This semester 42 students are enrolled in the History and Principles of Quakerism class taught by Professor Emma Lapsansky-Werner. The record number of curious scholars is a reflection of the growing interest in Quakerism on Haverford’s campus. Last week two library sessions were held with students to orient them to the resources in the Quaker Collection that will help them complete their assignments that include a group project on a Quaker novel, presentation of Pendle Hill Pamphlets and a challenging bibliographic essay on some aspect of Quakerism. Students and librarians will be very busy in the weeks ahead exploring the breadth and depth of our collection!

Haverford College Quaker and Special Collections has gone live with our new website.  Based on the look and feel of the main Haverford College site, the new Special Collections site incorporates numerous utilities that bring dynamic content to the site.  Up-to-date calendar items appear in the Upcoming Events section alongside an improved New & Noteworthy Blog and a list of New Quaker Books.

The main page also features our Current Exhibition and open hours for the day.  A device known as the “Tridget” will be familiar to users of the main library site.  Ours is customized to include not only a search box for Tripod, but also interfaces for Triptych, the Tri-College Digital Library, online Finding Aids, and Web Archives of Haverford, Quaker and Peace related sites.

Pages below the main page include those titled About, Collections, Research, Services, Exhibitions, our annual Gest Fellowship and our Blog.  The About page contains the usual contact information and staff listing, and also includes links to our online presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.  Collections navigation now relies more heavily on visual representations of our offerings and includes when possible search boxes for individual subcollections.  Several new Finding Aids have been put online recently and there are many more to come in the following months.

The new Research page includes tips for successful research in Special Collections and links to subject guides of relevance to those using our resources.  The Services page now includes a fee schedule for Copying, Scanning, and so on.  The Exhibitions page gives detailed information on our current and past exhibits, including ongoing online exhibits.  The Gest Fellowship page includes the current instructions and criteria for applying for our one-month research fellowships and includes a list of all current and former Gest Fellows, their institutional affiliations and the topics of their study.

Our New and Noteworthy Blog is a feature continuing from the old site, but we have switched blogging software to WordPress, which allows our content to be featured on the College’s main site and which also feeds to our main page as well as to Twitter and Facebook.  The Blog and our New Quaker Books features may be accessed by subscription using an RSS news reader as well as via e-mail notification.

The process of designing these new pages was a several-months long undertaking led by Digital Collections Librarian, David Conners.  Several of our student employees did much of the coding and photography featured on the site, and staff of the Communications office and the Library were invaluable in helping us with some of the more advanced dynamic applications.  We hope you enjoy the new site and find it useful.  Questions and suggestions may be sent to us at hc-special@haverford.edu.

Past Haverford Gest Fellow, Maurice Jackson, will speak at the Library Company on Thursday, February 5, 2009, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm.  Jackson’s new biography of Quaker abolitionist Anthony Benezet will be the subject of his talk entitled "Let This Voice Be Heard: Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism." Jackson is Assistant Professor of History at Georgetown University. RSVP acceptances only to 215-546-3181 or email lpropst@librarycompany.org.

Author Thomas Slaughter, Professor of History at the University of Rochester, presents The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition at the Library Company, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Tuesday, October 14, 2008.

John Woolman (1720-1772), a Quaker tailor from New Jersey, had an extraordinary commitment to attaining self-purification through the rejection of slavery, war taxes, and rampant consumerism. Though not a famous politician, his persuasive ideals influenced the likes of fellow Quakers, social reformers, labor organizers and peace advocates. Through Woolman’s essays and Journal, Slaughter illuminates his transformation from a humble idealist to a prophetic voice for the Anglo-American world.

A reception will begin at 5:30 with the program to follow from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested: dshapiro@librarycompany.org or 215/546-3181. 

Former Special Collections Executive Secretary & Research Assistant, J’aime Wells’ article “‘Until Called For’: Safekeeping Materials in Special Collections” appears in the current issue of Haverford’s College Information Resources Newsletter.

David Conners, our new Digital Collections Librarian, has recently had an article published in Library Journal.  Co-written with Laena McCarthy, Image Cataloger and Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute Libraries, the article "Can The Jobs Be Found," reconsiders the common presumption that entry-level jobs for recent library school graduates are hard to find.