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Wilde, Oscar.
Poems. London: Elkin
Matthews & John Lane, 1892. (99/220 copies). Signed by the author. |
Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections is a repository for a multitude of materials contained in a
great variety of formats: books, manuscripts, correspondence, journals,
photographs, posters, maps, original drawings, theatre programs, archival documents, and
other materials.
Access to these materials by faculty, students and guest scholars is encouraged,
but comes with necessary restrictions. These items can only be used in the
Rare Book Room under departmental regulations. Please phone or e-mail
ahead for an appointment.
We are located in room 345 on the second floor of the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library,
in the south wing next to the Palmer School of Library and Information Science.
Described below are some of the many rare and notable holdings of the
Special Collections Department.
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The American Juvenile Collection (AJC)
Initiated in 1976 by Professor Diana L. Spirt, Ph.D., (Emerita) of the Palmer School of
Library and Information Science, to provide a research collection of children's fiction,
folklore, and fairy tales printed in North America, covering the years 1910-1960. There is
an extensive Reference Collection, as well as some children's books in foreign languages.
The AJC retains a few children's books, published before 1910, that were gathered by
Christine Gilbert, a former professor of the Palmer School.
The AJC Archival Collections
These archival collections contain research materials of authors' and illustrators' correspondence,
illustrations, photographs, childrens book editors' correspondences, galley proofs, dummy copies,
and miscellaneous ephemera. These archival collections demonstrate the importance of donating.
The materials are now assured to help increase the body of knowledge in the field by adding a
permanent record that is available electronically to the student, researcher and interested person.
We encourage anyone to donate a single, multiple or estate collection of books and materials,
such as manuscripts, letters, illustrations, photos of authors or illustrators covering the AJC's time
period of 1910-1960 that deserve a permanent home. We hope you contact us in the American Juvenile
Collection and look forward to hearing from you.
- The Joan Hoerger Fern Place Elementary School Library "Letters
to Authors Project"
An AJC archival letter collection was donated by Mrs. Joan Hoerger, the librarian at the Fern Place
Elementary School, Plainview, New York. It represents a library class project designed to
encourage reading. Each student wrote a letter to her/his favorite author. 35
authors/illustrators from Joy Adamson to Carol Beach York responded warmly to the pupils.
These letters are illustrated in many instances and include brochures and photos from
authors/illustrators who were popular with elementary school age children.
Each of the following archival letters is described briefly and listed under the authors/illustrators
name in the following Finding Aid. We suggest that you also browse the
AJC Collection's database.
- The Saidie Scudder Archival Collection
The Saidie Scudder Archival Collection was donated in 1988 by Saidie E. Scudder,
1907 - 2001 and her older sister Hazel L., who died in
1990. Their parents, P. Halstead and Sarah Townsend Scudder, were descendents of an
historical Quaker family line on Long Island, New York. The sisters were also active Quakers
who in their later years were responsible for providing funding for the restoration of the old
Quaker meeting house in Matinecock that had been destroyed by fire. They lived in Glen Cove,
New York and were active gardeners, sharing classes in their greenhouse, as well as engaging
in community projects. In their final years, they lived in Mill Neck, New York.
The collection is from their inheritance in 1984 from the estate of a long-time friend Dorothy
Marie Bryan, who was the children's book editor at Dodd, Mead & Company. The collection
contains pre-publication illustrations and a variety of materials created by well known children's
author-illustrators in the American Juvenile Collection's time period.
Please enjoy researching our finding aid. For questions, please contact
Diana.Spirt@liu.edu,
Jarron.Jewell@liu.edu or call 516/299-2880.
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Archives of C.W. Post Campus / Long Island University
The department also is the official
repository of archival material of Long Island University, especially C.W. Post.
It features a complete run of the student newspaper,
Pioneer,
and the student yearbook,
Opticon,
as well as C.W. Post bulletins and class schedules, and various other documents.
