stories, artifacts and memories of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a new archive project designed to chronicle this era for future generations. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries have acquired a collection of rare photographs of, and by, the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., ’71—a pivotal figure in the history of the civil rights movement and Vanderbilt University. Read More