Named Collections

Some of the following major named collections, listed in alphabetical order, have been assembled by collectors and then donated to or otherwise acquired by the Department of Special Collections. Others have been assembled by library selectors thanks to the generosity of donors who have established endowment funds that permit the purchase of books and other materials for the Library. In some instances other library funds are used to acquire titles for these collections. Catalog records for works in other smaller collections within the holdings of Special Collections, like those in larger collections, appear in the Library Catalog or in finding aids available in the Department of Special Collections.

A-B 

• Daniel and Eleanor Albert Collection. Works on optics and the eye, containing more than 700 important works, primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, along with earlier titles by Avicenna, Aguilón, Witelo, Parey, Wiseman and others, a noteworthy copy of Hooke’s Micrographia, plus rare books in other fields. Titles are cataloged individually in the Library Catalog. See the portrait entitled “A Lesson of Time” (pp. 8-10 in the Libraries magazine, no. 39, fall 1999) for more information.
• Aldine Press. The Department’s holdings include some fifty volumes printed by the Aldine press in Venice (1494-1597). The collection also includes facsimiles, exhibit catalogs, and an English translation of a petition (1502) by the founder of the press, Aldus Manutius, to the Venetian Senate, requesting official protection against piracy of his typefaces.
• American gift-books & annuals. A collection of some 400 volumes, initiated by the late Professor Cairns and still being enlarged. Mostly items are located in Memorial Library stacks with call no. AY (LC classification) or Y .95… (Cutter Classification). In searching, use the subject heading “Gift-books.” A few are in Special Collections, and some are available in microform at Memorial Library).
• Armed Service editions. Collection U. Well over 100 examples of compact paperbacks distributed to American troops in World War II; mostly popular American fiction. Individual titles represented in the Library Catalog with call numbers beginning Coll. U. Most were the gift of William Schuette.
• Attic Nights Collection. One of the largest collections in North America of early editions of the work of the 2nd-century Roman writer Aulus Gellius. Part of the Reeder Family Gift.
• Norman Bassett Collection. Includes works by Dickens, Bellamy, Cooper, James Joyce. Also works by or about Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953), other published works are available in the Twentieth Century Collection and the Mark Twain Collection. Shelf list available in the Department’s card catalog (call numbers 1219748 noncurrent -1219757 noncurrent).
• L. Frank Baum Oz Collection. Collection W. Some forty editions of the Wizard of Oz.
• Arthur Beatty Collection (also known as the William Wordsworth Collection). Nearly 100 titles donated by Beatty, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with many others located in the circulating collections of Memorial Library. Shelf list available in the Department’s card catalog (call numbers 1213952 noncurrent -1214141 noncurrent).
• Bemis/Flaherty Collection. Containing gay poetry books and chapbooks donated by Michael Bemis and supported by an endowment fund established by Roy Ortopan.
• Benjamin David Berry Collection (also known as the English Grammar Collection). English grammars (17th-20th century) acquired in 1923. The collection includes titles not typically not found in U.S. research libraries. The works in this collection are divided between Special Collections and the Memorial Library circulating collections.
• Berry Penmanship Collection (also known as the Penmanship Collection), containing textbooks on penmanship, acquired by the Library in 1944. A shelf list is available in the card catalog in Special Collections under call numbers 803002 noncurrent – 803030 noncurrent); most individual titles are cataloged in the Library Catalog.
• Bolz Collection, containing a German Bible of 1582, tracts by Martin Luther, as well as titles on natural history and hunting. Shelf list available in the card catalog in the Department (under call numbers 1027325 noncurrent – 1027453 noncurrent).
• Bookplate Collection, consisting of about 10,000 bookplates, cataloged and mounted by former librarians Flora Davidson and Gilbert Doane. The collection includes bookplates of famous writers, artists, political figures, college professors, book collectors, librarians, and libraries, as well as special collections of Wisconsin, medical, animal, and punning plates. Many of the bookplates are mounted in fifty loose-leaf notebooks; others are preserved in envelopes and boxes. A finding aid is available in the Department.
• Robert Boyle Collection. A nearly comprehensive collection of works by Robert Boyle (1627–1691), including first editions and items not recorded in Fulton’s bibliography of Boyle. Acquired in 1958. Shelf list available in the card catalog in the Department (with call numbers 1068353 noncurrent – 1069692 noncurrent, 1070871 noncurrent – 1070876 noncurrent); the Thordarson and Duveen Collections also contain editions of works by Boyle.
• British Amateur Journalism Collection. Collection ZB. Containing some 8500 items dating from about 1912 to the early 1970s, collected by Ralph A.L. Breed. A few reference titles are cataloged individually with call numbers beginning Coll. ZB. The Library of Amateur Journalism Collection also contains some British materials.
• Thornton Burgess Collection. Collection T. About one hundred titles, many inscribed. Formerly in the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) on campus.

