The Linda Lear Center for

Special Collections and Archives

Master list of collections and items of special interest

Mary Jobe AKELEY Collection.   Miscellaneous papers concerning Mary L. Jobe Ackeley and the Peace Sanctuary in Mystic, CT, and maps of Africa. Uncataloged.   Gift of Richard H. Goodwin.

ARTISTS BOOKS Collection.   A growing collection of works made by contemporary book artists, including items created by Connecticut College students.   Separately cataloged.

BASKIN-NESHEIM Collection.   Books by the Gehenna Press, broadsides, framed prints, ephemera, correspondence, and other materials by Leonard Baskin. Gift of Kenneth Nesheim.

L. Frank BAUM Wizard of Oz Collection.   Part of the Gildersleeve Collection. About 30 titles by Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson, including first edition of Wizard of Oz. Separately cataloged.

Roberta BITGOOD Collection.   Roberta Bitgood was the first woman president of the American Guild of Organists and a well known composer of church organ and choir music. Gift of Roberta Bitgood.  Organized by Carolyn Johnson.  

William BLAKE.   Many Trianon Press facsimiles published by the William Blake Trust, and other Blake editions.   Separately cataloged.

BOOKS of special interest not mentioned elsewhere:

• ALBERS. The Interaction of Color. 1963
• DIDEROT AND D’ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie.   1780-1782.
• JOHN FOXE. Acts and Monuments. [Book of Martyrs] 1596
• GERARD.   Herball: or, General History of Plantes.   1597
• GUTENBERG Bible Facsimile.   Wies Collection.
• OWEN JONES. The Grammar of Ornament.   1856.
• LEWIS AND CLARK.   Travels to the Source of the Missouri River. 1814.

Blanch McCrary BOYD Collection.  Mainly book and article typescripts, published versions, reviews of her work, and articles about Blanche Boyd, professor of English at Connecticut College and noted writer of fiction.

Cephas BRAINERD Papers.   Miscellaneous papers concerning Cephas Brainerd (1831-1910) and his activities with the YMCA as well as other Brainerd family material.   Gift of the Brainerd family.   Uncataloged.

Anna Hempstead BRANCH Collection.   Letters, papers, booklets, relating to the New London poet who lived in the Hempstead House.   Uncataloged.

BROADSIDE Collection.   Includes many valuable 18 th century New London imprints and Irish broadsides in the Masefield-Simmons Collection.   Uncataloged.

BUSTS.   Bronze busts of Susanne K. Langer (by Norman Lagassie), and of Albert Einstein and William Meredith (both by Gina Plungian ’48) are on display in the Palmer Room.

CHU-GRIFFIS Asian Art Collection. Chinese scrolls and framed paintings and a few Japanese woodblock prints collected by Charles Chu and Hughes Griffis and given by them to Special Collections in 1999.   Curated by Ning Qiang, Chu- Niblack Associate Professor of Art History.

COLUMBIAD CLUB Keepsake Collection.   Connecticut College is one of several colleges and universities that have received on a regular basis the keepsakes created by members of this Connecticut association of bibliophiles.   In memory of Crompton T. Johnson.   Separately cataloged.

CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION Collection.   Papers concerning the activities of the Conservation and Research Foundation.   Given by Professor Richard Goodwin. Organized by Linda Alexander.

Thomas CORNELL.   Artworks, books and posters by this artist. With the Baskin- Nesheim Collection.

Prudence CRANDALL Collection.  Letters, documents, photographs and memorabilia concerning the life of 19 th century Connecticut educator who established the first school for young black women in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1833.

DABOLL Inventory.   Papers and memorabilia of the Daboll Family of Groton, including many of the almanacs published by them from 1773 to 1961.

Lois and Louis DARLING Collection.   Primarily books written and illustrated by the late Old Lyme artists.   Includes many children’s books on science topics.   The Darlings were the illustrators of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.   Bequeathed to the library in 1990.   Uncataloged.

Shinbach DELFTWARE Collection.   Delft-style pottery given to the college in 1991 by Rose Lazarus Shinbach ’39.   On display in the Palmer Room

John DEPOL Collection.   Printed books, separate prints, ephemera, illustrating the work of wood engraver John De Pol, whose work was exhibited in Shain Library in 1991.   The “Plant House” wood engraving that he created for this occasion is available for sale.   The collection has been enlarged by a gift from the library of the late Charles Price.

