Come discover something uncommon with Rare Books & Special Collections at Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond, as we explore the collections, highlight new acquisitions, and share information about what we have and what we do.
Construction in front of Boatwright Library Summer 2023 (Photo credit: Travis Smith)
If you have driven by Boatwright Library recently, you will have seen the large construction areas surrounding parts of the library. This summer, work started on an 18-month project that will bring beautiful new spaces and exciting things to this campus landmark.
During this time, the library is open and available to students, faculty, staff and community members as usual. Our department — Book Arts, Archives, and Rare Books — is right in the middle of the construction zone, so it requires some changes to our availability. While under construction, we will be able to continue to assist researchers by appointment only. Our resources are available for your research or class assignments, and our staff is available to assist you with book arts, rare book, or archival projects.
The best way to contact us during this time is via email: archives@richmond.edu for rare books and archival assistance and bookarts@richmond.edu for assistance with book arts projects or instruction.
We appreciate your patience during the project and look forward to enjoying these new spaces in the future!
Note: This post was written by Savannah Etzler as part of her internship through Simmons University with Book Arts, Archives, & Rare Books in Boatwright Library. Savannah also processed the Ratliff collection and curated an exhibit about the collection’s football ephemera.
The Earl and Jewell Ratliff Collection contains University of Richmond memorabilia, service awards, ephemera, photographs, and postcards representing the life of Earl and Jewell Ratliff and their support of the University of Richmond, volunteer organizations, and their passion for travel. On April 10, 1926, Earl was born in McComb, Mississippi, and in 1944 he received his high school diploma from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia. Following his service in the Army, Earl and Jewell were married in Newport News, Virginia on March 24, 1951, the same spring that Earl graduated from the University of Richmond with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Jewell was born on September 7, 1929 in Jacksonville, Florida and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1946 before beginning work at the C&P Telephone Company, where she would work for over 36 years.
Earl was a guard for the University of Richmond football team in 1949 and was known as one of the ‘Portsmouth Boys,’ a group of students hailing from the nearby city. His participation in Spider athletics is documented in event programs, newspaper clippings, and football rosters that provide valuable insight into the university’s history. Between the 1960’s and the 1990’s, Earl and Jewell continued to support the university’s athletic program, attending many sporting events and amassing a substantial collection of tickets and sideline passes. The couple were also involved in the Spider Club and participated in the Homecoming Action Committee as documented in their collection of university ephemera. These materials are evidence of the legacy of alumnae support that continues to shape the university.
The couple were avid travelers and preserved their memories in the pages of several scrapbooks, which detail their trips across the United States, Mexico, and Canada during the 1990’s. Peppering these pages are labels that identify sites, note travel arrangements, and preserve special memories, and it is here that Earl and Jewell’s personalities and sense of humor shine through the passage of time. The following images reveal the charm of this collection, that of a unique couple who enthusiastically pursued their passions and found joy not only in the natural wonders of the world, but also the whimsy of the mundane. These annotations, whether documenting exceptional meals, amusing signs, or the beauty of the U.S. National Parks, provide an intriguing peek into the experiences of travel enthusiasts during the 90s. Together, Earl and Jewell explored the continent and documented their adventures, leaving behind a valuable collection which allows us to see world through their eyes.
This collection was acquired as part of an estate donation upon Jewell’s passing in 2016. This collection represents the couple’s posthumous support of the University of Richmond and its students.
Note: This post was authored by Taylor McNeilly, Processing & Reference Archivist.
Welcome back to another #wyattwalkerwednesday! I know it has been a while since I posted any updates about the collection, but I have some big updates today to make up for it. In fact, I have what may be the most significant announcement to date: we are opening a portion of the physical collection for research! But first, some earlier updates about work we have done recently.
Just before and during the pandemic, we have opened up a number of digital portions of the collection. These started with what we call the Birmingham Tapes, recordings of ten mass meetings held during the Birmingham Campaign in 1963. Because these were thought to be the oldest audiovisual material in the collection, they were deemed top priority for digitization, since that process not only allows for easier access via the Internet but also preserves the material in a new, digital format. Magnetic media such as audio cassettes or VHS tapes have an estimated “shelf life” of approximately 40 years, so you can understand the concern we had for recordings that were nearly 60 years old.