C-D

• Cairns Collection of American Women Writers 1650-1940. The voices of women in American literary history reflect visions and styles as diverse as their experiences. Collecting the record of these authors—some very well known, others often neglected, some anonymous—is the purpose and goal of this collection.
• Chateaubriand Manuscripts, containing some 20 manuscript pages from Mémoires d’outre-tombe, written by the 19th-century French author and statesman. The manuscript, containing unpublished variations from the printed edition and many changes in Chateaubriand’s hand, is of special interest for the study of stylistics. A transcription and translation into English are shelved with the manuscript. See details under call number MS 151.
• Miscelas Chwalibog Collection. About 1400 volumes collected by a Polish immigrant ex-priest who founded his own church in Flintville, Wisconsin. The collection consists mostly of contemporary editions of the principal European theologians of the 17th and 18th centuries with particular strengths in church history and the philosophers of the Enlightenment. Most of the collection is in Special Collections with the remainder in the circulating collections of Memorial Library. On deposit from the Kellogg Public Library of Green Bay, 1946. Call numbers begin BX995 C5..
• Biruté Ciplijauskaité Collection. Books of Spanish poetry and publications concerning history and criticism of Spanish poetry, donated by professor emerita Biruté Ciplijauskaité of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, who has also given the Department much of her correspondence with poets and literary scholars. Some of the latter material is not yet open to researchers. The books, cataloged with call numbers beginning CA 16232, also include Professor Ciplijauskaité’s own writings, editions, and translations. Recent additions to the collection are currently being cataloged.
• Cole Collection of Chemistry. Containing more than 1000 works on chemistry from the 17th through the 19th centuries, some acquired in 1977 and more received in 1998 and thereafter as a gift from William and Nora Cole. Individual titles are cataloged with call numbers beginning Cole Coll C. The Cole Collection also includes significant manuscript holdings. There is some overlap between the Cole Collection and the Duveen Collection.
• Cruikshank Collection. Works illustrated by noted English illustrator George Cruikshank (1792-1878) or Isaac Robert Cruikshank (1789-1850). A shelf-list is available in the Department (call numbers CA 8900- CA 9017), plus 50 additional titles listed in the Department’s author/title card catalog. Some titles are cataloged in the Library Catalog.
• Decorated Paper. Collection C. A small collection of marbled papers used as endpapers; assembled by Flora Davidson.
• Dissertations Collection. Several thousand dissertations, mostly from Uppsala and Lund, Sweden; some from Finland and a few from Germany. Chiefly in Latin; many address topics in theology or philology. Titles held are indicated in printed indexes available in Special Collections. Arranged by university, then by praeses.
• Dobbertin Collection of Campus Humor Magazines. A gift of John and Barbara Dobbertin, possibly the largest collection of college humor magazines in the United States, ranging from the late 19th century to the 21st. An inventory is available.
• Dutch pamphlets. Some 200 lampoons, libels, and broadsides in prose as well as in verse, covering the second half of the war with Spain (1568-1648), the truce (1609-1621), and the wars with England and France, with special emphasis on 1672, known as the year of disasters. The collection details the theological controversy between the Remonstrant and Contra-Remonstrant believers in the Dutch Reformed Church (remonstrants wanted to soften the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination) and includes acts, decrees, and articles of faith from the 1618-1619 Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church. Indexed in Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Netherlands) Catalogus van de pamfletten-verzameling by W.P.C. Knuttel. Shelf list available in the Special Collections card catalog (drawer labeled Knuttel).
• Duveen Alchemy and Chemistry Collection. Comprised of more than 2000 works on alchemy and chemistry, most from the 16th and 17th centuries. Individual titles are cataloged with call numbers beginning Duveen D. See Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica by Denis L. Duveen (London: E. Weil, 1949) for bibliographical details.

