Welcome to the Central Libraries Special Collections Newsletter that highlights a few of the events from the fall semester.

Outreach
• Hankamer School of Business – Department of Management
o Prof. Blaine McCormick, Chair of the Department of Management, requested a second-annual visit to Special Collections to revisit our facsimile of the Book of Kells and to find potential new favorites. He particularly enjoyed exploring a 19th century manufacturing directory. Dr. McCormick shared his excitement with colleague Prof. Nisha Paul Kulangara, Asst. Professor of Operations & Supply Chain Management, who then incorporated the directory into her Management 4333 course with a fascinating assignment allowing students to step back into a different era of the evolution of procurement and to gain hands-on experience with Special Collections.

• International art exhibit
o Guy Koenigstein, an artist from Jerusalem, Israel visited Moody Library for a week to read through the Kathleen Kenyon papers for a future art installation in Jerusalem.

 

 

New Webpage Ready!

Thanks to the staff in Baylor Marketing – Electronic Communications and Baylor Libraries Marketing, we have a new webpage up that captures the active use of this collection. This new communication tool will continue to grow as we build out collection information and services.  Check it out!

 

Current Projects
We are using some new tools to get a better overview of the rare collections housed in the Polk Rare Book Room and in the Sue Margaret Hughes Collection. Currently we are working with the Tableau Visualization tool to identify strengths and gaps in the collection. Once we are finished, we will post on the webpage for everyone to use.

 

New Acquisitions
Central Libraries Special Collections have acquired the Eldon Jay Epp Library/Collection. This valuable collection has just arrived on campus and processing will begin in the spring semester. Look for more announcements in January, 2019.

“For more than fifty years Eldon Epp has been one of the world’s premier textual critics of the New Testament. Over his career he has collected New Testament Greek manuscript facsimilies, Latin, Syriac and Coptic versions of the New Testament, first edition text-critical studies, and scholarly monographs into a library that is arguably the finest private collection of New Testament text-critical holdings in the world. Baylor’s acquisition of Epp’s library ensures that this treasure trove of materials will now be accessible in perpetuity to scholars and students of the text of the New Testament.”
Mikeal C. Parsons
Professor and Macon Chair in Religion

 

Interesting Finds In Our Special Collections

Little Wars, the first set of rules for strategy war gaming, by science fiction author H.G. Wells (1913).  Read more here at BBC News.

 

Preservation

Meet our student assistant Rachel Risk! Rachel is no stranger to Special Collections, as she has been researching the Kathleen Kenyon Collection for two years.  The Special Collections  team is thrilled to now have Rachel working in the department. She started work this Fall as the Special Collections student assistant! She has worked closely with Frank to assist with repairs on the general collection, housing for Special Collections materials, and began the first steps on a project to help in reorganizing the Kenyon collection.

 

Contact information:
RareCollections@baylor.edu

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!