Special Collections

First page of Colonel Neilson's diary to illustrate that this diary was "carried" by him from May 12-November 13, 1968 during the Vietnam War.
Posted on May 8, 2024

Rest in Peace, Colonial Clifford C. Neilson. We are honored to have your combat diary in our collections.

Mar 2021

  • E. R. Rose cabinet card, verso
    March 23, 2021
    Written by graduate student assistant, Erna Anderson. This exhibit is on view in the Swem Library lobby through April 1, 2021. [[Content warning: This post discusses blackface and gender impersonation.]]  
  • Allen Ginsberg at W&M, 1971 Colonial Echo, vol. 1, p. 95 (Photo by Bruce Nyland)
    March 8, 2021
    Beatific. Sympathetic. Spiritually illuminated. An ecological, fresh-planet consciousness. So Beat writers Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac described their work, their art, their lives.

Feb 2021

  • Stamped book cover
    February 8, 2021
    In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, protestors in Bristol toppled the statue of Edward Colston (1636-1721) in an act representative of an accelerated global reckoning with the legacies of enslavement and colonialism.

Dec 2020

Nov 2020

  • "Memorandum," from Maury Family Papers
    November 11, 2020
    When I arrived at the Special Collections Research Center this past July 29th for my first day of research into William & Mary’s collection of Maury Family Papers, I felt in my bones that I was in store for a fascinating week of discovery. My hunch proved true.

Oct 2020

Sep 2020

Aug 2020

  • Wren Lawn from College Corner, 1915 Colonial Echo, front matter
    August 31, 2020
    Tracy Melton '85, member of the William & Mary Libraries Board of Directors, reflects on the university's previous experience with pandemic. Melton is generously donating the journal that he is keeping during the global health crisis; the journal will be open to research in 2022.

Jul 2020