Hidden gem alert 📚✨
Tucked inside Penn State’s Pattee and Paterno Library is the Special Collections Library—and it’s full of treasures you’d never expect:
→ a first edition of Pride and Prejudice
→ letters from Ernest Hemingway
→ signed poetry collections by Langston Hughes
→ even medieval manuscripts and ancient texts
It’s one of the most fascinating places in Happy Valley—and the best part? It’s totally free and open to the public! ✨
They’re always welcoming community visitors for a quick tour or quiet afternoon. Whether you’re into rare books, Penn State and local history, or just want to see unique exhibitions —you’ll love it here.
🅿️ Parking is easy in the Nittany Deck
☕ Starbucks is right next door!
🕰️ Learn more about visiting: https://libraries.psu.edu/specialcollections
We're so proud of Katie Romig, our Stelts-Filippelli Curatorial Intern, for her Undergrad Research Expo Award for "Best Oral Presentation!" Congratulations, Katie! #undergradresearchexpo 🥳💯🎉
Join us on Zoom tomorrow at 11am Eastern for presentations from our Research Grant awardees. We're excited to learn more about their research and how our rare and unique collections at Penn State contributed to their projects! Register at /sclresearchtalks. #primarysources #advancingresearch
Good luck to Penn State students across the Commonwealth during your Spring Semester Finals Week! We hope that you take some inspiration from these photos of past PSU students (and we certainly hope you have comfortable spots for studying). Remember: power naps are always an option.
Join us Wednesday, 4/22, at 10am for our last "Playing Favorites" exhibition tour, led by several of the 35 curators who contributed to this fantastic exhibition!
Join @psu_scl and many of the other fabulous museums at Penn State's University Park campus for Night at the Museums this coming Thursday! Special Collections will feature a “Rare Book Petting Zoo” where we invite you to explore an eclectic selection of rare and unique books designed to be touched, handled, and closely examined. You can also check out our "Playing Favorites" exhibit! #nightatthemuseums
These are all excellent places to read our next selection for the First Editions Book Club! Where will you read? Join us April 24 in 103 Paterno (the Mann Assembly Room) at noon for lunch and conversation.
Spring is an eggcellent time to peep these deets on William Buckhout's childhood chickens from 1858. What will you do with all those eggs? Don't worry, Mary Louise Harkness Buckhout has some good nosh to share with you. It wouldn't have been unusual for students to pop by their professor's cottages and share a meal with their family back in the early days of the College. William A. Buckhout, born 1846, came to the Pennsylvania State College as an instructor in natural science in 1871, became professor of botany and horticulture in 1879, and served as vice president of the college for approximately ten years. He died in 1912 after 40 years with Penn State.
***Sources***
These pages come from the William A. Buckhout papers. — William was 12 years old when he kept this "Egg and Poultry account book." It includes his drawings of his two prize chickens (hen and rooster) from a flock of 32 in 1858, as well as names of the hens, the best layer and largest egg, and a description of the "duck department".
Photograph from 1907- Mary Louise Harkness and William A. Buckhout on the left.
Manuscript cookbook (belonging to Mary Louise Harkness Buckhout, wife of William A. Buckhout)
#chickseason #springtime #eggcellentideas
We had the best time yesterday evening making and celebrating zines with @triota_psu , @pennstatewgss , and @psulibs . The world needs more zines. #zinemaking #zineculture
April is National Poetry Month - our next selection for the First Editions Book Club is a lovely book of poetry from Alice Walker. Pick up your copy at the @psu_scl reference desk and plan to join us on April 24 for lunch and discussion. (12pm, 103 Paterno Library) #firsteditions #poetrymonth2026 #alicewalker
