The Harvey A. Andruss Library Special Collections at Bloomsburg University consists primarily of books that are set aside for a number of reasons, including early imprint date, uniqueness or scarcity, of local value or interest, and a relationship to existing collections.

 

The Special Collections Development Policy outlines what materials and subject areas are considered for inclusion.

Some of the specific collections that are part of Special Collections:

• Art exhibition catalog collection of nearly 10,000 items
• Subject Area Concentrations of books on the following topics: Circuses and Animal Training, Coal Mining & the Molly Maguires, Tiffany & Stained Glass Windows, and Trains & Trolleys.
• Automobile Collection consisting primarily of runs of various periodicals and several books
• The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Collection, comprising programs, posters, publications and production books of this acclaimed theatre group since its inception in 1978.
• Covered Bridge Collection of books and ephemera about covered bridges
• Elinor Keefer Collection of all Caldecott and Newbery award winners
• The Joseph P. Tustin Papers, including the original diaries of Hessian Revolutionary War officer Captain Johann Ewald.  The diaries date from 1776-1784, and cover his service with the British Army during the war.  They also include many colored pen-and-ink maps drawn by Ewald, most done while in the field.  See the maps here.
• Radical Labor Publications Collection containing over 1000 pamphlets, booklets. brochures, and newsletters by members of communist, socialist, and labor organizations dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. A listing by author has been provided for over 900 of these publications.  Digital images of a number of newsletters, including the American Bulletin, Counterattack, Socialist Monthly, and Negro Labor News Service can be viewed here.
• The David Greenwald Radical Student Publications Collection containing primarily fliers but also brochures, catalogs, pamphlets, small posters and speeches documenting a variety of issues that students and young people in the Berkeley and San Francisco Bay area faced from 1966 to 1972. These include the Vietnam War, the draft, mind-expanding drugs, race, politics, educational issues on the University of California campus and concerts by local rock groups.

Full-Text Historical Resources

• Contemporary newspaper articles on the Bloomsburg Mollie Maguires: Patrick Hester, Patrick Tully, and Peter McHugh, who were tried, convicted, and hung in 1878 for the murder of Alexander Rea ten years before.  The newspaper coverage includes the Chicago Tribune, Columbia County Republican, the Columbian, the Miners Journal, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, and the Williamsport Sun and can be seen here.