After the Birmingham Tapes were digitized, preserved, and accessible online, we turned our attention to the nearly 700 recordings of Dr. Walker’s church services, most of which were held at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem. While the digitization portion of this project is complete, the work to make them accessible is still ongoing – although we have made good strides in that since the last progress report I posted. We now have up to tape #275 available online along with the master inventory that lists the title and date of each recording (where that information is available). I will go into detail about this project in a future update, but progress continues.
Finally, we have also digitized and made available online the five film reels that were included with the collection. Although these are silent films, we worked with a prominent scholar in the field to transcribe these films, describing each scene for the visually impaired as well as providing a brief analysis of each. Dr. LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant, the scholar who provided the transcription and analysis, has our eternal gratitude for her illuminating work on this project that enabled us to make this material accessible online.
The nature of the pandemic and the University of Richmond’s response to it moved us into a purely digital work mode, but as we have returned to working in person, I have been able to return to processing the physical materials of the Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection as well. After sorting through all of the physical material, I have focused my work on the earliest material first, and specifically on manuscript (unpublished, paper) material. I am happy to announce that I have now worked through all manuscript material dated up to Dr. Walker’s departure from SCLC in 1964!
The first six boxes of the Dr. and Mrs. Wyatt Tee Walker Collection.
Since Dr. and Mrs. Walker were already incredibly busy by 1964, this material is arranged into a number of series and subseries. Please note that these series and subseries may end up holding material from later (or much later) in Dr. and Mrs. Walkers’ lives, and that material is not yet available, meaning the series and subseries may not be fully open to research. You can view the finding aid, including a folder-level inventory of the material now open for research, in our online collection inventories.
If you have any questions or would like to request access to
material, please email archives@richmond.edu
and let us know what boxes or folders you would like to access. As we announced
last week, we now have open hours four times a week and are happy to
accommodate researchers who need to come in outside those hours by appointment.
After several years of closure due to construction and the ongoing pandemic, we are finally able to reopen the newly renovated Rare Book Reading Room for regular open hours! The newly renovated space is part of the newly renovated floor B1 of Boatwright Memorial Library in the heart of the University of Richmond campus. The fall 2022 semester schedule for open hours is as follows:
We can of course accommodate researchers by appointment outside of these hours, and we encourage all researchers to reach out before arriving so we can have material pulled and ready for your research. You can reach out directly by emailing us at archives@richmond.edu. Please also bear in mind that these hours are subject to change, especially in regards to University or federal holidays and staff availability.
When planning a research visit, you can find our rare books, including the Book Arts collection, in the library catalog and review our open archival collections in our online collection inventories. For questions on our holdings or assistance in locating material, please email us at archives@richmond.edu.
In addition to the various ghost-related books discussed in the previous post, the Galvin Rare Book Room is also home to a variety of materials pertaining to witchcraft. While the notion of “a witch” existed for hundreds of years, the witch trials in Europe and the British colonies in the Americas reached their peak between 1450 and 1750. Historians continue to study the many aspects of this phenomenon, exploring the varied cultural, social, religious, and political foundations that led to, and supported, the belief structures behind them. A quick search in the Boatwright Library catalog offers many options to read further on this topic.
The collections of materials on witchcraft in the Rare Book Room offer research opportunities into the topic, especially for students in Professor Sydney Watts’ History 199 course “Witches, Heretics, and Unbelievers: Orthodoxy & Heterodoxy in Western Europe, 1520-1800.” In this course, students focus on the basic elements of historical thinking and research by exploring the challenging concepts of the problem of truth and reality through the lens of witchcraft and heresy in early modern Europe. Examining primary and secondary sources are part of that research journey, and we always appreciate the opportunity to work with faculty, students, and staff on their research projects.
