Welcome to the Online Exhibits blog for Grand Valley State University’s Special Collections & University Archives. Here you will find posts highlighting some of our favorite collections. We create monthly posts through the academic year, but you can also visit us in Seidman House to view our physical exhibits and use our collections.
The Special Collections & University Archives of the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries are located on the Allendale campus in Seidman House, just east of Lake Superior Hall. The rare books, manuscripts, documents and artwork housed here supplement and enhance resources available in the GVSU libraries. Seidman House is a beautiful setting for these Special Collections. The study area looks out over a calm, wooded ravine, and has an impressive stone fireplace.
Special Collections acquires, preserves, and provides access to the University Libraries’ holdings of over 35,000 books; approximately 1,000 linear feet of manuscript collections; more than 15,000 photographic prints and negatives; a modest but growing collection of incunabula and 16th-century printing; and significant holdings of maps, broadsides, audio recordings, videos, motion-picture films, and ephemera. The collections are world-wide in scope with particular focus on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War; Michigan in the novel; regional literature, history and culture; and history of the book and printing arts.
University Archives is the repository for official and unofficial historical records, publications, photographs, and media created by the University’s administration, academic departments, faculty, students, and campus organizations.
Special Collections & University Archives collects, preserves, makes accessible, and promotes institutional records, manuscripts and documents, rare and unique book collections, photographs, media, art and artifacts in support of the teaching, research, and service mission of Grand Valley State University.
GVSU Special Collections & University Archives 