Out of the Box

Did you know the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture has 1950s movie posters from India? A memoir written by a teenage girl in 1830s New York for her parents? Several scrapbooks and albums from students in the 1920s at what is now SU? Six “Mental Photograph” books that people would have their friends fill out in the late 1800s? A ledger from a ship that sailed from the Wicomico River to the Caribbean in 1767? The papers of the first African American professor at SU? A WPA scrapbook showing the activities of the Depression-era jobs program in Salisbury?

All these and more are from the Nabb Center’s collections. They can be seen in the exhibit “Out of the Box: The Archives of the Nabb Research Center” in the Thompson Gallery on the fourth floor of the Guerrieri Academic Commons through the end of the fall semester.

The Nabb Center houses three major archival collections: the Local History Archives, the University Archives and Special Collections. While the Local History Archives obviously focus on Delmarva, many Delmarvans moved on to other parts of the country and the world and wrote to their relatives back home. The University Archives includes SU’s official documents; the papers of faculty, staff and alumni; records of student organizations; and published materials such as yearbooks and student newspapers. Special Collections includes manuscripts such as diaries and ledgers as well as graphic items from around the world.

Professors from numerous departments bring their classes to the Nabb Center to use the collections, including not just history faculty, but also communication, environmental studies, art, Honors, geography and more. You’ve seen some of their work in stories in previous issues of Library Matters. And you can see some of the items they study in this exhibit or by visiting the Nabb Center.

For details about the Nabb Center, visit the Nabb Center website.