One of the primary texts defining the concept of a witch was
the Malleus Maleficarum, or the
Hammer of Witches, first published in 1486. Written by Catholic clergymen, the
book functioned as a handbook for secular courts across Europe to assist in the
identification, and eradication, of those deemed guilty of witchcraft. Its three sections use natural philosophy and
theology to prove the existence of evil, illustrate how witches recruit protégés,
offers remedies and reversals for the spellbound, and provides legal guidelines
on how to run a witch trial. The Galvin Rare Book Room copy is a facsimile
edition featuring an English translation of the 1486 text. This edition totaled
1275 numbered copies, of which this item is number 537; it was a gift from St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church. (catalog
link)
Earlier this year, we added a new work to the materials available to study the history of witchcraft, Del Congresso Notturnao delle lammie libri tre. (catalog link) Published in 1749, this item is a first edition printing highlighting arguments about practical magic and witchcraft coming from the Venetian Inquisition. Arguing against the more traditional viewpoints, the author Girolamo Tartarotti, claims that rather than demonic possession and satanic pacts, the behaviors tagged as magic relate more to medicinal herbs and potions and the fantasies and visions those concoctions produced. Even further, he suggests that the public spectacles of witch burnings fueled additional charges and outbreaks, noting that implementing less harsh measures might reduce the allegations by giving them less public attention. One notable chapter focuses specifically on werewolves, which Tartarotti believed were also the result of drug-induced visions.
Studying witchcraft in the American colonies focuses primarily
on the trials held in Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693
when more than 200 people were accused and 19 executed by hanging after being
found guilty of the charges. Several items in the collection relate directly to
the happenings in Salem, including:
Cotton Mather, The
Wonders of the Invisible World: being an account of the tryals of several
witches lately executed in New-England; to which is added, A Farther Account of
the tryals of the New-England Witches by Increase Mather. London: John Russell
Smith, 1862 (catalog
link)
Robert Calef, More
Wonders of the Invisible World displayed: in Five Parts Boston: T.
Bedlington, 1828. (catalog
link)
Salem Witchcraft:
Comprising More Wonders of the invisible world, collected by Robert Calef; and
Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather; together with notes and
explanations by Samuel P. Fowler. Boston: W. Veazie, 1865 (catalog
link)
R.R. Hinman, The Blue
Laws of New Haven Colony, usually called blue laws of Connecticut; Quaker Laws
of Plymouth and Massachusetts; blue laws of New York, Maryland, Virginia, and
South Carolina. First record of Connecticut; interesting extracts from Connecticut
records; cases of Salem witchcraft; charges and banishment of Rev. Roger
Williams, and other interesting and instructive antiquities. Hartford:
Case, Tiffany, 1838 (catalog
link)
Other materials in the Rare Book Room also offer information
on the study of witchcraft, including Sir Walter Scott, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1841 (catalog
link). Witchcraft appears in other
texts as well, including fictional works and in the artists’ books collection.
Mary Johnson’s The Witch, published
in 1914, is a novel set in 1600s England about a young English girl and a
county physician who were part of the accused of sorcery and witchcraft (catalog
link). Stories of witchcraft in colonial Virginia include James Bowyer’s The Witch of Jamestown, a story of colonial
Virginia, published in 1890 (catalog
link) in the Rare Book Room collection, while various depictions of the
case of Grace Sherwood can be found in the circulating collection of the
library. Even the historic children’s literature collection has two books on
the topic: Tomie DePaola’s Strega Nona
meets her match, published in 1993 (catalog
link) and perhaps my personal favorite, Ib Spang Olsen’s The Marsh Crone’s Brew, translated by
Virginia Allen Jensen in this 1960 version (catalog
link).
Finally, one of the items in the artists’ books collections
brings a contemporary experience to the study of witchcraft with the recently
added work by Raeleen Kao, The Witch is
Inside of Me. As indicated in the accompanying information sheet with the
work, Kao describes it as a piece that “upends the nefariousness attributed to
curiosity, sexuality, and disobedience in females and imbues the characters who
raised me with power by embracing the corruptible, dual-faced nature within all
of us.” (catalog
link)
Oh, in case you were wondering when we’d get to the vampires
in the title? There is indeed a work about vampires available. The Galvin Rare Book Room is home to a first
edition, printed in 1746, of Augustin Calmet’s Dissertations sur les apparitions des anges, des demons & des
espirits. Et sut les revenans et vampires De Hongrie, de Moheme, de Moravie,
& de Silesie. This comprehensive study contains nearly 500 pages of
analysis about sorcery and witchcraft, demons and angels, and perhaps his most
controversial comments about vampires.
