Collection highlights, news about acquisitions, events and exhibits, and behind-the-scenes looks at the work and services of Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) at Notre Dame.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
This exhibition highlights examples of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning. Showcasing narratives spanning centuries and continents, each story demonstrates that the power of constructing community and cultivating hope transcends time and place.
The exhibition features six distinct collections housed in the Rare Books & Special Collections, and is curated by Hesburgh Libraries faculty members. Click below to learn more about each of the individual exhibits within the exhibition:
Curated by Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Curator, Latin American and Iberian Studies)
Tours of the exhibit may be arranged for classes and other groups by contacting rarebook@nd.edu.All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.This and other exhibits within the library are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
A Community of Solidarity Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Russian and East European Studies)
Transnational Communities of Resistance during El Salvador’s Civil War Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Curator, Latin American and Iberian Studies)
This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:
Monday, March 5 at 5:00pm | Italian Research Seminar: M.A. Student Presentations (University of Notre Dame) — This semester’s speakers are: Giorgia Buscema and Madeline Grossman.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
Women Religious in Male Spaces David T. Gura, Ph.D. (Curator, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts)
Ireland’s Idealized Community Matthew Knight, Ph.D. (Curator, Irish Studies)
A Community of Solidarity Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Russian and East European Studies)
Transnational Communities of Resistance during El Salvador’s Civil War Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Curator, Latin American and Iberian Studies)
This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
Title page of book, printed in Venice by Melchiorre Sessa in 1516. It displays the characteristic printer’s device of the Sessa family, while the imprint and publication date are given in the colophon, as was common for early printed books.
Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia (Natural History) is one of the most important books to survive from the ancient world. Written in the first century CE, it is the earliest surviving encyclopedia and one of the most ambitious works of knowledge ever attempted. In thirty-seven books, Pliny gathered information on astronomy, geography, anthropology, zoology, botany, pharmacology, mineralogy, and art, drawing on hundreds of Greek and Roman sources as well as his own observations (Siegfried, 2023). For more than a thousand years, this work shaped how Europeans understood the natural world.
Pliny believed that knowledge should be practical and widely shared. His encyclopedia was not meant only for philosophers, but for farmers, physicians, craftsmen, and administrators. Although modern science has corrected many of his claims, Natural History remained a foundational reference throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance because it compiled and preserved ancient learning that would otherwise have been lost (Stannard, 2026).
Pliny’s commitment to understanding nature is reflected in the dramatic circumstances of his death. In 79 CE, while serving as commander of the Roman fleet at Misenum, he witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Instead of fleeing, Pliny sailed closer, both to observe the phenomenon and possibly to help people trapped along the coast. He died during the eruption, most likely from poisonous gases. Our knowledge of this event comes from letters written by his nephew, Pliny the Younger, who provided the only surviving eyewitness account of the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum and narrated the story of a scholar who sacrificed his life in the pursuit of knowledge (Open Culture, 2022).
Woodcut marking the opening of Book II, which is centered on topics such as astronomy and meteorology.
Pliny’s influence continued through the centuries. During the Renaissance, his encyclopedia was rediscovered, printed, and translated for new audiences. A key figure in this renewed interest was Cristoforo Landino, a humanist scholar who translated Natural History from Latin into the Florentine dialect, which is the foundation of modern Italian. By making the text available in the vernacular as early as 1476, Landino allowed readers without formal knowledge of Latin to engage with ancient science and natural history (Ashworth, 2021). Landino’s translation reflects a broader effort, supported by the recent introduction of movable-type printing, to make learning more accessible beyond universities and monasteries.
Woodcut marking the opening of Book III. Books III–VI focus on geography and ethnography, while Book VII is devoted to anthropology.
Early printed editions of Pliny’s work were often richly illustrated with woodcuts. These images served a dual purpose. On one level, they decorated the book making it more appealing to readers and, at times, marking the transition between sections. On another, more important level, they helped readers visualize the animals, plants, and places described in the text. In a time when direct observation was becoming increasingly valued, woodcuts acted as visual tools for understanding nature, even when the images were imperfect or imaginative. These illustrations show how early modern readers tried to reconcile ancient texts with what they could see in the real world (Dlabacová, 2018).
