Special Collections is the library's department for rare, valuable, and fragile materials.
Materials from this department do not check out, but we welcome you in the Special Collections Reading Room in the Main Library lobby, across from the Circulation Desk. We're open by appointment.
The Chamberlain Warren Samaritan Collection -- the most extensive collection of Samaritan materials in the United States -- includes a brass scroll case inlaid with silver, dating from the 16th century.
Manuscript collection 287
More than 75 published and unpublished (privately used) Passover haggadot, from Israel, London, and the U.S. Collected by Sylvia B. Kruger and donated to the MSU Libraries in 2013.
Manuscript collection 144
We have an 18th century Muslim prayerbook from Morocco, with a red velvet satchel.
We have an unusual trio of prayerbooks with covers of ivory -- or perhaps "ivorine," which was an elephant-friendly manufactured substitute.
From left:
Path to Heaven: A Selection of Prayers...
This manuscript on palm-leaf pages appears to be in Sinhalese, or perhaps another of the Indic languages. This type of book construction was often used for Buddhist texts.
If you use this manuscript for your artifact research assignment, let us know what you find out!
The dime is to show the scale of this miniature book, which is less than 4 inches tall.
The Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman Israeli Literature Archive includes hundreds of novels, poetry, and nonfiction published in Israel since statehood, and hundreds of pages of correspondence with Israeli authors.
The archive also includes a small collection of souvenirs Mr. Holtzman acquired during his trips to Israel, such as:
Manuscript collection 211, box 8
