SRU to host grand opening for Bailey Library Special Collections Department

April 12, 2016

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Slippery Rock University's Bailey Library will host a grand opening of the recently relocated Special Collections Department from 2-4 p.m., April 12 on the library's third floor.

The Special Collections Department boasts more than 2,000 items including books, audiotapes, art related to the collection and framed photographs.

Shelved and encased behind glass are limited-print books, first-edition volumes from the 1880s, a Japan Collection, Pennsylvania History Collection, The Nien Cheng Collection and a Rare Books Collection. There are children's books from the 1930 and the personal library of Emma Guffey Miller, the late Slippery Rock trustee whose ghost is said to haunt her namesake Miller Auditorium.

Many of the books have hand-painted, highly cursive lettering on their covers, such as "A Cyclopedia of the Best Thoughts of Charles Dickens." Other books are more recent, such as "The Fitzgeralds and Kennedys: An American Saga," but are signed by the author.

Books cannot be checked out and an appointment is necessary for viewing.