E-F

• East Germany Collection. Collection O, contains pamphlets and newspapers documenting political parties and the fall of East Germany (1989-1990). To find titles cataloged individually in the Library Catalog, use the call number Coll. O.
• Ellis Collection (or German Textbooks Collection). Containing some one thousand textbooks (1860-1970) published and used in the U.S. to teach German language and culture. See The Frances Ellis Collection of North American German Textbooks: A preliminary catalogue of holdings in the Department of Special Collections, compiled by John B. Dillon, Barbara Leary Hinrichsen and Thea L. Lindquist.
• English Almanacs (1638-1860). A subset of the Thordarson Collection, the almanacs contain miscellaneous practical and historical information, including calendars, advertisements, astronomical and astrological information, timetables, and advice for farming and health. A title listing is also available in the card catalog in the Department. Most are organized and bound by year; a few others are bound and/or cataloged individually.
• English Political Pamphlets (1661-1900). Originally a collection of about 5000 pamphlets, this collection is now divided among several campus library locations. Special Collections holds the Strangford Pamphlets on English history (in 68 vols.) and 31 other boxes. Details in the Library Catalog.
• Exploration accounts pertaining to Zaire (MS 131) and French Africa (MS 232). The former contains 3000 books, pamphlets, and ephemera concerned with the colonial period of the Congo, and focuses on opinions of Belgian rule, works on missionary activity, dictionaries, grammars of native languages, and early works of travel in the years of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo (1885-late 1930s). Also available on microfilm 4113 in the Microforms room in Memorial Library. The latter contains 18 maps, several hundred photographs, and 11 volumes (typescript) of an official report of an exploratory expedition (1905-1907) to the Congo-Cameroon, sponsored by the French government. This last is only one of only four known copies. Includes a long general description of the region, three ethnographic monographs, and separate studies on cotton growing, domestic animals and the tsetse fly. See also two albums of postcards from Belgian Congo and French Equatorial Africa (1910-25) and French African colonies (1900-1930) under the call numbers MS 233-234. See also the Himbury Collection.
• Kenneth Fearing Collection. Manuscripts collection B. Manuscripts, personal letters and business correspondence. Other published materials are housed in the Twentieth Century Collection.
• Freethought Titles. From the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Many additional titles in the the circulating collections of Memorial Library. Inventory and article describing the collection available in Special Collections.
• French Political Pamphlets (1547-1648). Some 1200 pamphlets, described in French political pamphlets, 1547-1648: A checklist by R.O. Lindsay and John Neu and a supplement. Call numbers begin French pamphlet.
• French Political Pamphlets (1648-1652) — Mazarinades. Several hundred pamphlets attacking Cardinal Jules Mazarin, acquired in 1958. See Mazarinades: A checklist by R.O. Lindsay and John Neu and Bibliographie des mazarinades by C. Moreau. The collection was acquired in 1958. Call numbers begin Mazarinades M; many of the pamphlets in our collection (though not all), are represented by records in the Library Catalog.
• French Student Revolutions (1968, 1972). Collections G (pertaining to 1968) and K (pertaining to 1972) contain materials collected during and after the two student revolutions of 1968 and 1972, including handbills, posters, and periodical issues. Inventories available in Special Collections list the contents. Some individual books and 33 rpm records are cataloged separately with call numbers beginning Coll. G French Student Revolt.
• Fry Collection of Italian History and Culture. Collection Fry. Assembled and donated by William F. “Jack” Fry, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, this extensive collection includes manuscripts and correspondence, broadsides, printed ephemera, periodicals, and books from the early Renaissance through the 20th century. The largest category is materials from the period of Italian Fascism, illustrating, for example, Fascist propaganda, educational policies and practices, youth and women’s activities, racial policies, Italian colonialism, and anti-Fascist opposition. Highlights from this section of the collection appear in a print exhibit catalog entitled Italian life under Fascism: Selections from the Fry Collection. A version of this exhibit is available online. The next largest category documents aspects of the history of the Veneto from the 15th century through the 19th, with particular attention to the French and Austrian occupation of Veneto in the 19th century. Correspondence and printed ephemera are complemented by many official avvisi and manifesti. Other materials fall into the following categories, as assigned by the donor in his extensive notes on the collection: the Church and Italian culture, partisans in Italy during World War II, 20th-century Italian Communism, political culture in postwar Italy, documents from Istria and Latina, theater and music in Italy, the period immediately preceding the Fascist period, the Italian postal and telegraph service, and other rare books and manuscripts mainly from Italy (15th-20th century). Prof. Fry’s detailed descriptions of his gifts are available in Special Collections; some early printed books in the collection are cataloged separately in the Library Catalog (with call numbers beginning Coll. Fry). A searchable database describing the Fry Collection is in progress.

