Author Archives: Special Collections

Recent Acquisitions: Artists’ Books

Silver Special Collections continues to add new artists’ books for use by students, faculty and community members. In this post, we highlight a sample of our recent acquisitions. Our current exhibit, “Along the Banks of My River,” displays books and … Continue reading

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Learning to Ski, Simply and Quickly

Silver Special Collections holds a significant number of books and other resources related to the history of skiing and ski instruction. Many of the learn-to-ski manuals were written by instructors with connections to the Vermont ski industry of the 1950s … Continue reading

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The Harlan Paige Papers: Letters, Photographs, Certificates — and a Powder Horn

In this post, Special Collections staff member Alyssa Bonaro shares an account of a unique internship experience. During Spring 2025, I was completing my Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIS) while working at Silver Special Collections. For my program’s … Continue reading

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Views of the World: Stereographs in Silver Special Collections

The “Art for Everyone” exhibition at the Fleming Museum of Art includes four stereographs of Egyptian scenes on loan from Silver Special Collections. The stereographs are displayed next to objects and prints selected and described by two of the museum’s collections … Continue reading

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Harvesting Hay in the 1940s

Hay has long been an important agricultural crop in Vermont. Our collection of University of Vermont Extension publicity photographs contains numerous images documenting hay harvesting practices during the middle of the twentieth century. We have little information about most of … Continue reading

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Burlington’s Women Ordnance Workers

For Women’s History Month, we are sharing photographs of women who worked at Bell Aircraft Corporation’s ordnance division in Burlington. To encourage women to join the industrial workforce during World War II, the War Department created a publicity campaign featuring … Continue reading

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A Family Reunion: Correcting the Record, Expanding the Story

Jeffrey M. Ranney recently contacted Special Collections to offer us a copy of his book, An American Journey: The Ranney Family of the Connecticut River Valley & Virginia, 1616-2022. The family, he wrote, had deep roots in Vermont. Checking our … Continue reading

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The Poor Farm Garden 1947-1953

In the fall of 1946, Robert F. Stoel (who later changed his last name to Stowell) joined the University of Vermont English department as an instructor. In June 1947, Stowell purchased 18 tillable acres with buildings and a spring on … Continue reading

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Ovid and the Istrian Skies

Bound into the back of our 1497/98 printed edition of the works of Ovid is a four-page manuscript that offers an intriguing sidelight to our current focus on eclipses. The dense Latin script is difficult to read, so we asked … Continue reading

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College Memory Books, for Keepers of Keepsakes

On October 22, 1921, UVM student Dorothy Mayo Harvey typed a long letter to “family adorable, and adored.” She reported on her campus activities and included a paragraph about her search for a college memory book. I have a new … Continue reading

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