As with some of the studies on witchcraft that attempt to reframe the
conversation away from psychic or demonic elements and more towards physical aspects,
Calmet’s opinions on vampires center on the effects of chemical substances in
the soil on corpses. (catalog
link)
Although under construction through Summer 2022, materials in the Galvin Rare Book Room are made available to UR faculty, staff, and students by appointment during this time.
Ghost stories have long been a part of American storytelling traditions. During the 19th century, however, those stories took on new depth as the beliefs of Spiritualism took hold. Many historians date the beginnings of the Spiritualist movement to the 1848 occurrences in Hydesville, New York, where the young Fox sisters engaged in rapping games with unseen spirits. These three sisters raised the possibility of having not merely encounters but conversations with those who had passed away, including the exchange of information and knowledge between this world and the next. Although talking to spirits was nothing new, their work, which included founding the first Spiritualist society, is credited as being the start of Spiritualism, a movement that would eventually expand worldwide and capture the imagination of millions, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Much like the time of the Scientific Revolution, where the
triumph of reason was expected to destroy magical belief systems, many
individuals at the end of the 19th century expected the rising
industrialism and new science to quickly stamp out what appeared to be mere
ghost stories. Such was not the case, as Spiritualists quickly adapted the
tools of science to help further their cause, developing their own language of
communication and tools during an era which saw tremendous advances in
technology. Historian Molly McGarry
noted, “Speaking to the dead may have seemed no less strange than communicating
across cables or capturing the living on film. Like freezing an image on a
photographic plate, the Spiritualists’ ghost catching was a collapsing of time:
the past perceived in the present for the future” (McGarry, 20). Spiritualism in
the 19th century, then, was much less about the reality of life
after death and communicating with the spirit world, as this belief predated
the Spiritualist movement. Rather, it was the guiding rubric of science and
technological development which shaped Spiritualism in this age, as
practitioners “aimed to authenticate the immaterial presence of spirits of the
dead through ‘objective,’ observable, and repeated experiences and through a
rationalist discourse of ‘factual’ evidence” (Weinstein, 126).
While no ghosts (that we know of anyway), the Galvin Rare
Book Room is home to a small collection of works about Spiritualism and ghost
stories.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The New Revelation. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1918 Galvin Rare Book Room BF1272 .D7 1918 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Verser Todd. (catalog link)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first became interested in
Spiritualism around 1881 after attending a lecture. With further reading and
study, Conan Doyle became a supporter and advocate of the movement. He was
involved with organizations such as the British Society for Psychical Research
and the Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures, where he served as
vice-president. In addition to his two-volume work on The History of Spiritualism, he also wrote about spirit photography
(The Case for Spirit Photography) and
about his own experiences with Spiritualism (The New Revolution, and The
Wanderings of a Spiritualist). With the loss of his son during World War I,
Conan Doyle continued his work and was considered an international expert in
the field. Some credit his work in Spiritualism for one of his more famous
quotes from The Case-Book of Sherlock
Holmes, “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever
remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Charles Beecher, Spiritual Manifestations Boston: Lee & Shepard; New York, C.T. Dillingham, 1879. Galvin Rare Book Room BF1251 .B42 1879 (catalog link)
Charles Beecher was a noted American Congregationalist
minister, composer, and author, something common among his siblings, including
his sister Harriet Beecher Stowe and brother Henry Ward Beecher. His book, Spiritual Manifestations (1879) offers
descriptions of his own experiences and encounters with Spiritualism.
Walter Cooper Dendy, The Philosophy of Mystery. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1845. Galvin Rare Book Room BF1031 .D5 1845 (catalog link)
Practicing surgeon as well as an author. A collection of anecdotes about spectral
apparitions, this work highlights dreams and spectral illusions in an attempt
to explain or demystify the mysterious nature of fantastical things, and it is
written in the style of a narrative dialogue.
