Spotlight on the UW-Madison Collections

Today's post spotlights several literature and art-related collections in the libraries of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

✦ A selection from three decades of broadsides in the Woodland Pattern Book Center archives housed in the Special Collections Department of UW-Madison's Memorial Library were on view this past winter. The broadsides, dating from 1979 through 2012, were specially printed for readings at the center.

In addition to the fine press broadsides, the center's holdings include correspondence with writers and artists, audio recordings of readings, scrapbooks and albums, posters, newsletters, grant proposals, and other items that preserve and document literary and cultural history. For details about the acquisition of the archives, see "UW-Madison Libraries Acquire Archive of Milwaukee's Woodland Pattern Book Center". 

✦ Also housed at UW-Madison is the Little Magazine Collection, which has its own informative blog on Tumblr. A selected list of Little Magazine Websites includes a number of periodicals previously unknown to me: Abraham Lincoln: the Magazine, Interpreters House, Jabberwock Review, and The Pinch Journal, any one of which could keep you trolling posts and pages for hours.

✦ Japanese illustrated books from the late Edo period (1600-1868) are available to browse online. Included among the 15 titles that have been digitized are electronic fascimiles of woodblock prints by Hiroshige, Hokusai, Utamaro, and other famous artists and designers. The books are owned by Kohler Art Library.

✦ UW-Madison's Kohler Art Library owns one of the country's most important collections of artists' books. Established in the early 1970s and currently numbering more than 1,000 titles, the Artists' Book Collection includes one-of-a-kind, limited-edition, and offset books. Such well-known names as Xu Bing, Julie Chen, Joanna Drucker, and Claire Van Vliet are represented in the collection. A searchable online database of more than 700 of the titles has been established; one to four images per title may be viewed for more than 500 of those selections.

Online Exhibition of "Artists' Books: Highlights from the Kohler Art Library" (2001-2002)

✦ The Arts Collection, comprising primary and secondary creative arts materials in digital form, includes the Illustrated Shakespeare Collection, featuring illustrations dating from 1833 to 1916.

Additional Resources to Explore

University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

Bertolt Brecht's Works in English Translation

James Joyce Scholars Collection

Silver Buckle Press Collection

Wisconsin Electronic Reader