Special Collections & Archives Banner

You are here

Peek in the Stacks: special collections

California Travel Memories

As we all begin to venture out in the Spring and Summer, we feel the need to leave our homes and travel out into the world. Some of us use the time to travel overseas, however to keep costs low, one option is to travel locally. California is so expansive that it has a lot to experience all within the state. While traveling many of us now use our phone cameras and social media ....

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

Francesca Lia Block & Irving Block

Francesca Lia Block published three books of poetry prior to her debut novel Weetzi Bat: Moon Harvest, Season of Green: Poems, and IV, Four Poems, when she was 15, 17 and 22, respectively. All three titles were published and printed by the Santa Susana Press, CSUN’s fine press which ran from 1973 to 1994, and are held in Special Collections and Archives.

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

Lorrin A. Thurston and the U.S. Annexation of the Hawaiian Islands

Special Collections & Archives holds a pamphlet from 1897 titled A Handbook on the Annexation of Hawaii written by Lorrin A. Thurston (1858-1931). Thurston, the son of American Protestant missionaries, was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended law school at Columbia University in New York beginning in 1880, and opened a law practice....

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

What is this place?

As people move around the 2nd floor of the library and pass Special Collections and Archives, they sometimes pop in to ask, "What is this place?" Special Collections and Archives holds the library’s rare book and periodical collections, and a wide variety of manuscript collections and individual items. The next question often starts "So, what is your (pick an adjective) item or book?" Today for our blog, we have set out to answer a few of your most pressing questions...

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories: The Secret of the Old Clock

In 1930, a publishing company called the Stratemeyer Syndicate, working with Grosset & Dunlap, published a mystery novel featuring Nancy Drew, a teenage girl detective, as its protagonist. Now a best-selling work of children's literature, it is titled The Secret of the Old Clock, and is the first of 175 novels featuring Nancy, her family, and her friends that make up the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories....

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries