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Peek in the Stacks: special collections

Lend Me Your Ears: Shakespeare in Special Collections

“Lend me your ears” writes William Shakespeare (1564-1616) in his play Julius Caesar. This is just one of many catchy phrases penned by the great writer and playwright. Scholars believe Shakespeare moved to London and began working in the theatre by the latter part of the 1580s, and William Shakespeare’s name began to appear in the record as a playwright by the early 1590s. Special Collections & Archives holds hundreds of titles written by and related to Shakespeare.

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Zaruhy “Sara” Chitjian Collection

https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c82z1d78/Family memories that are made within a diaspora are all the more precious. This is especially true about the materials housed in the newly processed Zaruhy “Sara” Chitjian Collection, which documents the Armenian genocide survival and immigrant experiences of Hampartzoum “Harry” and Ovsanna Piloyan Chitjian.

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Women's History: 19th Century Gender Roles for Women

The nineteenth century often invokes flowery images of romanticism and heavily-embellished architecture. By today's standards, it can also be seen as an oppressive era for women especially with regards to society, marriage, and the household. The Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Sex and Gender spans many topics including birth control, abortion, homosexuality, cross dressing, sex education, and prostitution, and includes numerous works demonstrating popular public opinion and more subversive, revolutionary ideas about appropriate roles for women during the 19th century...

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The Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment

The Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (translated to Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts) is an embodiment of the Enlightenment, the 17th and 18th century European intellectual and philosophical movement. The University Library’s copy of the Encyclopédie is the third edition that was published in Switzerland in 1778 and 1779.

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Emily Dickinson's Herbarium

Readers familiar with the work of Emily Dickinson (United States, 1830-1886) know that flower imagery appears frequently in her poems. Her interest in plants went beyond merely using them as metaphors in her work, however; throughout her life, she was an avid gardener, and her interest in botany was keen enough that....

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Stonehurst Historic District

The Stonehurst Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) is a historic district located in the northeast San Fernando Valley. It consists of 60 to 70 quaint bungalows and a few commercial buildings built in the 1920s for a developer by the name of “Pep” Rempp who was later arrested for embezzlement. Significantly, the homes were all built using native river rock from the local Tujunga Valley area. A considerable amount of the structures were built by local Native American resident Dan Montelongo, whose children were central to helping Albert Knight reconstruct the history of the neighborhood. The Stone Houses of the San Fernando Valley Collection documents Mr. Knight's historical reseach into the neighborhood. 

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Allied Propaganda in the Lodge Collection

Major William J. Lodge served as a Statistical Officer in the VIII Fighter Command, 417th Night Fighter Squadron, of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. He kept copies of propaganda leaflets and newsletters dropped over Germany and occupied Europe during the last several months of World War II....

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