A cluster of ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY collections reflect a long history of the study of environmental issues at Connecticut College.   These collections include the LEAR/CARSON, the AKELEY papers concerning the Peace Sanctuary, the NATURE CONSERVANCY, the CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION, the WILLIAM NIERING papers, and the recently acquired and still uncataloged papers of ROLAND CLEMENT.

The CLYDE FITCH Play Collection.   Copies of 39 plays by American playwright Clyde Fitch (1865-1909). Unpublished doctoral dissertation by   Thomas Hellie, Clyde Fitch: Playwright of New York’s Leisure Class.

Robert C. FREGOSI Collection.   WWII related papers, photographs, books and memorabilia of Robert Fregosi, who was an airman in the European Theater.   Given by his son William Fregosi.

Robert FROST Collection.   Volumes of Frost’s published work, and clippings given by the late N. Louise Chase in 1969.   Other important Frost volumes and ephemera given by William Meredith in 1985.   Separately cataloged.

Margaret FULLER Collection.   Papers of author who lived in Norwich, Connecticut 1872-1954. Uncataloged.

Helen O. GILDERSLEEVE Collection.   Approximately 2,000 children’s books were given to the library by book collector Mrs. Alfred Gildersleeve in 1976-77.   It has been augmented since by purchases and by gifts such as books from the estate of Margaret Sherwood Libby and from Australian book collector Kenneth Ling.   Special strengths: Edward Ardizzone, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, Robert Lawson, Maud and Miska Petersham, Beatrix Potter, Howard Pyle, and Arthur Rackham.   Scope is primarily late 19 th and 20 th centuries to the 1970s but there are interesting texts illustrating the history of early American education.   The Gildersleeve Collection also includes many miniature books.

Timothy GREEN Collection.   Timothy Green was the first printer in the colony of Connecticut, and we have many examples of early New London printing by the Green family and their predecessor as official Connecticut printer, Thomas Short, including the first book printed in the colony, A Confession of Faith (1710).   These items, including the work of other New London printers, are cataloged separately.   They are listed and described in A Checklist of New London, Connecticut, Imprints 1709-1800, compiled by Hazel A. Johnson, former Librarian of the College.   Among the interesting pieces in this collection are Venture Smith’s Narrative (1798) and Sarah Brambel’sAccount before her execution in New London in 1753.

Alice HAMILTON Collection. Papers and publications of Alice Hamilton (1869-1970), a medical doctor and pioneer in the field of industrial toxicology.   She and her sister Edith Hamilton, famous classics scholar and author of Mythology, lived in Hadlyme.   Hamilton dormitory is named for both sisters.

Marguerite HANSON Painting Collection.   Miss Hanson was a professor of art at Connecticut College.   This collection of paintings by her belongs to the library and was arranged by her executor and former colleague, the late William A. McCloy.   It includes many framed works that are hanging in Shain Library and in other college buildings.

Madeleine HENREY Collection.   Gift of the late French writer; special inscribed volumes are retained in the Henrey Collection but most of her novels are in the open stacks.

Cecilia HOLLAND Papers.   Cecilia Holland ’65 is a prolific writer of historical novels.   Typescripts of some of the novels were given by Ms. Holland in 1974.

ILLUMINATED Manuscripts.   A small collection that includes the San Diego Choir Book and many single leaves.

ILLUSTRATORS.   The Gildersleeve Collection is especially rich in examples of the work of important illustrators: Edward ARDIZZONE, the largest collection of a single author/illustrator in the Gildersleeve Collection, ca. 80 volumes; Robert LAWSON,  represented by over 50 titles; Barry MOSER, many titles with Moser illustrations and a number of his Pennyroyal Press publications, including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Death of the Narcissus, and Frankenstein; Howard PYLE,  about 30 titles by this author/illustrator; Arthur RACKHAM, 66 volumes are illustrated by Rackham, including many deluxe limited editions, forming one of the most valuable parts of the Gildersleeve Collection.   All of these titles are cataloged separately in the online catalog.

INCUNABILA.   The library has four titles in three volumes, in the Palmer Collection.

