Students were able to explore Alden's rare book vault Tuesday
The Feminist and Queer Tour of Alden Library’s Rare Book Vault gave students a glimpse of the different stories on the shelves of Alden.
Books from the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections were pulled out of the Rare Book Vault on the fifth floor of Alden for people to take time and look through books of various eras as well as explore the vault.
“(People can) get a sense of some very specific history for women and LGBT folks and I think it can provide a really nice example of the experiences people have had throughout time that we don’t really think about or that we might not have now,” Sarah Jenkins, program coordinator for the Women’s Center and a coordinator of the event, said.
Miriam Intrator, specials collections librarian and a coordinator of the event, said she selected around the theme of women and LGBT, but also included activist material from the '60s and '70s, 19th century books about how to be a proper woman and general historic material.
“Basically the idea is to give people an informal opportunity to see and interact with some of the materials we have in the rare book collection,” Intrator said. “Usually when people come in, it’s with a class and they’re working on a research project.”
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The collection included books from Charlotte Brontë while she was using the pseudonym Currer Bell, as well as a few works from former students.
A handful of students came to the event, including Robin Kelby, a freshman studying computer science.
“I am a feminist, I’m queer and I like books so I thought it would be fun,” she said.
Kelby said she found never rape me, a book by former student Courtney Smitha to be very powerful. The book included dark images with quotes in red font on top. One of which read, “He did not kill me but He killed the person i was.”
Emily Pyle, a sophomore studying communications, said she came to the event because it seemed interesting but also because she could get extra credit for class.
“It seemed like there was going to be a lot of interesting literature and things you wouldn’t see any other ordinary day,” she said.
Pyle also found the book never rape me along with the little booklets that addressed how women should act. The books ranged from different time periods, and Pyle said it was interesting comparing the different eras and values.
During the event, students also ventured into the Rare Book Vault in Alden, which includes books from a Juvenile section, children’s books throughout history and Authors Collections, works from Charles Dickens, Ronald Firbank and old comic books.
Kevin Dennis, a graduate student studying education who works at the library, said the vault holds certain books that are too fragile or rare to be in general circulation, but the books are still accessible.
“People don’t realize we’ll pull them out for you and you can explore them as much as you’d want,” he said.
Kelby said going into the vault was an amazing experience. Looking at the juvenile sections was interesting, she said, because she could compare what children grew up with a long time ago to how different it is now.
“Seeing all of those old and rare books is really cool and you don’t get to do it very often,” she said.
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