WCSU Libraries Blog

Truman Warner (class of 1941) and long-time faculty member was a medic in the Second World War.  He served in North Africa, Italy and France and documented his time with snapshots of what he encountered.  After the war he put these snapshots into a scrapbook.  This scrapbook had decayed significantly and the photographs were decaying along with it.

Thanks to Jamie E. O. Cantoni’s (class of ‘09 History) together with Brian Kennison from Library Systems, these images may be viewed online [Click here to view] .  Over the past semester, Jamie has scanned, cataloged and rehoused these images so that these image will survive for generations to come.

View slideshow of the collection.

Brian Kennison of the Haas Library systems department, through an initiative specified by the CSU and State Archivists, has built a prototype search application (see: http://library.wcsu.edu/cao) that has the potential to significantly facilitate archival research of Connecticut collections.

FaCTs is based on similar for-profit and non-profit initiatives in place at large institutions and consortiums around the U.S. and abroad.  Currently, the application is called faCTs (federated archives of CT search) and it will now search over 100 archival collections primarily from the WCSU Archives and the Connecticut State Library.

In the short term, faCTs provides a simple interface to search WCSU’s archival holdings.  Long term - the goal is to include more content from the other CSUs and State Library and to widen the scope of the search to include institutions from all over Connecticut.  It is our hope that in the next couple years, the faCTs will provide a researcher with a free, fast, easy and reasonably comprehensive listing of Connecticut’s wide range of archival holdings.

Please contact the WCSU Archivist, Brian Stevens, with any questions [stevensb@wcsu.edu].

NOTE: As of February 2009, the faCTs’ name was changed to CAO (CT Archives Online).

After many months of processing by the WCSU Archives' assistant archivist Mary Rieke and student archives assistant Jamie Cantoni '09, the WCSU Photographs and Ephemera collection's finding aid has been published. [Click here to look at the finding aid]

This is a collection of photographs and realia spanning the history of Western Connecticut State University. Many of the items in the inventory link out to digital images stored in WestCollections. The collection includes images and objects that document the growth, evolution and public profile of this 105-year-old institution.

The WCSU Special Collections Library and Archives recently had the pleasure of adding to our holdings: The Julius A. Elias Music Collection. The collection, which is principally made up of around 5000 titles on 33.3 rpm LPs, is the byproduct of Elias’ lifelong love for classical music and particularly opera. In addition to the LPs, the gift also included his collections of opera and classical music performances on video, an assortment of musical reference materials, and sheet music.

This is a collection that is remarkable in scope, and also, in some cases – rarity, because some of the recordings in the collection have never been, and may never be released again in digital form (an inventory is a available on-line).

It’s our hope at WCSU’s Special Collections Library and Archives that through our preservation of this material, we will be able to perpetuate and widen the enthusiasm Elias possessed for this music by opening his collection up to students and researchers. Contact the Haas Library Special Collections to make an appointment to listen to materials.

Finding Aid