Woodcuts marking the openings of the four books devoted to zoology (Books VIII–XI).
Even more revealing than the printed images are the handwritten notes left by readers in the margins. Marginal annotations show that Natural History was not treated as an unquestionable authority. Readers compared Pliny’s descriptions with their own experience and observation, added new information, and sometimes corrected or expanded the text. For modern scholars, these annotations provide rare insight into how early readers interacted with scientific texts.
The copy of Pliny’s Natural History held at the University of Notre Dame offers a remarkable example of this practice. In the margins, a reader describes a giant sea turtle caught by fishermen off the coast of Lisbon. The annotator states that the animal, which measured approximately seven and a half feet long and nine feet wide, was initially believed by some people to be a sea monster and records that it was presented to the king of Portugal. The reader also reports having seen the animal firsthand and identifies it with the turtle described by Pliny on the same page where the annotation appears.
Illustration of a turtle and the annotation on folios LIXv and LXr, at the page where Pliny discusses these animals in Chapter IX (on aquatic animals).
Text of the annotation and translation:
“Nel anno MDXXXXII nel mese di Aprile i piscatori olysiponesi presero sul mare oceano una testuggine la quale io stesso vidi & disegnai come si vede qui acanto; era lungha piedi sette e mezo, larga d’un corno ad altro (ouer’ alle) piedi noue / hauea il guscio amodo di liuto, il color nero, insomma fatta in tuto come qui discriue Plinio negli Tragloditi trouarsene. Ma credetero alcuni ch[e] no[n] fosse testuggine ma altro animale o mostro marino prodotto dal mare, della parte di sotto era di biancho e nero machiatta, era assai bruta & mirabile & fu portata inanzi il sereniss[imo] RE di portoguesi.”
In the year 1542, in the month of April, the fishermen of Lisbon caught in the ocean sea a turtle, which I myself saw and drew, as can be seen here beside this text. It was seven and a half feet long, and nine feet wide from one horn (or fin?) to the other. It had a shell shaped like a lute, black in color; in short, it was made entirely as Pliny describes the turtles found among the Troglodytes. However, some believed that it was not a turtle, but another animal or a sea monster produced by the sea. Underneath it was spotted white and black, it was quite ugly and remarkable, and it was brought before his serene highness the King of Portugal.
Alongside this annotation are three detailed drawings of this creature, likely a leatherback turtle, placed directly next to the relevant passage in Pliny’s encyclopedia. Elsewhere in the margins, a reader drew the Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza, next to the section of the book with Pliny’s descriptions of these monuments. These drawings and the numerous annotations, in more than one language and likely from multiple hands, found in various sections of the book, show how readers used both text and image to connect ancient knowledge with contemporary experience.
Drawings of the Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza (Book XXXVI – leaf CCXLVIII). Books XXXIII-XXXVII cover materials and applied arts, highlighting the role of minerals and stones in making metalwork, statues, sculpture, and gemstones.
Together, the translation, woodcuts, and marginal annotations reveal how Natural History functioned as a living book. Pliny’s encyclopedia was not only read, it was questioned, illustrated, updated, and personalized. These traces remind us that knowledge is shaped through the interplay of texts, images, and lived experience.
For modern researchers, books like this are invaluable. They reveal not only what people knew about the natural world, but how knowledge was shared over time. Marginal notes document early attempts to identify species and reconcile classical authorities with new discoveries from travel and exploration. The presence of drawings alongside text shows how observation and visual evidence became central to scientific understanding. Preserved in Special Collections, volumes like Pliny’s Natural History remain essential sources for understanding how modern scientific thinking emerged and why the dialogue between past knowledge and present observation still matters today.