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Archives of Shogo Myaida
Landscapes architecture; photographs, blueprints, and original drawings.
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Archives of the Joseph Cameron Cross Theatre Collection
The Joseph Cameron Cross Theater Collection contains over 300 letters,
50 theater programs, many Christmas cards, postcards, articles, and a great
many theatrical photographs. All chronicle the time periods of the early 20th
century and the 1940's and 1950's.
The letters are written by such notables as the actors Viola Allen (also a
major recipient of letters) and John Gielgud; writers such as Ambrose Bierce,
Booth Tarkington, and Hall Caine; the ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn; the
comedian Fred Allen; and many others.
In conjunction with these letters there are photographs, both signed and
unsigned, of many of these principals, and especially Viola Allen. The beautiful
Miss Allen was a leading American actress circa 1890 to 1910. She played
Shakespearean roles, modern comedies, and many popular plays of the day,
including a dramatization of Hall Caine's novel, The Eternal City.
We are currently working on the Joseph Cameron Cross Theater Collection,
and invite you to revisit this site again soon.
- Joseph Cameron Cross Theatre Collection Finding Aids:
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Art Archives of William Randolph Hearst
The William Randolph Hearst archival collection
of over one hundred volumes documenting the objets d'art acquired by
"Citizen Kane" Hearst. These records consist of descriptive text,
sales history and photographs
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Cedar Swamp Historical Society Collection
This invaluable library of books, periodicals, pamphlets, maps, historical documents,
letters, flags, and other materials, was generously donated to Long Island University by
the Cedar Swamp Historical Society under the auspices and direction of its former President,
John G. Peterkin. Of the more than 1,100 books, the subjects range from town histories and
biographies of Long Island personages (as Theodore Roosevelt) to monographs on Long
Island archeology and the Long Island Railroad, from many books on Long Island shipping
and family histories to writings by Long Island poets and novelists, such as Walt Whitman
and Christopher Morley.
We have extensive periodical holdings such as The Long Island Forum and
The Journal of Long Island History. The collection boasts such treasures as 18th
century Long Island family letters and deeds, poems in manuscript by John Howard Payne,
and several Revolutionary War documents. The latter were displayed in 2000 at the
Nassau County Art Museum, along with several flags.
Cedar Swamp Historical Society Collection: Long Island Places
Long Island, stretching some 120 miles from New York City into the Atlantic Ocean, is
divided into four areas: Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk. Within these groupings are a
myriad of towns and villages, communities large and small, past and present. They are replete
with histories, legends and traditions, hidden lore, persistent mysteries and local characteristics
that continue to stimulate researchers. The following annotated list of articles in periodicals
demonstrates the variety and depth of information available. Soon, a listing of books and pamphlets
with the same local focus will be posted on this site.
- Finding Aid:
- Periodical Index of Long Island Articles Arranged by Location
-- (In Progress)
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Circus and Buffalo Bill Collection
Contains books, pamphlets, magazines, advertising posters and leaflets,
photographs, pictorial cards of animals and circus people, special illustrations, and
documents such as a note from P.T. Barnum.
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French and Irish Literature: The Winthrop Palmer Collection
Following the original strictures of Mrs. Winthrop Palmer's
generous bequest to the Library, much rare Irish and French
literature has been acquired. Although we have concentrated
on the Nobel prize-winning avant-garde writer, Samuel Beckett,
an Irishman who wrote both in French and English, we have
collected rare items of many French and Irish writers, mainly
from the 19th and 20th centuries, in a variety of literary forms.
This collection has grown, in just a few years, to several
thousand titles. It includes a manuscript of eighteen year-old
Simone de Beauvoir, the first edition of Joyce's Ulysses, and
significant rarities by Yeats, Colette, Wilde, George Moore,
Shaw, French surrealist and symbolist poets, Seamus Heaney,
and much more.
French and Irish Rare Materials
Searchable database of French and Irish literary materials in our collection. [Work in progress]
Irish Literature
French Literature
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Goethe Letter: [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]
Framed hand-written and signed letter with portrait.
