Milner Library Special Collections
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Milner Library Special Collections
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A visual spectacle to behold, ISU Milner Library's Special Collections houses the Circus & Allied Arts, Children’s Literature & Historical Textbooks, Lincoln, and Rare Book collections.

201 N. School Street, Normal, Illinois 61761
bit.ly/m/MilnerLibSPC
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Read about a fantastic collection of watercolor sketches by artist Charles Bianchini: news.illinoisstate.edu/2025/10/hist...

#CircusAndAlliedArtsCollection
Watercolor painting showing a woman in a gold and pink gown with white puffed sleeves and an undershirt with a high collar. The woman's hair is pinned up with a pink headband holding it back. The gown pools on the floor at the back. There is a correction to the painting adhered as a piece of paper with a portion of the design that runs across the shoulder and chest portion of the dress. The label on this watercolor painting reads Elda - 1er [first] Costume a' après le manuscrit de Louise de Savoie.
November 3, 2025 at 5:04 PM
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As Halloween approaches, digitization intern has written about the danse macabre, or dance of death that appears in books at Milner and in Special Collections: news.illinoisstate.edu/2025/10/danc...
Book page showing scenes from a dance of death, dance macabre. The scene appears in a border around the prayers occupying the center of the page. Skeletons laid flat on tombs and piles of human bones alongside shovels join two figures of death, represented as animated skeletons, leading away a woman labeled as “The Creepie” and the “The Poore Woman.” Death touches each woman, lifting her or holding her hand as it leads her away.
October 29, 2025 at 2:06 PM
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The Milner Library Special Collections Fall 2025 Circus & Allied Arts Fellow Stav Meishar will be giving a presentation titled “Circus Jews Under National Socialism” at the Moses Montefiore Temple on October 18, 2025. This talk is free and open to the public.
Flyer with a round headshot photo at the top showing a speaker wearing glasses and red lipstick while looking at the camera. The graphic in the center of the flyer shows a collage of a sepia-toned historical photo of a group of performers wearing sequined jackets in front of a more modern and color-saturated photo of a red and white tent against a bright blue sky. A descriptive paragraph about the subject of the advertised talk appears below the image.
October 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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A new display of pieces from the Ueckert Circus Wardrobe Collection is on view on floor 3 at Milner Library. Read more: news.illinoisstate.edu/2025/07/new-...
August 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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The Musselmans took a lot of epic-looking road trips apart from their circus travels.

So, as we head into the long weekend and the unofficial start of summer, we’re wishing everyone a happy #NationalRoadTripDay. Make the most of it however you get there!

bit.ly/MMusselman
May 23, 2025 at 3:48 PM
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For World Meditation Day, please enjoy one of our Special Collections Librarian's cat, Sasha, lying on the floor staring at her while she meditates at home. She gets the assignment.

#WorldMeditationDay
May 21, 2025 at 4:37 PM
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Happy #WorldBeeDay! We threw some butterflies into the mix because bees are awesome, but so are all the other pollinators out there!

These illustrations are from volumes of the 1843 Naturalist”s Library (vol. 34 — bees, vol. 4 — butterflies).

#pollinators #bees #butteflies
May 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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You can't argue with the awesomeness of an octopus! So, as we head toward the weekend, please enjoy this illustration of an Octopus from Johnson’s Natural History.

(We assume that the man pictured is getting whatever he deserves, 🤣)

#NaturalHistory #octopus
Large octopus on shore with a tentacle wrapped around the arm of a man in a suit. A ship is visible in the distance.
May 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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No worries though, because we have another incredible exhibit going up! Cures & Concoctions by Special Collections intern, Kaelyn Corkery, will be on view beginning May 2nd.

In the meantime, a last look at highlights from Walking and Talking Human.

#LibraryExhibit
Arthur Rackham illustration from the Wind in the Willows showing a badger dressed in shoes and a long velvet coat talking to two rabbits with heads sticking out from their burrows. Long skinny book showing a portion of a page spread of an alligator illustration that stretches across the pages. The alligator is at a cocktail party and holds a martini as he leans nonchalantly with one elbow on a fireplace mantle while sharing stories to a smiling group of party attendees. Arthur Rackham illustration from the Wind in the Willows showing a badger dressed in a robe and slippers in an interior room with fruits and vegetables on the floor. Two other animals also wearing bathrobes stand on the other side of the room. Closeup of a cover of the Second Jungle Book that shows a blue cloth binding with a gold leaf cobra curled around a decorative scepter.
May 1, 2025 at 4:19 PM
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We're saying goodbye today to our Reading Room exhibit on anthropomorphic animals in children's literature and we'll miss all our friends from Peter Rabbit, The Wind in the Willows, Maurice Sendak, The Jungle Book, and more.

#LibraryExhibit #research #StudentResearch
Exhibit display case with books showing children's stories and exhibit labels. Arthur Rackham illustration from the Wind in the Willows showing a frog wearing a shawl, dress, and hat standing in line at a ticket window alongside humans. Reading Room table with a long skinny book showing a smiling alligator illustration that stretches across the front and back covers. Bookshelves lined with volumes are visible behind the table. Cover of the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling that is bound in green cloth with an embossed square pattern in the center. Inside the embossing there is a gold leaf illustration of an elephant.
May 1, 2025 at 4:19 PM
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2025 Circus & Allied Arts Fellowships are here! Applications are due 6/19/25 for a fall visit. Check out the link for more information and directions to apply.

bit.ly/CAACFellow

The fellowship is open to graduate students, faculty, and researchers.