G-H 

• Zona Gale Collection. Manuscripts–Zona Gale, MS-226.
  Letters and manuscripts by Zona Gale (1874-1938), a writer from Portage, Wisconsin. Related materials are in the Library and Archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
• German Workers Theater. Collection H contains some 169 plays (in fragile condition) published by the Arbeiter-Theaterverlag Alfred Jahn in Leipzig during the Weimar Republic. Jahn was the head of the German Worker-Theater Union (1924-1928), subject to the control of both the Communist and Socialist parties. Inventory available in the Department.
• Germany (1920-1960), or Collection M (primarily Nazi-era materials). Mainly German books and pamphlets collected by Sigrid Lillian Schultz, journalist. Some of these titles are from Himmler’s library. Cataloged in the Library Catalog under call numbers beginning Coll. M Nazi. Related titles have been donated by World War II veterans, public libraries, and other library donors (see, for example, titles cataloged in the Library Catalog under call numbers CA 14960 – CA 14997). Other Nazi-related titles have been transferred to Special Collections from the circulating collections in Memorial Library. See as well portions of the Hugh Iltis Collection and the Andrew Laurie Stangel Collection.
• Giolito Press. Titles from the press of Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari; many use an italic typeface. Shelf list available in the card catalog in the Department (see call numbers 1262490 noncurrent – 1262722 noncurrent). See also Annali di Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari by Salvator Bongi, 2 vols., Indici e cataloghi, Nuova serie, 11 (Rome, 1890-1895) in the Special Collections reference collection.
• Hugo Grotius Collection, containing titles on theology, history, and politics by or about the 17th-century Dutch jurist and humanist Hugo Grotius, as well as his editions of classical authors. Includes significant specimens illustrating the history of printing. Donated by Annie M. Pitman. Shelf list available in the card catalog in the Department (under the call numbers 1364311 noncurrent – 1364401 noncurrent).
• Grover Travel and Exploration Collection, containing more than five hundred titles from the early 17th century through the 20th century. These are first appearances in print in English of first-person accounts of travel and exploration. Nearly all contain illustrations and maps, and some feature striking decorative trade bindings. Gift of Bruce and Carol Grover. All appear in the Library Catalog with call numbers beginning CA 18040. 
• Wolfram Haller collection of documents concerning Hans Viktor von Unruh. Hans Viktor von Unruh (1806-1886) was a German liberal and member of the Prussian Parliament. Call number MS 433.
• Guy Hayler Collection (or Temperance Collection), mainly tracts from British and American temperance movements. Hayler was a prominent British temperance crusader at the turn of the 20th century. Contents microfilmed as Temperance tracts: Collection of pamphlets (call number Micro Film 6317).
• Sir William Henry Himbury diaries. MS 119-120. Diary notes (1889-1905, 1923-1938) by Himbury, who traveled through Africa, India, Iraq, and what is now Israel for the British Cotton Growing Association and other organizations. The reports include personal notes and photographs.
• Theodore Hoyer Collection. Titles concerning all of the major currents of Lutheran theology, from the Reform movement in the 16th century to the pietism of the 18th century. Theodore Hoyer, campus leader and graduate student, donated his collection to the University before leaving for the war in France in 1918. Shelf list available in the Department (call numbers 1232432 noncurrent – 1232465 noncurrent).

