A View from the Vault
Dec
3
A View from the Vault: Whistler’s "Riva"
by Ashley Rye-Kopec, Assistant Director, Museums As we approach the end of the semester, Main Street in Newark becomes crowded with residents, students, holiday shoppers and more. James McNeill Whistler’s etching The Riva provides a similar opportunity to observe ... Read More
Nov
19
Celebrating the Acquisition of a First Edition of Pride and Prejudice
by Caroline Liebel, graduate assistant, Special Collections Mark Samuels Lasner Collection “It is a truth universally acknowledged …” that Jane Austen’s second published book, Pride and Prejudice, remains one of the most beloved works in English literature. Published in ... Read More
Oct
15
A View from the Vault: Lonnie Holley’s "I Got My Power from the Sun"
by Leah Mackall, gallery attendant supervisor, Museums Upon the walls of Old College gallery rests a wiry sculpture full of life. Layers upon layers of thin golden metal wire and rubber cord seem to spontaneously bend and loop, forming ... Read More
Sep
17
A View from the Vault: Shakespeare at Blackfriars
by Arline Wilson, Special Collections Librarian Step into the candle-lit world of early 17th-century London with The Two Noble Kinsmen (1634), a rare first edition held in the University of Delaware’s Special Collections. Credited to William Shakespeare and John ... Read More
Aug
20
A View from the Vault: Henlopen Light
by Amanda Zehnder, Chief Curator and Head, Museums This seaside scene showing a lighthouse perched on top of a dune evokes the pleasures of late summer—beach days, the approach of Labor Day and the anticipation of a new academic year. ... Read More
May
8
Help Build a New Home for Special Collections this I Heart UD Giving Day
On I Heart UD Giving Day—Wednesday, May 14, 2025, the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press invites Blue Hens everywhere to rally behind a visionary initiative: Building a New Home for Special Collections. Special Collections is one of UD’s ... Read More
Apr
30
A View from the Vault: The Girl Graduate
by Petra Clark, Special Collections Late spring brings with it the end of the school year and, for high school and college seniors, graduation. This rite of passage is celebrated with commencement ceremonies and graduation parties, and is commemorated ... Read More
Mar
26
A View from the Vault: Ken Smith's "The Garden"
by Victoria S. Kenyon, doctoral candidate in art history, graduate research assistant, University Museums An anthropomorphic figure rests in a barren garden landscape. It is clearly not living, but a red heart sits within the hollow, cage-like chest. The ... Read More
Feb
26
A View from the Vault - A Signature Accomplishment: Lincoln’s signature and the Thirteenth Amendment
by John Caldwell, Political and Public Policy Papers Archivist “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime … shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” With these words, the Thirteenth ... Read More
Jan
29
A View from the Vault: L’Hiver (Winter)
by Amanda Zehnder, Chief Curator and Head, Museums As winter settles in, bringing with it the chill of biting winds and swirling snowflakes, few images capture the season’s stark beauty and harsh realities like L’Hiver (Winter)—sometimes called Winter in Paris, ... Read More
