Primary Sources

What are primary sources? Primary sources offer a direct connection to the past, whether it's a firsthand account described in a letter home or the trace of a painter's hand across a canvas. Primary sources offer original evidence for researchers to consult and interpret. From audiovisual archives or written correspondence to books & serials, oral histories, ephemera, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, artworks, and other cultural artifacts, special collections are unique to every collecting organization. 

Bryn Mawr College Special Collections collects primary source materials across a wide range of time periods and cultures. Our collections reflect and support the College's liberal arts curriculum and campus research interests. They are for you - accessible to the campus community and public through class visits and tours, individual and group research visits, exhibitions, events, and digital projects. 

This exhibition is a sampling of primary sources from Special Collections at Bryn Mawr. It offers a look insides early printed books, new acquisitions, materials used for classes, work by some of our oldest alumnae makers, and an upcoming spring exhibition on rewritings of classics. 

Primary Sources was curated by Janelle Rebel, Carrie Robbins, Allison Mills, and Marianne Hansen. 

List of art & artifacts objects that appeared in the exhibition: https://triarte.brynmawr.edu/exhibitions/info/352

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