I-L 

• Icelandic literature. The Thordarson Collection includes many Icelandic titles; see also manuscripts MS 137-140.
• Incunabula. Forty-four printed titles from the period 1450-1500 have been identified among the holdings of Special Collections. See the Historical Collections and Services in Ebling Library for the Health Sciences for more incunabula (along with many other collections of interest).
• Iltis Family Collection. Consisting of manuscripts and printed materials by or concerning Hugo Iltis (gifts of Hugh Iltis, professor emeritus of botany at UW-Madison, and of the late Wilfred Iltis, professor at San Jose State University), as well as manuscripts and printed materials assembled by or concerning Hugh Iltis. Processing of these collections is underway.
• Irish Manuscripts (or Myles Dillon) Collection. MS 175-183. Manuscripts written in Gaelic in the 18th and early 19th centuries, including verse, battle sagas, and a sermon; donated by a former professor (1937-1946) of Gaelic and Irish history and literature. See Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the University of Wisconsin-Madison by Cornelius G. Buttimer (Dublin, 1989).
• Jahn Library. A collection of mathematical textbooks, including some 150 volumes from the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, formerly belonging to William F. Jahn and now kept together as a sample library. The oldest volumes were transferred to Special Collections in 1994 (shelf-list available in the Department, with call numbers beginning LB8J19 Cutter); the remainder are in Memorial Library as part of the Cutter collection.
• Milan Komadinic Collection. Milan Komadinic (b. 1882) was the founder and organizer of the first society of cooperatives in Yugoslavia. The Cooperatives Collection (also known as the Komadinic Collection) also contains materials on general and political science and early socialist movements before World War I. About half of this collection is available in Special Collections under call numbers CA 11000 – CA 12831, with records for individual titles in the Library Catalog and a shelf list in the Department’s card catalog; the remainder of the collection is in the circulating collections in Memorial Library.
• Maps of Ireland. Collection Y. 53 maps (1600-1799), mostly hand colored. Inventory available. Some maps cataloged individually (with call numbers beginning Coll. Y).
• Renée B. Lang Collection. Autograph letters, manuscripts, typescripts, hors commerce publications, published and unpublished materials, books (many inscribed and rare), and posters from the Belle Epoque, by and about French and German writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. A major portion of the collection pertains to Natalie Clifford Barney and her work; the collection is also strong in works of Gide, Rilke, and Valery. The collection also includes books from other periods, all from the library of Renée Lang, writer, teacher, and woman of letters. Many individual titles are cataloged with call numbers beginning Lang.
• Latin and classical collections, including 48 titles in 16th-18th century editions donated by Moses Slaughter, a professor of classics (a shelf list is available in the card catalog in Special Collections — see call numbers X35 and X32 for special Collections); more than 100 titles, mostly in Latin, from Professors Herbert and Evelyn Howe (cataloged with call numbers CA 10200 – CA 10323); numerous editions of Aulus Gellius’s Attic nights anthology (cataloged with call numbers CA 10104 – CA 10134, CA 10561- CA 10580), many of these the gift of William Reeder or the Reeder Family. Gifts of Jane Bruère and Richard Bruère (cataloged with call numbers CA 15060- CA 15142) also include numerous classical titles.
• Latvian Collection. Collection I. Titles published in the period 1905-1939 and dealing with literature, politics, and government, cataloged individually with call numbers Coll. i Latvian no. 1-107.
• Library of Amateur Journalism Collection. Collection ZL. Gift of The Fossils, an organization dedicated to the history of amateur journalism, especially in the United States. This large and complicated collection includes, among other materials, the Edwin Hadley Smith Collection. Notable among the Edwin Hadley Smith materials are scores of bound volumes of issues of amateur journals from the 19th century through the middle of the 20th. Other portions of the Library of Amateur Journalism Collection include issues of amateur journals of more recent vintage, arranged by amateur journalism organization and then by date. A finding aid is available in Special Collections.
