ACRL New England Chapter News Online

ISSN 1527-0106

Winter 2005, Number 104

In This Issue (Home):

President's Letter

ALA Midwinter Dessert Social

Librarian of the Year Nominations

Annual Program Announcement

Continuing Education Report

Legislative Report

Women's Studies Spring Program

Interest Group Reports:
Access Services (ASIG)
Women's Studies

Calendar Listings

Nancy Dennis, Co-Chair
Salem State College

J. Christina Smith, Co-Chair
Boston University

On Friday, October 15, 2004, eighteen Women's Studies Interest Group members from four New England states gathered at the Goddard-Daniels house of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. WSIG members and AAS Library staff Gigi Barnhill (Curator of Graphic Arts) and Laura Wasowicz (Curator of Children's Literature) got acquainted over coffee and pastries. We then walked across the street to the AAS Library, an independent, internationally known research library with incomparable collections in American history and culture.

The American Antiquarian Society was founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas, a Revolutionary War patriot and a printer and publisher (whose printing press is on exhibit in the AAS Library). The Library's collections "document the life of America's people from the colonial era through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Collections include books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, broadsides, manuscripts, music, graphic arts, and local histories." The goal of the AAS is to acquire one copy of everything printed in America prior to 1877. Thus far it has acquired two-thirds of the items printed in America between 1639 and 1820. Their holdings from 1821 through 1876, while less comprehensive, compare favorably with the holdings of the Library of Congress. Under Its Generous Dome is a guide to the the Guidebook and Catalog, there is a Collection Access chart detailing cataloging status of each collection.

The Library is a welcoming, user-friendly facility, open, free of charge, to researchers, scholars, and students. Prospective library users are requested to present two forms of identification. Undergraduate students with letters of introduction from their professors are encouraged to use the library; graduate students do not require letters of introduction. The
library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Women's Studies Interest Group was especially interested in learning about the collections as they pertained to women and girls. The curators gathered materials in their respective areas (periodicals, graphic arts, books, manuscripts, etc.) representing materials by or about women and girls and gave presentations illustrating the range of materials available for the study of women and girls in the AAS Library.

There was an behind-the-scenes optional tour of the AAS Library and its five-level stacks area at the conclusion of the program.