What makes special collections special? Stanford libraries and museums hold almost half a million rare books, manuscripts, and other objects and ephemera, from family albums to mammoth-plate photographs, concert posters to tennis shoes, transit maps to novel drafts. In this one-unit workshop we'll visit collections across campus with librarians and curators and consider first-hand what primary sources can teach us about our past, present, and future; the stakes of preservation and loss; and new ways of understanding the people and places of the United States. Want to discover another side of Stanford? Learn more about archival research and American Studies? Find inspiration for your capstone project or senior thesis? Let's explore together! Possible field trips include Special Collections at Green Library, Rumsey Map Center, Branner Earth Sciences Library, Silicon Valley Archives, California Historical Society, Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Archaeological Collections, and the Cantor Arts Center.
1 units · Satisfactory/No Credit
What makes special collections special? Stanford libraries and museums hold almost half a million rare books, manuscripts, and other objects and ephemera, from family albums to mammoth-plate photographs, concert posters to tennis shoes, transit maps to novel drafts. In this one-unit workshop we'll visit collections across campus with librarians and curators and consider first-hand what primary sources can teach us about our past, present, and future; the stakes of preservation and loss; and new ways of understanding the people and places of the United States. Want to discover another side of Stanford? Learn more about archival research and American Studies? Find inspiration for your capstone project or senior thesis? Let's explore together! Possible field trips include Special Collections at Green Library, Rumsey Map Center, Branner Earth Sciences Library, Silicon Valley Archives, California Historical Society, Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Archaeological Collections, and the Cantor Arts Center.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.