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Henry James Collection -- Work in Progress
Letters in Manuscript
Six letters, five of
which were written to his London publisher, William Heinemann.
Book Collection
Comprehensive in scope, containing mostly
first editions. The letters and numbers following these bibliographic
descriptions are the identifiers from: A Bibliography of Henry James,
[by] Leon Edel and Dan H. Laurence. London: Rupert Hart-Davis,
1961.
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Illuminated Manuscripts, Exact Facsimiles
The Book of Kells
The supreme achievement of Irish Celtic
Art and a pre-eminent example of an illuminated manuscript.
Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry
A prayer book of
exceptional quality, full of great beauty. It is a rich
compendium of brilliant small paintings and it ranks
among the great masterpieces of the Middle Ages.
Les heures de Turin-Milan
An illuminated prayer-book.
Initially commissioned by the Duc de Berry in 1380.
This work was importantly advanced by Jan van Eyck, producing his only known miniatures.
It was completed by van Eyck's group of illuminators after his death. The original manuscript,
which is a missal despite its title, now resides in the
Museo Civico d'Arte Antica in Turin.
The Ellesmere Chaucer
From the Huntington Library
of Marino, California, this manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales, made soon after 1400, is the most
famous of all English literary, illuminated manuscripts,
featuring twenty-three portraits of the storytellers, including
Chaucer himself. (The acquisition of this facsimile is
especially dedicated to the memory of the late C.W. Post
Professor of English, Dr. Richard Griffith).
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Original Movie Poster Research Collection,
1940-1962
This collection is a vivid and instructive series of images, lithograph movie posters
that promote more than 6,000 movie titles produced mostly from 1940 to 1962. Some 4,000 posters,
covering the years 1950-1962 were donated by Frederick Adler in 1972. Mr. Adler added approximately
1,000 more titles, concentrating on the early 1950's, in 1974. Philip Sills donated about 1,600 posters
in 1974 that reflected the decade of the1940's.
Besides the obvious appeal to film students, these original movie posters should interest other
academic disciplines. Art majors will be stimulated by the varying graphic design approaches of these
examples of movie poster art. Business students will appreciate the marketing effectiveness, or lack
thereof, of the differing ways to advertise movies. Many movies of this time period reflect the history
of World War II and the Cold War. These film images are of value not only to students of history,
but also to the social researcher for their shifts in mores and culture.
Original Movie Poster Research Collection by Genre
The subjects of movies as with books are categorized into general areas of similar
interest or genres. The genres used herein are from a standard reference guide.
As with most of our collections, we encourage donations of original movie posters
providing they are within our time frame and conform to our size constraints.
Online Movie Posters
Top 100 available online with graphics and discriptions.
Catalogue of World War II Movie Posters, 1941-1945
Some of which were part of a special exhibit
from September 23 to October 20, 2002 in the Hutchins Gallery,
other areas of the C.W. Post Library, and the
Hillwood Art Museum.
Posters currently on display
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Rare Book Collection -- Works in Progress
A miscellaneous gathering of books and journals that contain a variety of interests
from literature, history and travel to politics, religion and science. Most of the items
are arranged alphabetically by author, but other items are found within sub-groups.
Milton
The Printed Book : 16th and 17th Centuries:
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Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection
This is a comprehensive collection of over 3,000 books, pamphlets and
documents concerning the life, times and interests of our 26th President as well as T.R.'s
rich and prolific writings. The collection was donated by the
Theodore Roosevelt Association, Oyster Bay, New York in 1974.
We have created a
holdings list of this entire collection for scholarly access.
This site is currently available for viewing.
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Underhill Quaker Collection
Quaker literature from the library of a
prominent Long Island member of the Society of Friends; books and one periodical.
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Walt Whitman Lithograph Collection
Framed portraits of Whitman, drawings and paintings in black and white.
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