Special Collections Research Center

By Aisha Pierre, Reference Assistant I think those of us at Syracuse University can agree that the fall semester has been the strangest experience. We have become experts at Zoom meetings, we have become accustomed to our new 2020 accessory, the face mask, and we know how many times to shake the COVID test tubes (it ...

As we reach the end of a decidedly unprecedented and unusual year, let’s look back on some of the topics we researched, discussed, and discovered in SCRC’s collections this year. A big thank you to all of the staff members (Courtney Asztalos, Brett Barrie, Mike Dermody, Dane Flansburgh, Petrina Jackson, Jim Meade, Meg Mason, Sebastian ...

By Grace Wagner, Reading Room Access Services Supervisor Prohibition is often seen solely within the context of bootleggers, speakeasies, flappers, and the flagrant flouting of an archaic law set into place by a governing body out of touch with the realities of the populace. When the Volstead Act came into effect on January 17, 1920, it ...

By Vanessa St.Oegger-Menn, Pan Am 103 Archivist & Assistant University Archivist This December 21 will mark the 32nd anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 individuals from 21 countries. Among those whose lives were lost were 35 students returning from a semester abroad in London, England and Florence, ...

By Nora Ramsey, Reference Assistant “Hail, Librarians, holders o’ the golden keys!”, wrote poet Frank Elijah Dudley in 1955. This line belongs to a series of poems that Dudley personally sent to Syracuse University Librarians. A writer and poet, Dudley valued knowledge and frequently expressed his appreciation by sending poetry to libraries all around the United ...

By Grace Wagner, Reading Room Access Services Supervisor November is Native American Heritage Month. Courtney Asztalos speaks on her experiences researching Audrey “Gonwaiahhih” Shenandoah below: Native American Heritage Month By Courtney Asztalos, Plastics and Historical Artifacts Curator I first learned about Audrey “Gonwaiannih” Shenandoah through a virtual version of the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, Witness to Injustice: The KAIROS Blanket ...

Three of the collaborators for the new exhibit in the Plastics Pioneers Reading Room on the 6th floor of Bird Library — Courtney Asztalos, Plastics and Historical Artifacts Curator; Jana Rosinski, Plastics Collection Curatorial Assistant; and Lynn Wilcox, Design Specialist for Syracuse University Press — discuss the process of putting together “Survival Kit: Provisions for ...

By Meg Mason, University Archivist This week, we honor our veterans and their service. Veterans have long been a significant part of Syracuse University history. Most notably, the University Archives holds documentation of the dramatic influx of veterans on campus right after World War II. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the GI ...

Throughout this week, we have explored many facets of preservation in the archives. From considering the importance of TIME in the deteriorated photographs of Chester Rice from our Clara E. Sipprell Papers and the collected and digitized WSYR recordings of over 50 years of local history, To recognizing the work of the photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White, and acknowledging the RISK ...

The notion that incredible discoveries, hidden gems, and items thought to be lost to the ages are suddenly discovered in archival repositories is a rather romantic ideal that doesn’t frequently play out in the day-to-day operations of a special collections repository. Audio is one area, however, due in part to the many different and sometimes obsolete ...