Catherine and Frederic IRWIN Collection. WWII related books, papers, photographs and memorabilia given to the library by Catherine Irwin, widow of Frederic Irwin, who was an American airman and POW in Germany.   Organized by Kathy Gehring.

JAPANESE Print Collection.   About 70 color woodcut prints from the 19 th and 20 th centuries including examples by Utagawa Hiroshige, Kawanishi Hide, Takahashi Hiroaki ( Shotei), Shoda Koho, Ohara Shoson, , Kawae Hasui, and many others.

KELMSCOTT Press Collection.   22 volumes including the Chaucer edition.

Susanne K. LANGER Collection.   Professor Susanne Knauth Langer was a faculty member in the Philosophy department at Connecticut College from 1954 to 1962.   The Langer Collection at Connecticut College consists of her personal library with marginalia and typescripts of her books.   These books are uncataloged. The library also has her bronze bust by Norman Legassie, located in the Palmer Room of Special Collections.   Mrs. Langer’s papers are at Houghton Library, Harvard University.

LEAR/CARSON Collection.   After author Linda Lear ’62 wrote the biography Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature (Henry Holt, 1997), she gave her research papers to Connecticut College.   It consists of biographical material concerning Rachel Carson and her family and associates as well as related material on the environmental movement, in particular pesticide control, and many photographs.   The collection has been organized and a finding aid is available on request.

LEAR Book Collection.   Books pertaining to Rachel Carson and the environmental movement, including first editions of Silent Spring.   Gift of Linda Lear.

Margeret Sherwood LIBBY Children’s Books.   Over 400 books selected from the estate of Mrs. Libby in 1983 and incorporated into the Gildersleeve Collection.  

MANUSCRIPT Collection.   Consists of single manuscripts filed in archival folders by name, many of which are listed in the Special Collections card catalog.   The collection includes letters and manuscripts by many prominent people such as W.H. Auden, George Balanchine, Countee Cullen, Theodore Dreiser, Albert Einstein, T. S. Eliot,   Ralph Waldo Emerson, Erich Fromm, Robert Frost, John Kenneth Galbraith, John Galsworthy, Walter Gropius, Helen Keller, Robert Kennedy, Archibald MacLeish, Richard Mansfield, John Stuart Mill, George Bernard Shaw, Lydia Sigourney, Adlai Stevenson, Alice B. Toklas, Paul Valéry, Martin Van Buren, William Butler Yeats, and many more.   There are also many collections of letters within named collections, including: Rachel Carson, Prudence Crandall, Alice Hamilton, Belle Moskowitz, Eugene O’Neill.   The Meredith Collection is also very rich in letters.

Richard and Beatrice MANSFIELD.   Letters and memorabilia of New London-based actors.

MASEFIELD-SIMMONS Collection.   Many first editions, important manuscripts and broadsides by British Poet Laureate John Masefield (1878-1967).  Most of the books have been cataloged in the online catalog. There are many items from the Cuala Press including a complete collection of the monthly broadsides published between June 1908 and May 1915. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Simmons.

William MEREDITH Collection.   This collection is described in the William Meredith Collection homepage.   The books are cataloged in the online catalog and shelved in the Meredith Book Collection.   The bronze bust of William Meredith by Gina Plungian is located in the Palmer Room.

W.D.F. MORRISSON Collection.   The papers of Major Morrisson reflect his service as a intelligence officer with the 13 th army air force fighter command in the South Pacific during World War II.   He was the son of Mary Foulke Morrisson, a member of the Board of Trustees for many years.

Belle MOSKOWITZ Collection.   The papers of social reformer and politician Belle Moskowitz were given to Connecticut College by her children in 1945.   The finding aid and a short biography are available. [Links to fa and bio]

The NATURE CONSERVANCY Collection.   Selected files documenting the administrative history of this organization, given by Professor Richard H. Goodwin who was one of its officers.

NEW LONDON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Collection.   Clippings from newspapers documenting the activities of the NLDC since 1997.   Also includes many slides of buildings in the Fort Trumbull area.   Gift of Stephen Percy.

NEW LONDON History Collection.   This broad category of materials includes many collections, including: the Timothy Green Collection and other New London imprints; New London Postcard Collection; scrapbooks of Ernest Rogers and others; Union Railroad Station preservation album; special New London history issues published by The Day; New London city directories published before 1900; several boxes dealing with redevelopment in New London; etc.   Books dealing with aspects of the history of New London are listed in the online catalog.