#research #fellowship #circus
April 16, 2025 at 7:28 PM
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This was Milner’s 2025 Bryant Jackson Lecture, a yearly endowed lecture series that that provides professional development opportunities by focusing on relevant, essential. And timely topics within the field of librarianship.

#lecture #data
Photograph of a lecturer at a podium speaking into a microphone.
April 15, 2025 at 7:31 PM
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We had an incredible talk by Dr. Kate McDowell this morning. “Library Data Storytelling and Information Wisdom” was more timely than ever, and an inspiring reminder of what we can accomplish when we know how to wield #data.
Photograph of a lecturer at a podium gesturing with arms up to emphasize a point. Photograph of a pulldown slide screen with a Powerpoint slide with an image of a library interior.
April 15, 2025 at 7:31 PM
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And remember, every word transcribed, reviewed, or corrected helps us to make these materials full-text searchable, discoverable, and usable by screen readers and other assistive technologies.

#transcription #FromThePage #research #workshop
April 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
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Join us tomorrow in the Digital Scholarship Lab (Milner FL 1) from 10-4 for a transcribe-a-thon!

You can always head over to FromThePage.com to work on Milner Library's projects, but we think hanging out and transcribing in a space together is a fun way to end the week!
April 3, 2025 at 7:23 PM
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Dr. Schrum maintains a website with sample syllabi, assignments, annotated bibliography, sample rubrics and release forms, storyboard resources, and much more.

You can find these resources here:

scholarlydigitalstorytelling.org

#research #DigitalStorytelling #DigitalHumanities #LibraryEvent
Photo of a woman standing at a podium next to a screen showing a PowerPoint slide. The slide shows the home page of Scholarly Digital Storytelling.org, and the web address of the same name.
March 26, 2025 at 3:45 PM
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Dr. Kelly Schrum gave a fantastic lecture on scholarly digital storytelling @ISUMilnerLib. The lecture highlighted student works, teaching, and wonderful discussion on the research and communication value of distilling complex ideas into short visual stories. The work is impressive and inspiring!
Photo of a woman wearing glasses standing at a podium with hands raised as she gestures for emphasis while speaking. Photo of a woman standing at a podium next to a screen showing a PowerPoint slide of a table listing resources.
March 26, 2025 at 3:45 PM
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After digitization we will be installing a new display on the third floor @isumilnerlib but we couldn’t resist sharing a preview of things to come and a behind the scenes look.

#costume #CircusCostume
A woman in a yellow sweater and pink shirt stands behind a mannequin adjusting the collar on a green velvet costume with beads and sequins. Two women dress a mannequin in a pair of pants belonging to a costume that is finished with a yellow sequined jacket, The woman in a yellow sweater adjusts the pants leg while the woman in a green sweater holds the pants at the waist.
March 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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Coming soon to our digital collections and to the display case on Floor 3!

We joined in the fun this morning to dress mannequins from the Ueckert Circus Wardrobe Collection so the costumes can be digitized in the coming weeks.
Two women dress a mannequin in a green circus costume with sequins, beads, and a high collar. The woman in a yellow sweater sits on the floor adjusting the bottom of the tunic will the woman in a green sweater reaches forward to assist.
March 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
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Join us for a hands-on introductory workshop on building collections and exhibits using Omeka.

Faculty, staff, & grad students, register here:
prodev.illinoisstate.edu/events/milner/

Or just show up at the Digital Scholarship Lab @ Milner next Friday, March 21 at 2 p.m.! We have plenty of spots!
3 images showing a map and exhibit pages made using the Omeka digital content platform. A purple box in the center reads Intro to Omeka.
March 13, 2025 at 4:34 PM
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To further celebrate this occasion, we’ve included a plate of one our favorite illustrations—the amazingly distorted necks on Audubon’s pair of #CanadianGeese, as included in #BirdsOfAmerica [1839].
March 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
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It’s that time of year again! We love that Canadian geese nest around campus i. The spring and we just spotted a pair standing atop the Bowling and Billiards Center next to the library.

Just stay clear and they will [probably] let you pass 🤣.
March 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

IL #DH Symposium: Focusing on Student Work

Submit a 200-500 word abstract for a poster or 20-min paper to Sean Winslow at smwinsl@ilstu.edu

Deadline: March 7, 2025.

Event info:
April 11, 2025
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Milner Library, @IllinoisStateU

@ISUResearch
Collage of data visualizations and binary code, cropped and overlapping.
February 26, 2025 at 5:18 PM
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Read about the exhibit on the Highlighting Special Collections and Archives section of our physical collections webpage:
library.illinoisstate.edu/collections/...

#SpecialCollections #teaching #LibraryExhibit
Collage of an ambrotype portrait photograph of a seated woman and two views of different pages of a handwritten diary. Collage of prints, exhibit in a gallery, natural history book, and ambrotype photograph of a woman.
February 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM
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From maps to monsters and portraits to prints, the new #exhibit Out of the Map Case & Into the Light is on view in the Floor 6 Gallery @ISUMilnerLib. The exhibit highlights objects from all four of our collection areas with a focus on the diversity of ways they are used in the classroom.
Collage of prints, ferns, a circus poster, diary, and ambrotype photograph of a woman.
February 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM