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By Ann Marie Deer Owens
Among the artifacts librarian Mary McSparran selected from Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives for a pop-up exhibit last fall were a NASA space suit and a journal listing books about UFOs. Neither would seem a likely choice for a literary salon, where the exhibit was on display, but this was no ordinary discussion of writers and their works.
The gathering was part of a growing collaboration between Special Collections staff and Vanderbilt faculty, in which the curators and archivists play an active role in teaching by offering students access to unique materials that bring their coursework to life.
McSparran, curator of manuscripts at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, read in advance works from the syllabus of Professor of English Major Jackson’s undergraduate class Contemporary Writers at Work: A Literary Salon. When the class discussed Marie-Helene Bertino’s acclaimed novel Beautyland—about a woman who believes she is an alien sent to Earth to observe human nature and report back to her superiors—McSparran pulled objects from the collections related to outer space to complement the book’s theme.
With regular pop-up exhibits, Special Collections staff helped transform the course into a “social party around literature,” according to Jackson, director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Vanderbilt and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities.
“I loved Special Collections’ pop-up exhibits relating to the authors we studied,” he said. His class met weekly last fall in the renovated Tudor Gothic-style building that houses the Special Collections library. Students sat in a comfortable, living room-styled space during readings and discussions with esteemed authors.
“For me, a literary salon orients students to gathering casually, with the belief that our conversation, like any classroom discussion, is for the purpose of learning. However, the salon is less intimidating and invites students to participate without giving up the rigor of academic exchange,” Jackson said. “The environment leans more toward the social.”
The successful collaboration, which continues this spring, is just one example of how Special Collections and University Archives staff lend their unique expertise to enhance classroom learning across campus while engaging students in the university’s distinctive collections.
“When faculty partner with our Special Collections curators and archivists, students benefit from a hands-on learning experience they can’t get anywhere else on campus,” University Librarian Jon Shaw said. “Engaging with our collections gives students exposure to primary sources, fosters their critical thinking, provides them with valuable historical context and sharpens their research skills while deepening their engagement with the course material.”
Sophomore Kyle Kipnes enjoyed Jackson’s class being structured as a literary salon, with the opportunity to speak directly with authors about their writing process and literary culture.
“I now know what a salon is and how to craft a pop-up exhibit filled with random artifacts that still, somehow, perfectly represent a story’s plot and themes. This class was geared toward truly engaging with what you are learning, and that made it both special and meaningful,” Kipnes said.
“It can be easy for students, especially in a digital age, to think of texts and information as just words,” McSparran said. “Special Collections teaches students about the value of having a physical container for information, especially with rare books and manuscripts. Students learn how each one is unique—depending on its binding, the way it was printed, it being a signed copy or other differentiating feature.”
To collaborate with the Special Collections team on a class visit or course design, please contact specialcollections@vanderbilt.edu.
Last fall, Teresa Gray brought first-edition books, correspondence and other artifacts to two courses taught by Robert Barsky, professor of French and comparative literature and of law: The Beat Generation’s French Connections and The European Avant-Garde Movements. Both classes were taught at the Special Collections library.
Instruction included how to properly handle archival materials. “The books are placed on a table where students can touch them and browse their pages,” said Gray, curator of rare books. “I review the rules for handling rare materials, making sure students put their drinks on the floor or cabinet.”
For senior Jules Ashworth, The Beat Generation’s French Connections was her third course taught by Barsky.
“He gave us time before and after class to simply enjoy these incredible books,” said Ashworth, who has a triple major in French, philosophy and communication studies. She was inspired by Apollinaire’s Calligrammes—a book of poetry by French writer Guillaume Apollinaire—to design her own calligram, a set of words arranged to form a thematically related image.
Barsky, faculty director of the W.T. Bandy Center for Baudelaire and Modern French Studies housed at the Heard Libraries, said that students can explore many intriguing features of rare books, such as the typeset, illustrations and notes in the margin.
“In this era in which students are accustomed to the idea that you can digitize everything, they realize that you simply cannot digitize the experience of holding these books,” he said.
One of the seminal 19th-century works Gray shared with students was Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire. Upon its original publication, this poetry collection was subjected to an obscenity trial that led to it being condemned, with about a dozen poems being removed. Special Collections holds both the pre- and post-trial versions of this groundbreaking work.
“Our students can handle these books as we talk about the impact of that trial in 1857,” Barsky said. “It’s also a moment that correlates with their own lives when they hear about libraries in Tennessee and other states having to take books off shelves and schools banning certain books. They learn that today’s headlines have an important historical precedent.”
“These hands-on immersive experiences and the learning environment they create are exactly why Vanderbilt is such a special place,” said Ashworth, who is pre-law. “My courses with Professor Barsky in Special Collections have impacted the way I view the world and how I think about my future.”
Christopher Ryland and Jim Thweatt collaborate frequently with the student-run History of Medicine and Surgery Society, which is advised by Professor of Surgery Sunil Geevarghese.
“One concern we hear from faculty is that medical students do not have enough time to think about where medicine came from within the context of patient care today,” said Ryland, curator of the History of Medicine Collections and Archives housed within the Eskind Biomedical Library. Ryland and Thweatt, archivist for the collections, assist with the society’s exhibits, luncheon presentations, and portrait tours in Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Light Hall.
“We pull objects from collections—perhaps a 3D brain or medical illustration, for example—for students to consider for their exhibits. The themes correspond to the first-year medical student curriculum,” Thweatt said. Ryland and Thweatt are helping with an exhibit this spring related to organ transplants to coincide with a fireside chat featuring pioneering transplant surgeons C. Wright Pinson and David Shaffer, one of several collaborations the curators will assist with this semester.
Ryland and Thweatt also collaborate with faculty. They are assisting Katherine Van Schaik, assistant professor of radiology and radiological sciences, with research involving micro-CT scans of centuries-old medical books. An undergraduate student under their guidance is learning to turn those scans into 3D visualizations.
Thweatt, Ryland, Gray and McSparran are among the staff in Special Collections dedicated to introducing and familiarizing students with the Heard Libraries’ world-class collections.
“The educational value of our unique collections becomes immediately apparent when our skilled Special Collections staff work with faculty partners to match the right materials with the curriculum,” said Tim Gollins, director of Special Collections and University Archives. “The students’ energy and enthusiasm for the subject matter is elevated to a whole new level when they’re able to experience the ‘real thing.’”
Sampling of courses supported by Special Collections and University Archives
- History of Higher Education, taught by Christopher P. Loss, associate professor of public policy and higher education and associate professor of history. McSparran and Jacqueline Devereaux, curator of born digital special collections, pulled relevant materials including university history-related manuscripts and Vanderbilt Aid Society records. The class visited Special Collections for a first look at the materials. Then students booked individual sessions to engage with one item of their choice and write a paper about it.
- Gaming Law, taught by Tom Lee, adjunct professor of law. Gray brought primary sources from the George Clulow and U.S. Playing Card Company Gaming Collection. In addition to actual playing cards, the collection contains material on quirky gaming laws dating back to the 1600s in England and Scotland. Students could also conduct hands-on research in the manuscript collections of prominent journalists who wrote about sports betting and horse racing.
- Science Fiction from the Golden Age to Afrofuturism, taught by Jay Clayton, professor of English and the William R. Kenan Jr. Chair. McSparran showcased some of the science fiction highlights from various collections, including notes handwritten by Jules Verne, a first edition of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a first edition of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a signed first edition of Dawn by Octavia E. Butler, and more.
To collaborate with the Special Collections team on a class visit or course design, please contact specialcollections@vanderbilt.edu, or begin to explore our collections.