Enthusiasts of rare cultural artifacts and lovers of all things unique and antique found themselves on the fourth floor of the Sherrod Library last Thursday to attend the Rare Books and Maps event.
“We have so many items at the library that people don’t realize,” said Paul Nease, information specialist of government information, law and maps.
The event was spread across two rooms of the Quillen Conference Room, with one room reserved for the display of regional maps, and the other reserved for display of rare books.
This year, the theme for the selection of books was centered around Women’s History Month. On display were a total of 29 books that were written by, or focused on, women.
The books were separated into the categories of scholarly women, royalty and nobility, literature for women, popular literature by women, personal narratives and slavery, abolitionists and the Civil War.
Katherine Libby, a catalog librarian at Sherrod Library, was responsible for selecting the books to present at this year’s event. She said that it was difficult to narrow the selection down to just 29 books, but she had a lot of fun throughout the process of getting to know the books, their authors and backstories.
One of Libby’s favorite works on display was the oldest book present at the event– a 1625 history of Queen Elizabeth by William Camden. Another favorite was a 1769 play script by Elizabeth Griffith, “The School for Rakes: A Comedy.”
“I had a lot of fun discovering this stuff,” Libby said. “I hope that [attendees] will realize we have some really interesting materials, and that they are allowed to use them.”
Of the 80,000 local, regional and world maps housed in the Sherrod Library, 18 of them were on display at Thursday’s event, separated into the categories of local zoning maps, relief maps, topographic maps and specialty maps.
Nease has worked with maps for 12 years at Sherrod Library and, over the years, he’s found that his understanding of geography is not the only thing that has grown, it is also his connection to others.
One of the things that Nease enjoys about displaying the older maps is being able to hear the stories from older generations who lived in those areas during that time– where they grew up, what they saw and what the town used to look like.
“It’s working with maps, but it’s really working with people, too,” Nease said. “It’s a journey where I’m learning as much as they are.”
Nease’s favorite collection at the event were the local zoning maps, because of how different these maps look today.
“A lot of them are hand drawn,” Nease said. “They’re literally one of a kind.”
This year’s rare books and maps event is only the second one to happen in the Library’s history, since the COVID-19 pandemic forced a hiatus after the first event occurred in 2019.
Nease shares that the library is already talking about hosting the event again next year, and he has hopes that it will become a regular occurrence at ETSU, each year with a different theme.
For more information on Sherrod Library map collections, email Paul Nease: neasep@etsu.edu, or visit the government information service desk on the third floor of the Library. Information about the Sherrod Library rare books collection can also be found at the government information service desk.