• Linnean Collection. More than 200 works by or related to Carl von Linné (often known as Linnaeus), with call numbers beginning LIN. For other works by Carl von Linné either in Special Collections or elsewhere in the UW-Madison libraries, see the Library Catalog.
• Little Magazines Collection (sometimes called the Sukov Collection). Contains runs of more than 7,000 experimental English-language literary magazines (ca. 1900-the present). All titles are reflected in the Library Catalog: search there for the subject “Little magazines” to see the scope of the collection.
• Lost Dauphin Collection. The search for the Lost Dauphin (Louis XVII) is the subject of this sizable library acquired in 1943 from the estate of William Ward Wight, amateur historian from Milwaukee. It includes background material on the Bourbon family, plus over 500 pamphlets and documents by various pretenders to the throne. Special Collections holdings include 7 volumes of collected pamphlets, plus an eighth volume available as microfilm 720; the remaining items are in Memorial Library’s circulating collection.

M-O

• Manuscripts Collection. Consists mainly of European manuscripts, ranging from English manor rolls of the 14th century to documents of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection also includes a set of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts primarily of Italian provenance. Additional manuscripts are included in the Cairns Collection of American Women Writers and other author collections in Special Collections, as well as the Cole Collection and Fry Collection, among others.
• William Stanley Marshall Collection. First or early editions of literature, poetry, and travel by Byron, Longfellow, Thomas Jefferson, Holmes, Whittier, etc. Acquired about 1950 from Marshall, professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An additional sixty titles were later donated by the family. Shelf-list available in the Department’s card catalog (call numbers 971912 noncurrent – 972206 noncurrent).
• Maximilian Collection. Over 900 pamphlets and books, mostly published 1840-1910, many about the European intervention in Mexico (1861-1867). Shelf-list available in the Department (with call numbers CA 6800 – CA 7550).
• Mesmerism Collection. Materials documenting the ideas of Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) and their reception. Shelf list available in the Department. Call numbers CA 3275 – CA 3287, including 12 volumes of pamphlets under the call number CA 3278.
• Charles C. Miller Memorial Apicultural Library or Miller Bee Collection. Containing some 5000 titles (1600-1930) from around the world, including items from the H. J. O. Walker Library purchased for the Miller Collection. Most titles appear in the Library Catalog with call numbers beginning RTYMB; some were digitized in connection with the UW-Madison Libraries’ participation in the Google Library Initiative. A list of titles in the Miller Bee Collection is available in Special Collections; see also the Descriptive catalogue of a library of bee-books (Z5256 W82 and Z5256 W35 in the Special Collections reading room).
• John Milton Collection. Early editions of Milton’s works, plus works by contemporary European poets and miscellaneous works on subjects of interest to Milton. Donated by the late Professor Merritt Y. Hughes and Grace Hughes. Shelf list available in the Department’s card catalog (call numbers CA 4873-CA 5009).
• George Mosse Collection. Consists of a microfilm set of the Papers of George L. Mosse (1918-1999) as held by the Leo Baeck Institute, gift of the Mosse Estate and John Tortorice, along with numerous published works, most in German, gifts of Professor Mosse.
• Montauban Collection. French Protestant (Calvinist, Huguenot) theological pamphlets from the 16th-18th centuries. Shelf list available in the Department (call numbers 968953 noncurrent – 969166 noncurrent; also BX9457 M6).
• Books from Isaac Newton’s Library. Collection of books from Newton’s personal library, including a presentation copy of Boyle’s Essays of effluviums (1675) and a heavily annotated copy of the alchemical work Secrets reveal’d (1669), the latter now available in the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. Inventory available in Special Collections; for more information, see John R. Harrison, The library of Isaac Newton (Cambridge [Eng.] ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978), available in the Special Collections reference collection.
• O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) Collection. This collection includes first editions plus several items of Porteriana and a signed document. Gift of Norman Bassett in 1958. List available in the Department (call numbers 1222047 noncurrent -1222069 noncurrent).

