The Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University has opened a new exhibit, "Exploring Special Collections," located in the library's level three exhibit space. It highlights curator favorites from the L. Tom Perry Special Collections.
Patrons are invited to visit the space before Friday, Jan. 20, when items from the exhibit will return to the vaults. The exhibit will be available daily during regular library hours, and will be closed Sundays. Admission is free.
Visitors to the exhibit space will view the manuscript of a cantata by Agostino Steffani, a predecessor to Handel; Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark: An agony in Eight Fit”; a daguerreotype of Brigham Young; an Ansel Adams print; the Imperial Government of Japan’s "Declaration of War on the United States" from 1941; a vellum manuscript from the mid-4th century; as well as first editions of The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.
"Exploring Special Collections" is the last of seven exhibits celebrating 50 years of the HBLL’s current site. Throughout the last year, visitors to the exhibit space have been able to learn about collecting, preservation and history, as well as see some of the university's treasures.
Founded in 1957, BYU Special Collections began with 1,000 books, 50 manuscript collections and one curator. Today the L. Tom Perry Special Collections department has 14 full-time curators and manuscript processors assisted by 30 students working with more than 300,000 books, 10,000 manuscript collections and 1 million photographs.
Major collecting areas within the L. Tom Perry Special Collections are 19th and 20th Century American and British Literature Collections, 19th and 20th Century Mormon and Utah History Manuscript Collections, BYU Archives, Film Music Archives, Folklore Archives, History of Printing Collections, Mormon and Utah History Print Collections, Motion Picture Archives, Music Special Collections, Photograph Archives and Renaissance and Reformation Collections.
For more information, contact Roger Layton, 801-422-6687, roger_layton@byu.edu.
Writer: Cierra Nye
