Beyond the Reading Room

Anecdotes and other notes from the U-M Special Collections Research Center.
Detailed illustration from Audubon's Birds of North America of a nest in a tree with birds sitting around it.

Posts in Beyond the Reading Room

Showing 331 - 340 of 354 items
Pearls of Wisdom : The Arts of Islam at the University of Michigan
  • Evyn Kropf
Don't miss "Pearls of Wisdom : The Arts of Islam at the University of Michigan," on display October 15th - December 21st at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology! This exhibition features a number of items from the Special Collections Library, including manuscripts from our Islamic Manuscripts Collection and a couple of magic bowls from our Historic Scientific Instrument Collection.
Image of Laura Greenwood.
  • Kate Foster Hutchens
Meet Laura. She spent her summer doing research in the Special Collections Library, and I was able to talk with her for a few minutes on her last day about her experience.
Invitation to the premiere of the film Popeye (1980)
  • Philip A Hallman
Nestled in the nearly 800 boxes that comprise the Robert Altman Archive here at the University of Michigan’s Special Collections Library is a treasure trove of materials from his 1980 film Popeye, which featured Robin Williams as the mumbling, spinach eating sailor. Over the last two months since the unexpected passing of Williams, numerous magazines, websites and blogs have paid tribute to the departed comic genius. Chief among them is Eric Spitnagel’s piece for Vanity Fair’s Hollywood entitled Popeye is the Best Movie Robin Williams Ever Made. While many may gasp at Spitnagel’s judgment, his witty and humorous remarks demonstrate the loyalty certain Williams fans feel towards a film that is often maligned rather than rejoiced.
Cover image from Hijos De Zapata publication
  • Anne Elias
Don't miss the Hispanic Heritage Month digital exhibit on display, October 5 through October 12, in Bert's Study Lounge in the Shapiro Undergraduate Library showcasing images from materials found in the Special Collections Library.
  • Jennifer Rebekah Talley
For anyone interested in marginalized communities and the progress of social movements, the Special Collections Library has a wealth of primary and secondary resources. Examples of institutionalized racism, in particular, can be found throughout the Special Collections Library, and are a reminder that even objects we tend to revere such as rare books cannot escape their historical context.
Four chefs walking in a line.
  • Jacqueline L Jacobson
A new exhibit, "The Life and Death of Gourmet — The Magazine of Good Living," is on display through December first in Special Collections' 7th floor exhibit space
hand / glove watermark in Isl. Ms. 1053
  • Evyn Kropf
This Wednesday's watermarks feature: hand / glove motifs in papers of manuscripts from the Islamic Manuscripts Collection.
Index librorum prohibitorum: cum regulis confectis per patres a Tridentina synodo delectos (Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1570)
  • Pablo Alvarez
Since we are now “celebrating” Banned Books Week, I thought that readers of our blog would be delighted to know that the Special Collections Library holds an important selection of early-printed editions of the justly infamous Index librorum prohibitorum (List of Forbidden Books).
Photo of blue binders on shelves in Special Collections Reading Room
  • Kate Foster Hutchens
Many finding aids for our archives and manuscript materials are online, but some are not (yet). When a Special Collections catalog record says “Unpublished finding aid available in repository,” these are what we’re talking about.
Packing the collection in Hayden's office as he gives a phone interview to a reporter in Africa.
  • Julie Herrada
We are elated to announce that the Tom Hayden Papers are now part of the Special Collections Library's Joseph A. Labadie Collection.