From 17th-century Japan to 1920s urban America, the Rare Book Collection in Western Washington University’s Archives & Special Collections is defined by neither a single era nor a single language. Since 2018, donations have allowed the collection to expand and diversify significantly.
“A New Leaf: Building the Rare Book Collection at Western Libraries” is the newest in-person exhibition by Archives & Special Collections, open until Friday, Sep. 5.
Some materials are chosen for their provenance, their sheer beauty or because they are a first or second edition, said Elizabeth Joffrion, director of Archives & Special Collections.
Premodern illustrated books from Japan, such as the Kacho-ga print (top right), greatly impacted the Western visual culture of the early 20th century. Samples of the Rare Book Collection’s materials of Japanese origin are displayed here in the Wilson Library in Bellingham, Wash. on Jan. 24, 2025. // Photo courtesy of Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections
The institution has existed formally at Western since at least the 1950s. The Rare Book Collection, up until just a few years ago, was a modest one.
“We’re thinking about value and rarity going forward and increasing representation,” said Michael Taylor, special collections librarian and associate professor at Western. “The more diverse our collections are, the more we can learn about the world.”
Taylor is Western’s sole special collections librarian and was responsible for the exhibition’s curation. He also teaches an undergraduate survey on the history of the book.
“Books are one of the ways we can travel back in time and around the world right here from Western,” Taylor said.
The Islamic manuscripts and early Christian texts on display are a testament to the prominent role of religion in the history of the written word and of bookbinding.
“The thing about archives that I find most interesting and exciting is the way in which our relationship to our past — or even our present — informs the possibilities for the future,” Marika Cifor, an associate professor at the University of Washington, said.
Cifor is a feminist scholar of archival and digital studies. Her primary research concerns the representation and documentation of marginalized groups through archives, data and digital technologies.
Feminist and postcolonial “lenses are about attention to power and to the structures of how that informs record keeping. What records were created in the first place? Whose voices are or are not captured in them? What’s not there and why?” Cifor said.
How are archival materials interpreted and displayed in a way that puts them in conversation with each other?
“Here’s the source. You get to decide what it means,” Joffrion said. “Let the documentation speak for itself.”
Taylor, Joffrion and Cifor believe hands-on learning with archival materials is a unique experience, different from a typical classroom style of learning.
Sarah Plemons, a Western second-year majoring in Spanish and geology, agrees.
“I feel like hands-on learning with historical documents makes it so that students know how to do that for themselves in the future… it’s kind of an empowering skill,” Plemons said.
Both early English translations of seminal novels by Native American authors and controversial contemplations on Native American life by white authors have been acquired by Archives & Special Collections in recent years. They’re displayed together here in the Wilson Library in Bellingham, Wash. on Jan. 24, 2025. // Photo courtesy of Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections
Plemons is interested in seeing the Rare Book Collection acquire more texts from Native American tribes specific to the greater Bellingham region.
“As a person living here, these are things I should know about and respect,” Plemons said.
Early books in braille and moon type, as well as 19th and 20th-century books about people with disabilities, are among the collection’s recent acquisitions.
Native American contributions to book history have been a particular focus in the diversification of the Rare Book Collection. The collection’s current Native American materials are already frequently used for class research, according to Joffrion.
“Getting to see and touch the kind of history you’re talking about is such a powerful experience,” Cifor said.
Josh Hernandez (he/they) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a third-year journalism news/ed major. Outside of journalism, his other interests include literature, geography, and music history. You can reach him at joshhernandez.thefront@gmail.com.
