distinctive collections news

Booklet for the exhibit Shoestring Productions: Brazilian Storytelling through Contemporary Woodcuts, Artist's Books, and Small Press Books (1997-2021)

Current exhibit through January 18: Shoestring Productions: Brazilian Storytelling through Contemporary Woodcuts, Artists’ Books, and Small Press Books (1997-2021)

In the exhibit Shoestring Productions: Brazilian Storytelling through Contemporary Woodcuts, Artists’ Books and Small Press Books (1997-2021), the Arizona State University Library is highlighting a small part of its collection of woodcuts, artists’ books and small press books, to feature the work of...

ASU Gammage Education Program Students in Wurzburger Reading Room

Getting Students In: Instruction with Archives and Special Collections

It’s never too early to experience archival instruction. Rare Books and Manuscripts (RBM) is dedicated to education. We implemented an outreach program this fall, inviting instructors on campus to enhance their students’ classroom learning experience, engaging students in primary source research fr...

Wurzburger Reading Room patron

The Reading Room is Open

When patrons want to view noncirculating materials from ASU Library’s Distinctive Collections and Archives they make an appointment to come to the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library. One of the fun things about working in the reading room is learning about the variety of projects on which pa...

Paradiso

Diving Deeper into ASU’s Rare Books and Manuscripts: Our Incunable of Dante’s Divine Comedy

The subject of our first “Diving Deeper” series is Dante’s Divine Comedy to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death on September 14, 1321. “Nel mezo del camin di nostra uita” — the Florentine poet, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), tells his readers at the beginning of the first canto of Infe...

Art on the flyleaf next to the title page of “Bomb”

An Homage to Terror: Simon Redington and The Impact of “Bomb,” Fifty Years Later

Simon Redington’s Bomb, published in 2008, is an homage to the strikingly beautiful language of “Bomb,” by Gregory Corso, re-conceptualized for the poem’s fiftieth anniversary. In collaboration with The Kamikaze Press, Redington breathes new life into this paramount, Beat piece through an artistry t...

View by Julie Chen

Graduation and Distinctive Collections

As I prepare for graduation and life beyond college, I can't help but think back on my college experience and all the aspects of it that fostered the person that I am today. Part of my learning experience as a student these four years at ASU includes working with distinctive collections. The many re...

1944 Oscars program cover

A Glimpse into Oscar History: Academy Awards-Related Materials in the Jimmy Starr Papers

    On Sunday, April 25, millions of people will likely watch the Academy Awards just like they do every year. Due to the ongoing pandemic, though, the 93rd Oscars will look decidedly unlike any that have preceded it. With strict precautions in place, attendees will be limited to nominees, their g...

Image of Beadle House 5

A Look Back and a Look Ahead

This blog began as a way for those of us who work with the rich archival resources at ASU Library to remain connected to our community during a time when many standard interactions (such as patrons using materials in a reading room) were not possible due to COVID-19 restrictions. So far on this blo...

Naxi pictographic writing

Sichuan University Library Exchange

Seonaid Valiant, Ph.D., MLIS, Curator for Latin American Studies, ASU Library. In September 2019 I traveled to Chengdu, China representing Arizona State University (ASU) Library in the Sichuan University Libraries Exchange program. ...