PHIL 3610: Philosophy of History and Culture (Koeddermann) Alden Room Fall 2023

Milne Library's Alden Room is the home of many treasures that document the history of the College and student life beginning with the College's foundation as the Oneonta Normal School in 1889.  The room is named in honor of Jessica Alden, the first librarian at the Oneonta Normal School.  Yearbooks, newspapers, and other student publications as well as photographs, scrapbooks, office and department documents, sorority pins and other memorabilia, and a biography file comprise the archives.  

In addition, there is an extensive lantern slide collection as well as numerous special book collections: New York State histories, Faculty Publications, Masters Theses, Early Textbooks, O'Mara Native American Collection, New York State Verse, Cornell-Gladstone-Hanlon-Kaufmann Collection, Popular Fiction, Private Press Publications, and Special Collections Miscellanies.

All of these materials are available for you to research or browse, simply contact Heather for an appointment.

You can also learn more by checking out the Special Collections Guide.

If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about our history and would like to make an appointment to browse other collections, please email me at heather.stalter@oneonta.edu!

In order to keep all materials in the best possible condition for future generations of students, we ask everyone visiting the Alden Room to observe the following:

Before you begin your research:

• Food, gum, candy, cough drops, and drink may not be brought into the Alden Room.
• Please leave coats, bags, and other belongings in the brown chairs.
• Only paper, pencils, and laptop or other device may be brought to the table.
• Pens, highlighters, and markers are not to be used.
• Items in the Alden Room are non-circulating and must stay within the Alden Room.

Help keep our archives safe:

• All archival material must be handled with great care.
• Hands must be clean, dry, and free of lotion and hand sanitizer.
• Take care not to lean on archival material.
• Make sure nothing is placed on archival material.
• When taking notes, please make sure your paper is on the table and not on the archival material.
• Do not make marks on the archival material.
• Archival material must remain flat on a table, but do not force anything open.
• Use care when turning pages (no flipping).
• Documents within a folder must be kept in the same order and facing the same direction as they were originally.
• Notify a librarian if anything seems to be out of order or in poor condition.
• If in doubt, ask a librarian!

Reproductions

• Scans or photocopies for research purposes are available upon request.
• Cell phones or personal cameras (no flash) may be used to photograph archival material.

For additional guidelines, see Handling Rare Books from U Texas, San Antonio Libraries