UW Libraries Blog

UW Special Collections


October 29, 2024

Maps, Yeah Yeah Yeah

UW Libraries

Okay, so we aren’t talking about the resurgence of the 2003 song, “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but that would make for a fascinating research project on music history. We are talking about actual, physical maps! Thousands of them! Did you know – the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division’s Rare Map Collection…


September 16, 2024

New Exhibit: The Language of Flowers

UW Libraries

By Kat Lewis, Special Projects Curator Enjoy the changing seasons with Special Collections through our annual lobby exhibit, The Language of Flowers. Each quarter will feature new material related to our botanical collections, local plants, and more. Launching September 2024 for the year.  Plants make us happier and improve our environment, so this year we…


June 27, 2024

Tracing Authoritarianism: Linking Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian America Through Archives, Language, and Pedagogy

UW Libraries

Influenced by social justice movements, critical archival studies seek to question power differentials assumed in frameworks of archival collecting and access, and center curatorial responsibilities in communities who may re-interpret, re-define and use materials for community-based public memory projects. For example, when official colonial archival collections are made more accessible via online or other methods,…


March 6, 2024

March Update

UW Libraries

We are nearly to the end of winter quarter! Cherry blossoms are right around the corner and our Libraries are “blooming” with valuable opportunities for students, including the Libraries’ annual video contest! We are celebrating new exhibits (including first-ever “pop up” events with rare music and art collections), our amazing student employees and the grand-reopening…


January 11, 2024

Celebrating MLK

UW Libraries

updated 1/2024 In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day, UW Libraries encourages you to explore resources within our collections and across campus that reflect Dr. King’s work and collective efforts to combat racism, inequality, and injustice in our community and beyond. UW Libraries Racial Justice Resource Guide, for recommended readings, podcasts, videos, and articles…


December 12, 2023

Fiat Lux – By Daniel James Brown

UW Libraries

The following is a version of a keynote speech given by author Daniel James Brown at the 2014 UW Libraries’ Literary Voices fundraising event that has been edited for length in this context. PREFACE: Daniel Brown’s love of libraries began decades ago when, as a struggling high school student, he was instructed to complete correspondence…


April 28, 2023

May Update

UW Libraries

NEW! The Economist.com is now available from UW Libraries, adding to the free access to major global news publications you have as a UW student. From news to commentary and analysis on politics, finance, and business, The Economist provides insightful coverage on international drivers of change. The UW Libraries subscription includes full access to daily…


March 7, 2023

Women’s History Month: Exhibits Highlight Amazing Women

UW Libraries

From one trailblazing fellow husky to an international hero of medicine and science,  these UW Libraries’ exhibits explore the lives of two amazing women. Celebrating Seattle Black Women:  Daisy Tibbs Dawson University of Washington’s Special Collections has dug into its own archive to celebrate the life and work of a UW grad who waged peace…


February 8, 2023

Bridging Cultures: Professor Takahiro Sasaki’s Visit to UW Libraries

Zhijia Shen,Director of Tateuchi East Asia Library

In October 2022, the Tateuchi East Asia Library (EAL) welcomed Professor Takahiro Sasaki. Professor Sasaki is the immediate former Director of the Keio Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.  He has been teaching and doing research at Shido Bunko for more than 20 years. The multi-day visit included a…


February 3, 2023

Black History Month 2023

UW Libraries

While Black History Month provides a focused platform for collective reflection and celebration of Black History, the responsibility to self-educate is never-ending.   Making space to read, listen and watch something new – as a continuous practice (well beyond February) broadens our understanding of Black History in support in our collective work as allies, advocates, educators…



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