Rare Books and Printed Material: New Acquisitions Include WWI Book
A recent acquisition is this nearly pristine copy of a 1917 history and pictorial book on a World War I medical training camp at Fort Oglethorpe in the Georgia mountains just eight miles from Chattanooga. Officially named Camp Greenleaf, it was opened in June 1917 while the United States was involved in the Great War. It closed in early 1919 after the war ended. Medical Training Camp Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia is available for viewing in the Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections.
In related collections, the ABW Special Collections also contains a personal photo album from a WWI soldier who spent time at an American hospital in Savenay, France (MS-0008). The owner of the album is unknown, but the photographs capture the grit of trench warfare and mechanized weapons. A former A&M student and teacher, Woodfin Carmical, did military service at Camp Gordon in Georgia. His scrapbook (LH-0023) contains photos and other memorabilia from his service circa 1917-1918.
ABW Special Collections holds approximately 3,000 printed items dating from the 16th century to the present.
Collection strengths include:
- Local and regional history and culture, including agriculture, transportation,
- education, music, politics, and religion
- Paranormal and humanistic psychology
- Shape Note and Sacred Harp musical traditions
- Publications by current and former faculty, including the works of nationally
- known Colonial America scholar John Ferling
Several personal libraries are included in Special Collections:
David Hooks Library
Composed of about 1,600 books from the 19th and 20th centuries, this library covers subjects such as life after death, extra sensory perception, out-of-body experiences, apparitions, and altered states of consciousness. This collection was acquired by Special Collections in association with the Dr. William G. Roll Collection (unprocessed).
Anne G. Ingram Historical Children’s Literature Collection
Consisting of eighty-six volumes dating from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, this collection includes works by Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and many others. Anne Ingram was the only child of Irvine S. Ingram, who led first as principal of the 4th District A&M School and then was president of West Georgia College for nearly thirty years.
Sidney Jourard Collection
This library contains 520 works on anthropology, sociology, psychotherapy, religion, philosophy, research, and theory. Many of the books include the psychologist’s margin notes, providing researchers with an idea of the forces that shaped his thinking in the field of humanistic psychology.
Guillermo Hernandez de Alba Collection
This is a book and ephemera collection of 100 items on Colombian colonial history, especially pertaining to Simon Bolivar and General Francisco de Paula Santander. This collection was purchased by the History Department in 1969.
Our Special Collections house much more, including the libraries of past university presidents Ingram and James E. Boyd, and immigrant scholar Gregor Sebba.
All materials can be found in the Ingram Library catalog and are available for viewing in the Research Room. Materials in Special Collections do not circulate.