Author: Jamie Nelson

Un/Common Copies: Zines in Special Collections and Archives

Special Collections and Archives is home to a wide variety of research materials that are rare, unique, and valuable (think vellum, embellished leather bindings, university records, one of a kind letters and photographs, etc.). So why are collections of photocopies getting so much attention? Our zine collections have  attracted recent

Learning from the “Inside”: Prisoner Art and Advocacy in the Archives

DePaul University’s Special Collections and Archives has long been distinguished by the ways in which the university mission is reflected in our collections, services, and programs, with special attention given to DePaul’s commitment to teaching and to social justice. Our current exhibit, INCARCERATION: Art, Activism & Advocacy, showcases the creativity, resilience,

New Tool for Searching the Archives

Searching for, and searching within, library resources has come a long way from the days of physically consulting card catalogs.  Today, faculty and students are most likely to start their searches from a keyboard or smartphone rather than on paper.  Archival materials haven’t enjoyed this same liberation—often researchers are expected

Teaching and Learning with Sr. Helen Prejean

For the past five years, Sr. Helen Prejean has included DePaul University on her packed speaking engagement calendar, with activities ranging from small meals shared with students to in-class discussions to auditorium style lectures and panels. For those of you who have heard Sr. Helen speak or brought her into

Teaching with Special Collections and Archives

Active Learning for Archives and Special Collections

DePaul’s Special Collections and Archives has a long-standing commitment to faculty collaboration and student instruction, yet our own mission starts with verbs describing materials– “collects, preserves, and shares rich primary source materials”—rather than teaching.  This focus on materials is understandable, since we are the stewards of rare, often unique and

No Experience Required

Students come to DePaul to learn.  Faculty don’t expect students to know the content and processes that will be assessed in finals week when students walk into their classrooms on the first day of the term; that first class session starts a journey and a progression. The same process of

Nora Epstein with Karen Scott’s History 323 course in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room

‘Book Learning’ in Special Collections and Archives

Special Collections and Archives has assembled and cared for a remarkable collection of rare books in a variety of subject areas, with creation dates spanning several centuries. As a department in a teaching library, our rare books are preserved in order to be used. Researchers are always welcome to request

Into the Archives

This October marks the one-year anniversary of Special Collections and Archives’ debut in Newsline with a story about DePaul alumna Halloween Martin (b. October 31, 1900). The collections in the DePaul University Archives are rich in fascinating details about campus life, traditions, alumni and staff, and column author Jane Connelly has

Do You See What I See? Document Analysis Using Special Collections Sources

Faculty are often familiar with information literacy and the skills students need in order to effectively identify, evaluate and use information from a variety of sources. Archivists and special collections librarians use a framework for “artifactual literacy​” and focus on specialized sources that don’t often come neatly packaged with the same