A recent addition to the Mechanics’ Institute’s website may have gone unnoticed by many of you!
We are very excited to introduce a webpage dedicated to our Archives and Special Collections (A&SC). Not only is there a general description of those items included in the A&SC, but it also allows you to click on the direct links to documents that have already been digitized.
To locate the new A&SC webpage, click on the Books & More tab on the home page, then scroll down to the Archives and Special Collections page under Research.
MI’s Archives include 19th and early 20th century historic photos, reports, blueprints, Board of Trustee meeting minutes and documents, visitors’ registers, and other items from our Chess Club, Library, and administration. You will find direct links to our Chess Room Visitor’s Register, the handwritten Board of Trustees minutes from 1854 -1923, and the reports of the 30 Industrial Exhibitions sponsored by MI from 1857-1899.
For members and researchers alike, there are brief descriptions of the seven resources that comprise MI’s Special Collections. These collections include:
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Chess Books and Journals, late 1700s-present
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Industrial Expositions and World's Fairs, 1894-1962
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Californiana, 1840-present
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Western Americana, early 1800s-present
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Arion Press Fine Print Books
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The Civil War, 1861-present
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Membership, Independent, and Special Libraries
For more information about MI’s Archives and Special Collections, please contact Diane Lai, Archivist, at [email protected] or Deb Hunt, Library Director, at [email protected]