P-R

• Pacifist and Unitarian Titles. Collection Q. Pamphlets and books collected by a prominent Unitarian, Robert S. Hoagland.
• Papyrus Collection. A set of 85 documents or fragments in Greek and two in Latin. Transcribed and translated into English with extensive notes by P.J. Sijpesteijn in The Wisconsin Papyri I-II: 1st century B.C. – 8th century A.D. Our papyri have been digitized as part of an international project known as the Advanced Papyrological Information System.
• Peter Pauper Press Collection. Some 440 works published by the Peter Pauper Press, gifts to Special Collections from James and Nancy Dast. These books represent nearly all the output of the press through the early 1980s. Call numbers begin Press Pauper (Peter), followed by author and title.
• Felix Pollak Collection. Little magazines containing poetry by Pollak (1909-1987), other writings, and books and manuscripts of distinguished modern literary figures and their correspondence with Pollak. Supplements the Little Magazines Collection.
• Porter Collection of 18th-century Spanish literature. Some 2700 items, dating from 1321-1960, but mostly from 18th-century Spain. Most are in Spanish; some 500 are in French, Latin, English, or German. The collection documents popular literature and culture. Some individual items are cataloged with call numbers beginning Coll. P. An inventory is available in Special Collections. Other volumes are in the circulating collections of Memorial Library with the call number PQ 6171 .A195.
• Positivist Church of Brazil. Collection L. A nearly complete set (400 titles) of the publications of the Church, officially named A Igreja e Apostolado Positivista do Brasil. The collection includes many original editions from the late 19th century. The Church, founded in 1881, was an outgrowth of the earlier Postivist Association, itself founded in 1876. The two split in 1883. The Church consists of those Postivists who accepted the doctrines of August Comte not only as a set of philosophical principles, but also as a religion. The church is still active today, and has long outlasted the European positivist movement from which it sprang. This collection provides an opportunity to study both Brazilian thought and the transfer of European culture to the Americas.
• Joseph Priestley Collection. Includes the most important theological and scientific works by Joseph Priestley. 135 items acquired in 1958. Shelf-list available in the Department (under the call numbers 1069693 noncurrent through 1070876 noncurrent). The Cole Collection contains other titles by and about Priestley.
• Private Press Collection, consisting of representative examples of fine printing, including publications of the Kelmscott, Golden Cockerel, and Perishable presses. Many of the titles are by authors also represented in other collections in Special Collections. Shelf list in the Department; many titles are also cataloged in the Library Catalog. Some are acquisitions made possible by the Reeder Family Fund; some others came to Special Collections as part of the Reeder Family Gift. In some instances, titles in this collection have been acquired in conjunction with the Kohler Art Library and its Artists’ Book Collection.
• Carl Rakosi Collection. Manuscripts collection F. Letters, manuscripts, work sheets, clippings, poetry readings, and miscellaneous items by poet Carl Rakosi, born 1903 in Berlin (as Callman Rawley), educated in Hungary and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other published materials are located in the Twentieth Century Collection.
• Reeder Family Gift, the gift of William G. and Lynn Reeder, as described in the exhibit catalog Reeder Family books: Gifts and acquisitions covering six centuries [1992], containing descriptions written by John Dillon, John Neu, Yvonne Schofer, and John Tedeschi. Other additions to the holdings of the Department of Special Collections have been made possible by a generous endowment fund, the Reeder Family Fund. In the years since the publication of the exhibit catalog, William Reeder has also donated to Special Collections many individual titles. See also descriptions of the Attic Nights collection and the Private Press Collection.
• Eric Rothstein Collection. Primarily 18th- and early 19th-century books pertaining to English literature, gift of Professor Rothstein of the English Department. Cataloging of this gift is underway.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau collection. Works by and about Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his impact on 18th-century thought. The collection includes contemporary pamphlets by both his supporters and critics, some judgments from the 19th century, biographies by Barbier and de Barrel-Brauvert, and first editions of Rousseau’s works. Titles in the collection (acquired in 1962) are listed in the card catalog in Special Collections under the call numbers 1316301 noncurrent – 1316540 noncurrent and 1280521 noncurrent – 1280535 noncurrent (the latter set from Prof. Tucker). Some titles are also reflected in the Library Catalog. Special Collections also holds other individual titles by Jean-Jacques Rousseau acquired through other means, as reflected in the Library Catalog.
• Russian (or Don Cossack) Collection. More than 150 works by Cossack emigrés on many aspects of Cossack life. The heart of the collection focuses on the years 1929-1939, when Cossacks still formed a distinctive emigré group in Europe, especially in Paris and Prague. Also histories of pre-revolutionary Russian Cossack life. A representative collection from two private libraries. Inventory available in Special Collections.
• Russian Underground Collection. Rare publications on early Russian liberal movements, including 2932 clandestinely circulated items printed between 1825 and 1925, and 300 Russian Social Labor Party titles. First printings of works by Lenin, Trotsky, and Plekhanov document the party split in 1903. Many of the materials are extremely rare, and were smuggled at great personal risk. Russian satirical journals (1905-1907) are detailed in Section XII of The revolutionary word: A guide to the Russian underground collection in Memorial Library of the University of Wisconsin-Madison by Alfred Erich Senn. Some of the satirical journals have been digitized as part of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