Ray Bradbury, The Ghosts of Forever New York: Rizzoli, 1981. Galvin Rare Book room PS3503 .R167 G47 1981 (catalog link)
Originally started as a script for a Smithsonian planetarium
show that was never produced, The Ghosts
of Forever combines the wordsmithing of Bradbury, in poems and a short
story, with illustrations by Aldo Sessa into a delightful space-age adventure
as only Bradbury’s mind could conjure up.
Amélie Rives (Princess Troubetzkoy). The Ghost Garden: A Novel. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1918. Galvin Rare Book Room PS3092 .G47 1918 (catalog link)
Best known for her book The
Quick and the Dead, Rives’ work is set in colonial Virginia and tells the
tale of lovelorn struggle between the living and the dead. Richmond-born, Rives
was a prolific writer who was especially interested in educational reform and
women’s suffrage. Also of note is the study of Rives’ life written by prominent
UR faculty emeritus W.D. Taylor in 1973.
Marguerite du Pont Lee, Virginia Ghosts & Others. Richmond: William Byrd Press, 1932. Inscribed “To my ghosts” by the author to the Marion Garnett Ryland Virginiana Collection at the University of Richmond. Galvin Rare Book room F227 .L48 1932 (catalog link)
Printed in Richmond in 1932, Virginia Ghosts contains more than 100 ghost stories from around
the commonwealth, many with pictures of the haunted sites and homesteads.
Stories from Richmond include ones near Englewood and Westover as well as the
governor’s mansion. Not surprisingly,
the author was a serious student of psychic phenomena of Richmond and beyond as
well as being a proponent of women’s rights.
Works Cited
McGarry, Molly. Ghosts
of Futures Past: Spiritualism and the Cultural Practices of Nineteenth-Century
America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
Weinstein, Sheri. “Technologies of Vision: Spiritualism and
Science in Nineteenth-Century America,” in Jeffery Andrew Weinstock, ed. Spectral America: Phantoms and the National
Imagination, 124-140. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.
Two recent additions to the Galvin Rare Book Room collection offer a glimpse of life in Richmond and surrounding areas during the late 1700s. Travels in North-America, in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782 by the Marquis de Chastellux (1787) and A Tour in the United States of America… written by J.F.D. Smyth (1784) describe journeys around the country, and both men visited Richmond during their travels. Both authors offer descriptions of the Richmond area and especially travel on the James River; Smyth also described an excursion to Westham. These two works join others in the collection that offer historical insights into travel, commerce, tobacco, and other cultural elements of the region.
Currently open to UR students, staff, and faculty, Rare Books & Special Collections in Boatwright Library is home to a growing collection of materials covering a wide variety of topics across the disciplines. The department preserves and provides access to a significant collection of books and printed materials dating between 1472 and 2019 and archival collections pertaining to the Civil War, World War I and II, UR history, civil rights, maritime adventures, and other 19th and 20th century events. You can also explore a variety of artists’ books in the collection. Use OneSearch to explore holdings in the collection, and if you are interested in incorporating these materials in your classes or for an assignment, we’re happy to work with you by appointment.
Chastellux, Francois Jean, marquis de. Travels in North America in the years 1780, 1781, and 1782. London: Printed for G.G.J.&J. Robinson, Pater-noster Row, 1787. 2 volumes (Catalog record)
Stuart, John Ferdinand Smyth. A Tour in the United States of America: containing an account of the present situation of that country, the population, agriculture, commerce, customs, and manners of the inhabitants, anecdotes of several members of Congress and general officers in the American army, and many other interesting and singular occurences[sic]: with a description of the Indian nations, the general face of the country, mountains, forests, rivers, and the most beautiful grand, and picturesque views throughout that vast continent: likewise improvements in husbandry that may be adopted with great advantage by Europe. Dublin: Printed by G. Perrin for Messrs. Price, Montcrieffe, Walker, Exshaw, Wilson, Burnet, Jenkin, White, Burton, Byrne, Whitestone, Colbert, Cash, Heery, and Marchbank, 1784. (Catalog record)
Last week’s Library Minute by University Librarian Kevin
Butterfield highlighted some of the exciting new changes coming to Boatwright Memorial
Library and specifically to the B1 level as it goes under construction for the
2021-22 academic year. The Rare Books, Special Collections & Book Arts team
is very much looking forward to moving into new spaces next summer, areas that
will allow for greater interaction and activities with students, faculty, and
staff as well as increased opportunities for collaboration, especially with
University Museums.
