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19th and 20th Century Collections

Learn more about the 19th and 20th centuries through personal and scholarly papers, limited-edition books with annotations and inscriptions and other specialized collections donated by individuals. The collections highlighted below are a small part of our 19th and 20th century collections. 

Most of the materials in these collections and many others can be located through .

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Records for auctions that took place mainly through Bloomsbury, Sotheby's and Christie's including manuscript and book, jewelry, and miscellaneous items auction catalogs.
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Typescripts and manuscripts of folklorist Katharine M. Briggs.
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Critical and biographical articles concerning W.H. Auden and his work by various authors.
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Journal, magazine and newspaper articles written by Alan Paton and correspondence with Edward Callan.
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Edward Callan's personal research and writings on Irish, British and American literature.
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Black Sparrow Press' business archive and copies of almost every edition the press published.
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Articles, poems, book reviews and correspondence written by Donald Hall as well as collections of poetry edited by Hall.
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Over 80 autographs of famous political figures, writers, inventors and entrepreneurs gathered by librarian Sophie Levin.
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Alan H. Jacobs East Africa Collection (1929-2010)

Materials collected for research on the cultural, historical, political and geographic study of East Africa.
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Something for every lover of comic books—from Batman and Captain America to Dutch-language Donald Duck comics.
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Press kit for Universal Studio's 1994 film "The Shadow." Also includes four issues of the detective fictional serial The Shadow published in 1932, 1939 and 1940.
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Issues of literary magazines in which Ben Tibbs's poetry was published along with promotional photos of Tibbs and several ephemeral items.
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Ben Tibbs Collection (1907-1995)

Extensive poetry collection, the majority of which are signed or inscribed by the authors. Ben Tibb’s own poetry, book design and other graphic art is also part of this collection.
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Personal papers of American poet and WMU English professor John Warren Woods. Also includes 25 cassette tape recordings of poets like Robert Frost and Alan Ginsberg.
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Nazi German and Allied Forces publications, photographs and ephemera (collectible memorabilia).

Explore other parts of our Special Collections

We have more than 43,000 items available for your research, creative and academic projects.