Scholars Reveal the “Special” in our Library Collections

May 16, 2019

The average person sauntering down State Street understands that there is a wealth of knowledge held in Memorial and other campus libraries. However, most are unaware that many of the diverse collections safeguarded there are one of a kind. Raising the public’s awareness of these unique materials is an ongoing challenge for the Libraries, and one that the Friends of UW-Madison Libraries enjoys tackling. With a relatively small budget, the Friends support the Libraries with special events that highlight these collections, preservation funding to ensure their longevity, and competitive research grants awarded to scholars who wish to utilize them.  These scholars, who come from around the nation and the world, are investigating vastly different topics but they share one commonality:  their project requires a deep dive into a repository of exclusive pieces that can only be found in the UW-Madison Libraries.

This year, the Friends of UW-Madison Libraries has extended funding to defray the travel expenses for over a dozen doctorate-level researchers.  Some originate as far away as Spain and the United Kingdom; others hail from Ohio State, University of Virginia, University of Arizona, and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.  They are experts in the Cold War, Hmong displacement, political cartoons, contemporary film, Italian art, and American civil rights.  They are early academics, scholars in residence, experienced faculty, and independent writers.  Together, the Friends will offer them over $25,000 in travel assistance and sponsor lecture opportunities, publish their reports online, and highlight them in library print material. With each scholar’s visit, opportunities exist to shine light into obscure areas of our campus libraries where valuable collections are housed.

Over their 70-year history, the Friends’ continuous efforts to be an outreach arm of the Libraries has been rewarding. The Friends, in collaboration with the Libraries administration and the UW Foundation, have an important role backed by a strong tradition of recognizing and sharing what is special about UW-Madison libraries. See below for a taste of what the 2019 scholars are doing and check out the link for upcoming Friends events: https://cms.library.wisc.edu/friends/events/

NAMESCHOOLTOPICCOLLECTIONSVISITING
U.S. SCHOLARS    
LO, Aline
PhD in English Literature
Allegheny College, PAHmong displacement and dispersalBertrais collection in Memorial LibraryApril 2019
PIORKO, MEGAN

PhD Candidate in History

Georgia State UniversityHistory of Science, chymicall collections of the 17th centuryDuveen Collection, Special CollectionsMay 2019
KENASTON, Connor
PhD candidate in History
University of VirginiaAmerican religious history, consumer & pop cultureThe Irna Phillips papers including scripts and correspondence from The Guiding Light, Wisconsin Historical SocietyMay 2019
MACDONNELL, Francis
PhD in History
Southern Virginia University & Hamilton College, NYIntelligence history and the Cold War Culture, esp. J. Edgar Hoover and the F.B.I.The papers of Dore Schary, Walter Wanger, George Seaton, Edna Ferber, Howard Koch, and the Hollywood Democratic Committee, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, WHSMay 2019
MATTES, Mark
PhD in American Studies
University of Louisville, KYNative American History and their indigenous literary practicesMany papers held within the Draper manuscripts collection, Wisconsin Historical SocietyJune 2019
KYLE, Sarah
PhD History of Art
University of OklahomaThe interconnection between late medieval Italian art & plant medicineEarly printed volumes of materia medica, the Chester Thordarson and Duveen collections in Special Collections, Memorial and Ebling LibrariesJuly 2019
MYERS, ELISSA
PhD candidate in English
CUNY Graduate Center, NYAmateur journalism, forms of childhood agency in the 19th centuryPhotos, ephemera, and amateur newspapers edited by girls in the Library of Amateur Journalism, Special CollectionsJuly 2019
SINGH, PREETI
PhD candidate in English
Ohio State UniversityIndian and South Asian literary historyPeriodicals and newspapers held in the South Asian Studies Collection in Memorial LibraryJuly 2019
LUMSDEN, Linda
PhD in Mass Communication
University of ArizonaJournalism history, social justice political cartoons of the 20th centurySocial Action Collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society, including anti-Vietnam War protests, GI rights and protests, and small periodicalsAugust 2019
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS   
NOGUES, ROSA

PhD in Modern Art

University of the Arts, London, UKContemporary art, experimental film and videoMid-20th century American filmmaker, The Shirley Clarke Papers, Wisconsin Historical SocietyJune 2019
BARKER, DOMINIC
PhD candidate in History
University of Oxford, UK20th century U.S. History, Ronald Reagan, Hollywood’s ‘red scare’ and the conservative ascendency
WHS/WCFTR
Hollywood Ten and Hollywood Democratic Committee records held by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, also the Ed Sullivan Papers, the Republican Party of Wisconsin records, and Robert D. Novak papers, WHSSummer 2019
de LLOBET, RUTH
PhD in History
Pompeu Fabra University, Spain18th and 19th century Philippine historySoutheast Asian and Philippine collections within Memorial LibrarySummer 2019
GOODWIN, SAGE
PhD candidate in History
University of Oxford, UKFraming American Civil Rights through television newsCBS and NBC News records, papers of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and many others, Wisconsin Historical SocietySummer 2019
MILNE, DAVID
PhD in American History
University of East Anglia, UKBiography of Sigrid Schultz, Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune,1911-1941, and witness to the rise of NazismThe papers of Sigrid Schultz, Wisconsin Historical SocietyWinter 2020