Even though Level B1 is under construction, we are
definitely not closed and are already actively engaged in fall instruction and
outreach. Work with students and faculty in classes, on specific assignments,
and on individual projects and research requests continues as we creatively
work around some temporary spaces. If you are considering adding instruction
sessions for book arts, rare books, or archives, please reach out to any of the
department’s
staff or use the links below. If we
can be of assistance with a research or reference request, we are happy to
accommodate those requests as well. There are also lots of materials available
to explore through the library’s Digital
Collections.
We’re looking forward to new spaces in the coming year but
know that throughout the construction process during this academic year, we are
here to assist your research, reference, and class projects.
(Note: This post was authored by Mikaela Roach, Graduate Student Intern from Simmons College who processed the collection as part of her coursework.)
Holiday card from Lydia & Warren Chappel to Willis and Eleanor Shell
The Willis A. Shell Collection holds booklets, pamphlets, print proofs and other items relating to the illustrator and printer, Willis A. Shell. Willis Andrew Shell, Junior was born in Lenoror, North Carolina on 1 Jun 1905 to Willis Andrew Shell and Bertha Weathersbee Shell, who was a noted Tidewater artist from Norfolk, VA. He was a student at the University of Richmond, graduating in 1928. In 1938, Willis A. Shell married Eleanor Roberts, with whom he would start the Attic Press from their home on W. Franklin St. in Richmond, VA. While it is unclear how he managed to get his 2000-pound press, a Christmas present from his wife, into the attic of his home, it stayed there until they moved to Hanover Ave in Richmond VA. Beside’s co-owning and operating the Attic Press with Eleanor, Willis A. Shell also worked at the William Byrd Press from 1933-1977. Willis and Eleanor worked together and separately on projects, with one of their first books being An Allegorical ABC Book About Father Junipero Serra. Willis printed the book, and Eleanor provided the illustrations for this book that received national attention due to its quality. A printing proof from this book is included in the collection.
Another interesting proof that is in this collection is a book created in nine days for Colonial Williamsburg. The quick timeline was to ensure that the Queen Mother, Elizabeth, would have an appropriate gift for her grandchildren, Prince Charles and Princess Ann. Due to the quality of his work, Willis A. Shell quickly became a respected printer and illustrator. In 1952 he produced three of the five entries from Richmond, VA for a 1952 Southeastern Library Association competition. These five entries were part of the total of 16 volumes designated as the best in Southern book production.
Due to his ties to the print and illustration community, the collection of Mr. Shell also holds a variety of materials created by friends, including Christmas cards from both David Clinger and Warren Chappell, both noted figures in their own fields and donors to the Galvin Rare Book Room collections. An article from May 2, 1941 further illustrates the company that Mr. and Mrs. Shell kept, as it talks about how Mrs. Shell was knocked down by a door that was either accidently or purposely pushed by Salvador Dali. After a noted and remarkable life, Willis A. Shell, Jr. passed away on March 13, 1989. The collection was donated to the University of Richmond by family member Margaret Thomas, niece of Eleanor Thomas Shell.
This week, we welcome back students, staff, and faculty to campus as classes start again. Boatwright Library, like all campus buildings, is following the University’s re-opening plan and protocols. At this time, then, the library building is restricted to only UR community members, and you must have your UR ID to enter the building.
However, we are excited to be planning instruction sessions and scheduling research appointments to use materials in the rare books, archives, and book arts collections. All research requests will be by appointment only until the UR campus reaches the “green level” status. To request an appointment to research, please use the Materials Request form or contact either Taylor McNeilly or Lynda Kachurek
Please check the library’s COVID FAQ page for more information on the library reopening.