S-W

• Saint-Simon Collection. Some 100 items by French social philosopher Henri Saint-Simon (1760-1825) and his followers (Rodrigues, Bazard, and Enfantin), who created a new religion based on Saint-Simon’s principles for improving the welfare of the poor. The collection includes accounts of the 1832 trials of Bazard and Enfantin, accused of advocating women’s rights and the abolition of property. Call numbers CA 495 – CA 583.
• Robert Schadewald Collection on Pseudo-Science. Donated by Wendy Schadewald in 2001. Containing nearly 900 titles collected by Robert Schadewald on a variety of pseudo-science topics, including creationism, cult activity, UFOs, and theories on Earth’s size, shape, age and density. Printed works are cataloged separately with call numbers beginning CA 15700 no. 1. Raymond Bernard, The hollow earth. From the Schadewald Collection on Pseudo-Science, Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison.The collection also includes extensive archival materials, for which an inventory is available in Special Collections.
• Science and Religion Collection. Assembled by Ronald Numbers, now Hilldale Professor of the History of Science and Medicine Emeritus, and donated to Special Collections. The collection features more than 700 titles on the relationship of science and religion with a particular focus on creationism and evolution. They are cataloged separately with call numbers beginning CA 15501 no. 1.
• Senn Collections I-II (also known as the Lithuanian Collection). Some 130 volumes mostly in Lithuanian from the period of independence 1920-194, collected by Alfred E. Senn, prominent professor of Indo-European languages. Senn Collection II documents the independence movement of Lithuania, 1972– , and contains materials collected by his son, Alfred Erich Senn. Individual titles are cataloged under call numbers beginning Senn Coll I and Senn Coll II.
• Socialistica Collection (also known as the Schlueter-Walling Collection). 800 works on French and German labor movements, donated by William English Walling. About 600 volumes had belonged to German socialist Hermann Schlueter. The manuscript collection of Hermann Schlueter and a few archival materials are also included. For reasons of condition, most of the collection is available only on microfilm under the title Sammlung social-politischer Schriften (Micro Film 8479).
• Andrew Laurie Stangel Collection. Most titles concern German history in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th (most individual titles cataloged with call numbers beginning CA 17439). The collection also contains hundreds of pieces of printed ephemera, including postcards from the period. Scores of these postcards are available in the UW Digital Collections.
• Jonathan Swift Collection. Some one hundred items acquired in 1962 from the estate of Dr. Herman Teerink, including 18th-century editions, first editions, and editions with commentaries.
• Tank Collection (also known as the Dutch Collection). Some 4,800 volumes and 374 pamphlets on theology, history, travels, and science from the library of the Reverend R.J. van der Meulen, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, donated by his daughter, Mrs. N.O. Tank. The bulk of the collection pertains to Protestant thought, particularly Calvinism. It includes virtually all the sermons of the major Calvinist preachers of the 18th century, many of the 16th and 17th centuries, plus numerous tracts by less-known writers. To find titles cataloged individually in the Library Catalog, use the call number Tank.
• Warner Taylor Collection. Some 167 British and American titles of ornithology, including color-plate items and scholarly studies, acquired in 1959 from Taylor. Inventory and shelf-list available in the Department (under the call numbers 1166940 noncurrent – 1166976 noncurrent). Many more illustrated works of ornithology are contained in the Thordarson Collection.
• D. M. Thomas Collection. Manuscripts–D.M.Thomas, MS 229. Manuscripts of poetry, notebooks, and a manuscript copy of The White Hotel. Published materials by Thomas (born in Britain in 1935) are available in the Twentieth Century Collection.
• Thordarson Collection. As built by Chester H. Thordarson, immigrant from Iceland and noted electrical engineer. The collection contains several thousand volumes, with particular strengths in illustrated natural history and English science, as well as English literature and Icelandic history and literature. Titles are cataloged individually with call numbers beginning Thordarson T. Some aspects of the Thordarson collection are described in the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, v. 23 (1930) and 44 (1950). More information from J. Christian Bay about the formation and contents of the Thordarson Collection is available in manuscript form in Special Collections (call number MS 7).
• Tibetan and Mongolian blockprints. A collection of 549 items covering 350 separate titles (nearly all dating from the early 20th century). These materials, along with some 50 Tibetan manuscripts, 125 Mongolian lamaist blockprints, and volumes in Western languages, were purchased in 1962 from the estate of Professor Ferdinand Lessing. Nearly all were printed in Beijing. They represent most of the important authors in the Gelugpa tradition, a branch of Tibetan Buddhism patronized by the Qing emperors. See Mongolian blockprints (Madison: The Libraries, 1985) and Tibetan blockprints (1984) by Leonard Zwilling, available in the Special Collections Reference Collection.
• Tucker Collection. About 150 volumes in the field of 18th-century French literature and culture, acquired in 1962 from the library of Professor Tucker. Some manuscript volumes and other titles are in Special Collections (inventory available); the remainder is in the circulating collections of Memorial Library.
• Mark Twain Collection. Two collections from George H. Brownell and Norman Bassett, containing some 370 items, with many ephemeral materials by and about Twain (1835-1910), as well as many first periodical appearances and first editions. Listing available in the Department.
• Twentieth Century Collection. Works by prominent writers in the English language. Many titles are cataloged in the Library Catalog.
• Vichy Collection. Collection A. 15 boxes of Vichy, German, Allied, and resistance propaganda and documents distributed in France (1939-1947). Most are in French; others are in English or German. A card file describing the contents is available in Special Collections. A few titles have been cataloged individually with call numbers beginning Coll. A.
• Ruth Coons Wallerstein Collection. Library assembled by Wallerstein, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Includes first and early editions from Elzevier, Jansen, Plantin, and other famous publishing houses as well as literary classics of the 17th century. Acquired in 1958. Shelf-list available in the Department’s card catalog (call numbers 1084076 noncurrent -1084175 noncurrent).
• White, George W. Collection. Some 260 titles on glaciology and geology, from the book collection formed by geologist George W. White. Acquired by the UW-Madison Libraries in the late 1970s. Works primarily in English and French, of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Included are editions of works by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817). The collection is cataloged with call numbers CA 6361 through CA 6624; a shelf-list is also available in Special Collections.
• Thornton Wilder Collection. Manuscripts–Thornton Wilder, MS-150. Sixty letters (1946-1975) from Wilder to an aspiring writer, Sally Higginson. The Department also holds many of Wilder’s published works in the Twentieth Century Collection.
• Louise Witherell Collection. Papers and books authored or assembled by Witherell, professor emerita of humanistic studies (French) at UW-Green Bay. Processing of this collection is underway.
• Gilbert Motier Woodward Collection. More than 400 volumes from Woodward’s library, on permanent loan from the LaCrosse Public Library. The collection contains classics of antiquity in Latin and Greek, grammars of numerous languages, ancient and medieval philosophical texts, jurisprudence, magic, travel and exploration, religious titles from the 16th through the 19th centuries. A shelf list of the titles located in Special Collections is available in the Department (call numbers 1195448 noncurrent – 1195467 noncurrent). Much of the collection is in the circulating holdings of Memorial Library.
• World War I Collection. Some 1500 archival and published items (ca. 1914-1921) related to World War I, many of which were acquired by the University during or in the immediate aftermath of the war. The collection emphasizes European publications, and includes propaganda pamphlets, publications of relief organizations, official documents, maps, periodicals, books, printed ephemera and newspapers. Manuscript materials include a growing collection of personal letters and diaries of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Item-level inventory available in Special Collections and in an online finding aid (although this finding aid is extensive, it does not describe all relevant holdings in Special Collections). Selected items have been digitized as part of the online World War I Collection in the University of Wisconsin Digital Collection. Related materials are contained in the Stangel Collection (see above).