Special Collections & Archives Banner

You are here

Peek in the Stacks: united states

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

Chicano Art in Unlikely Conversations

In a previous blog post titled Selections from the University Art Collection, we highlighted some art pieces that were donated to CSUN to illustrate the importance of the contemporary art and culture of Southern California. This post will focus on the giclée prints that were acquired from Cheech Marin, comedian, actor, writer, Chicano art collector, and CSUN alumnus...

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

Victorian and Edwardian Greeting Cards

While people around the world have been sending greeting cards for centuries, most cards produced prior to the 19th century were crafted by hand. They were prohibitively expensive for many, and were not widely circulated as a result. Advancing print technologies and the introduction of the...

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

For the Love of Music: Berry Gordy Jr. and Motown Records

On January 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Tamala Records in Detroit, Michigan with an $800 loan from his family. One year later it was incorporated as the Motown Record Corporation, a blended nickname that comprised the words Detroit had come to be known for, motor and town. The musical talent ....

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

James F. Dargan Civil War Diary and Scrapbook

James F. Dargan was born in the town of Randolph, Norfolk County, Massachusetts in 1843. Dargan was the eldest of six children born to Irish immigrants, and by the age of seventeen worked as a boot maker in his father’s shop. On September 17, 1862, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in the Union Army, 4th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry, and on that day began a four volume diary of his experiences in the American Civil War...

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries

Selections from the University Art Collection

The University Foundation Art Collection Commission was established in 1974 to encourage learning and research for students, faculty and local community members, and to enrich CSUN’s campus by loaning works of art to publicly accessed spaces. Since then, the commission and others...

Read more Peek in the Stacks blog entries