The Roman god Janus, for whom January is named, was a two-faced god, looking toward the past and the future at once. Not only is he a good metaphor for the first month of the New Year, but for the Walter Havighurst Special Collections as well. While we are immersed in the intellectual artifacts of the past, we are using the latest technology to engage our students, the scholars of the future. We love the look and feel of leather bindings and handwritten letters, but we make daily use of computers, scanners, and the Web to communicate with researchers around the world and share the content of our collections. And while we treasure the earliest documents we possess recording the human experience, we also look for new ways to share the intellectual excitement of engaging with rare and unique materials.
We hope you find this new web site useful in meeting your needs for information about using Special Collections, but we also hope you find it intriguing, entertaining, and enlightening. We plan to post something new here every week (holidays excepted), so please check in with us often.
Meanwhile, on behalf of the entire staff of the Walter Havighurst Special Collections, have a joyous holiday season and a very Happy New Year!
Elizabeth Brice
Assistant Dean for Technical Services and
Head, Special Collections & Archives
