The dog days of summer are here: dry hills, the occasional gust of smoke in the air, and warm temps. Never fear because the SCU Library provides cool, ultra-filtered air and is open to SCU students, staff, faculty, and alumni!
What’s more is that you can make an appointment to consult rare materials in the Archives & Special Collections Martin Reading Room during normal business hours—just email SpecialCollections@scu.edu no later than the day before your intended date of arrival.
To our external researchers who are unaffiliated with SCU, you can continue to avail yourselves of our virtual services, such as scan-on-demand requests, full-service research fulfillment, and Zoom appointments until we open to the public (hopefully in the new year).
Coming Soon
A new exhibit called the Samurai and the Cross is being installed in the Archives & Special Collections gallery and will open before fall quarter begins. The traveling exhibit, which was previously installed at the Manresa Gallery at USF, explores the experience of Christians in Japan in the late 16th century and early 17th centuries, and features Japanese martyr books from the SCU Rare Books collection.
Also, this summer we unpacked a sizable donation: about 3,000 miniature books and microbibliophile ephemera and periodicals from donor Joan Knoertzer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The donoation came in over 40 FedEx boxes. It has been an incredible experience unpacking each box. The real work lies ahead: painstakingly organizing, re-housing, and describing everything in a finding aid!
Addition to the Digital Collections
Summer Shetenhelm has added 30 issues of the Ethnic Studies Newsletter to The Multicultural Center and Cultural Student Organizations at SCU digital collection. The issues cover 1980 - 1996 but are not complete for each year.
“While we perceive our effort to build a more livable world as a collective one, it is from time to time helpful to recognize and learn from individual struggles. In this vein, the Ethnic Studies Newsletter periodically carries a feature on a minority faculty and staff member at SCU, focusing on his or her contributions to multicultural education and understanding…” Fall 1984 (Vol. 5 No. 1)
These materials provide first-hand accounts of events and happenings at Santa Clara through the years, and it’s even more fascinating to see events through the perspective of members of the Ethnic Studies department.
Student Podcasts Referenced in President’s Email
Students from Dr. Fernández’s Youth Activism and Contemporary Social Movements (ETHN 187) had three workshops with Archives & Special Collections this past spring quarter in service to their final Archivist-Activist podcast project. The podcasts created by the four groups are extremely informative, shedding light on the histories of underrepresented groups on campus, and there is a collection in Scholar Commons for the class’s podcasts, providing access to the valuable information publicly. It was an enriching experience for librarians from Archives & Special Collections to work with the class because it was a case where student research had immediate application to current issues and debates.
The real cherry on the top came when Acting President Lisa Kloppenberg referenced one of the podcasts in a recent university communication about DACA. “Uplifting Dreamers & Undocumented Student Voices at SCU” was cited by the President to provide background on the ways in which SCU has historically responded to DACA. Congratulations to the students of ETHN 187 for your recognition and accomplishments!
Fall Instruction
Faculty: we know you are still enjoying your own research and writing this summer, but when you are ready to talk about fall instruction, we are ready as well! Email Kelci at kbaughmanmcdowell@scu.edu or fill out this request form. We can continue to support classes virtually, or discuss a way for your students to safely consult primary source materials in the Martin Reading Room.
From the Blog, Arthur’s Attic
Santa Clara’s Olympians
Although the 2020 Tokyo Olympics wrapped up a couple weeks ago, you can still celebrate the olympians who once called Santa Clara home by checking out this blog post. As a bonus, check out this page from the Alumni Office that lists additional Broncos that had the honor of competing in past Olympics.
Serene Gardens at SCU
In preparation for the flood of Broncos that will arrive to campus in a few short weeks, many of whom have not spent much (if any) time on campus, we present an in-depth history of the beautiful Mission Gardens and the newer St. Clare Garden on campus. Brush up on the facts and get excited to sniff some blooms when you come back!
A “Tenacious” Acquisition
Archives & Special Collections is one of the first libraries in the world to acquire the box set of the women’s prison zine Tenacious! Learn more about this publication and its unique content in the blog post.