Historical NEWSPAPERS. Issues of historical newspapers, mostly from Connecticut and New England, many of which are available on microfilm.

ORAL History Collection.   35 videotapes of The Italians of New London, 1998, a film by Jerry Fischer.   Interviews by Anne Oppenheim Freed ’38 for her book The Changing Worlds of Older Women in Japan (Knowledge, Ideas & Trends, 1993, c1992), and also 13 tapes of interviews conducted by Anne in Bulgaria from 1991-1993 concerning the treatment of Bulgarian Jews under the Nazi occupation.

PALMER Collection.   The nucleus of Connecticut College’s special collections, given by the Palmer family in 1926.   Most but not all of these titles have been cataloged in the online catalog and shelved in the Palmer Room.   The Palmer Collection has many examples of fine binding and all of the library’s incunabila.   The collection is rich in travel narratives, American and European biography and local history.

Frances PERKINS Collection.   This collection is in two parts.   The original Perkins Collection was given to the college by Frances Perkins in 1945.   The second collection was given in 1995 by her biographer, George Martin.   Ms. Perkins, who died in 1965, was secretary of labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a principal architect and advocate of the New Deal. [link to fa]

PRIVATE PRESS Books.   Special Collections has many examples of private press books and fine printing.   Most of the books are products of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century revival of interest in fine presswork, with many examples from the Kelmscott, Golden Cockerel, Nonesuch, Elston, Doves, Ashendene, Essex House, and Eragny Presses. The work of printers in the United States is well represented , with examples from Elbert Hubbard’s Roycroft Press, as well as the Yellow Barn, Bird & Bull,   Stone House, and many less well known establishments too numerous to list here.   The press books are separately cataloged in the online catalog

Luanne RICE Collection.   Luanne Rice ’77 is the author of many best-selling works of fiction set in the coastal region of southeastern Connecticut.   She has given her papers and copies of her published work to Connecticut College.   This collection is as yet uncataloged and incomplete.

Bruce ROGERS.   Extensive holdings of the work of this important book designer and printer.   Cataloged separately.

SHEAFFER Book Collection.   A selection of books relating to the life and work of Eugene O’Neill.   Many books of criticism and biography and editions of the O’Neill’s work including first editions.   Some of the books and articles come from the library of Louis Sheaffer. Cataloged in the online catalog.

SHEAFFER-O’NEILL Collection.  The large archive of the documents, photographs, interview notes and correspondence accumulated by Louis Sheaffer in the course of writing his award-winning two-volume biography of playwright Eugene O’Neill, O’Neill: Son and Playwright (1968) and O’Neill: Son and Artist (1973), published by Little,Brown.   The collection was acquired by Connecticut College in 1993.   An online tour of the highlights of the Sheaffer-O’Neill Collection is hosted on www.eoneill.com where there is more information about the history of the collection itself as well as information about the principal record groups.  The collection has been used extensively by O’Neill scholars and by other researchers.

STORAGE (also called the O.B.C. or Old Book Collection).   This category includes many items that have been removed from the stacks because of their poor condition.   It also includes periodical titles such as Harpers, Atheneum, Nineteenth Century, Century, London Illustrated News.

Lilian WALD Collection.   Books, papers and letters concerning social activist, public health nurse and educator Lilian Wald ( 1867-1940) who was a founder of the Henry Street Settlement House in New York.   The collection includes a scrapbook of letters and tributes from her friends for her birthday in 1933.

Carl and Alma WIES Collection. Books dealing with printing techniques and printing history, typography, etc.   Includes a set of The Fleuron.

The WORLD WAR II collections are composed of a growing number of small personal collections of documents, photographs, memorabilia and books given by local residents: the CATHERINE AND FREDERIC IRWIN, the ROBERT C. FREGOSI and the W.D.F. MORRISSON.   The small collection of books dealing with the French Resistance was given by PIERRE AND ALIX DEGUISE, cataloged and listed in the online catalog.

Loraine WYMAN Collection.   Books of the folk music scholar, Loraine Wyman Painter. Cataloged in the online catalog.

Updated Nov. 2008