Special Collections

Call for Applicants for Fall Semester Buchanan Library Fellowship: Building a University: Vanderbilt’s Second Decade, 1885-1895 Have you ever wondered about the early years of Vanderbilt University? What were the first yearbooks like, and where did students live on campus? Which sports were first played on campus? Or perhaps you… Read More

The U.S. Presidency: Challenges of the Executive Branch Are you interested in working with primary resources to explore the role of the U.S. presidency? Buchanan Library Fellows in this fall semester fellowship will curate an exhibition in the lobby of Central Library that explores the opportunities and challenges of the… Read More

Detail of Letter – William Blount to James Robertson, 1793 April 14. Box 1, Folder 8. James Robertson Papers, MSS.0366. Vanderbilt University Special Collections The James Robertson Papers  April 23, 2021, Noon-1pm Please join us for this panel discussion on newly-available collections from the libraries. Vanderbilt’s Special… Read More

Manuel Zapata Olivella Fall Semester Buchanan Library Fellowship:  Giving Voice to Afro-Hispanic Life and Culture through the Collections of Manuel and Delia Zapata Olivella Delia Zapata Olivella Recipients of this Buchanan Library Fellowship will research and curate an online exhibit on a theme relating to Vanderbilt’s Afro-Hispanic Zapata Olivella collections. Read More

Happy National Library Week! We have collected favorite images of our libraries across campus for you to use for your next Zoom meeting background. Click on the images below, then right click and save it to use! Represent your library! Here are additional instructions for creating a Zoom background. Read More

Vanderbilt is hosting an international conference April 8–10 to celebrate the centenary of Manuel Zapata Olivella, noted Afro-Colombian novelist, anthropologist, folklorist and physician. Vanderbilt Library’s Special Collections houses the papers of Manuel Zapata Olivella and that of his sister Delia, dancer, choreographer, and folklorist. The program features… Read More

Vanderbilt’s libraries, the Vanderbilt University Press, and Middle Tennessee State University are teaming up to offer two Zoom webinars in the month of April on the legacy of John Donelson and James Robertson. We hope you will register to be part of these discussions. For more information, contact ACE@vanderbilt.edu. Read More

Zach Johnson, curator of Special Collections, hopes you will join in efforts to archive COVID-19 pandemic experiences, including recent vaccine experiences. Join other Vanderbilt University and VUMC students, staff, faculty and administration in providing materials about this window of time for future historians and researchers. “It’s easy to think… Read More

The J. León Helguera and Manuel Zapata Olivella collections, in addition to Vanderbilt’s Colombian travel accounts, are all invaluable resources that narrate Colombia’s rich and complex cultural, social, and political histories in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first exhibit of Vanderbilt’s Colombiana illustrates Colombia’s profound regional differences in geography… Read More

The acquisition of library resources for scholarship and teaching known as “collection development,” is a complicated process that strikes a balance between access and ownership. Factors, such as price, budget, availability, and licensing, increasingly impact the libraries’ abilities to provide the most relevant and useful set of resources for our… Read More