Join Professor Guyda Armstrong (University of Manchester) and Dr Giles Bergel (University of Oxford) for an interactive workshop showcasing new digital methods for studying early modern printing. This session will introduce the research questions and first findings of Envisioning Dante c. 1472-1630: Seeing and Reading the Early Printed Page, funded by the UK government (c. £1 million; 2022-25). Participants will be given practical, hands-on demonstrations of the techniques and new digital tools developed by the project for analyzing and comparing early printed books.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
Curated by Rachel Bohlmann, Ph.D. (Curator, American History and American Studies), Gregory Bond, Ph.D. (Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection), David T. Gura, Ph.D. (Curator, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts), Matthew Knight, Ph.D. (Irish Studies Librarian and Curator), Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), and Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Librarian and Curator for Latin American and Iberian Studies).
This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.
Rare Books and Special Collections welcomes students, faculty, staff, researchers, and visitors back to campus for Spring ’26! Here are some things to watch for in Special Collections during the coming semester.
Special Collections Welcomed a New Postdoctoral Research Associate during the Fall 2025 Semester
Ruben Celani (Photo by Matt Cashore / University of Notre Dame)
Ruben Celani, Ph.D., joined the Hesburgh Libraries in October as a postdoctoral research associate in Italian Studies and Zahm Dante Collection curatorial fellow. He works in Rare Books & Special Collections as a subject liaison for Italian studies and curator of the Libraries’ extensive rare Italian collections, while also pursuing his own academic research.
Prior to joining the Hesburgh Libraries, Celani served as an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University in Belgium. He holds a Ph.D. from Ghent University in Literary Studies with specialization in Italian Studies, as well as a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Archival and Library Sciences from the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” Ruben has experience working in libraries in Rome, The Hague, and Antwerp.
This exhibition highlights stories of survival, contemplation, competition, protest, and learning, from six distinct collections in Rare Books and Special Collections. Each section, presented by a different subject curator, focuses on an example of how people over time and in different places, construct community and cultivate hope.
Curated by Rachel Bohlmann, Ph.D. (Curator, American History and American Studies), Gregory Bond, Ph.D. (Curator, Joyce Sports Research Collection), David T. Gura, Ph.D. (Curator, Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts), Matthew Knight, Ph.D. (Irish Studies Librarian and Curator), Natasha Lyandres (Curator, Rare Books & Special Collections), and Payton Phillips Quintanilla, Ph.D. (Librarian and Curator for Latin American and Iberian Studies).
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Day (January 19th), the birthday of Jackie Robinson (January 31st), and Black History Month (February), Rare Books and Special Collections is pleased to highlights examples from its collection of souvenir fan pennants from the Negro Baseball Leagues. The colorful collectible felt souvenir pennants represent leading Black baseball teams of the 1930s and 1940s and feature large screen-printed graphics of African American baseball players in action.
Curated by Gregory Bond (Curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection).
Created across multiple centuries, geographies, and cultures, pre-Hispanic clay sellos (flat and cylindrical stamps and seals) are celebrated as the earliest manifestation of Mesoamerican print culture. This cross-repository Spotlight Exhibit presents a selection of sellos stewarded by the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art; two emblematic publications of sello designs, preserved in the Hesburgh Libraries’ Rare Books and Special Collections; and contemporary examples of sello-inspired visual arts.
Curated by Payton Phillips-García Quintanilla (Librarian and Curator for Latin American and Iberian Studies).
These and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment.All exhibits are free and open to the public during regular hours.
Special Collections’ Classes & Workshops
Throughout the semester, curators will teach sessions related to our holdings to undergraduate and graduate students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College. Curators may also be available to show special collections to visiting classes, from preschool through adults. If you would like to arrange a group visit and class with a curator, please contact Special Collections.
This exhibit traces the global journey of Dante’s masterpiece through rare and valuable printed editions, highlighting how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Commedia. These volumes reveal a dynamic dialogue between Dante’s poetry and the world. A global literary perspective transforms Dante from a monumental yet isolated figure of the European Middle Ages into a central presence in the ongoing international conversation about humanity, the universe, time, eternity, and the power of literature.
This exhibit is curated by Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate), and co-curators Giulia Maria Gliozzi (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); Inha Park (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); and Peter Scharer (Yale, Comparative Literature doctoral candidate). Theodore J. Cachey Jr. (Notre Dame) and Jacob Blakesley (Sapienza Università di Roma) served as consultants on the exhibit.
MSH/LAT 0095 (Luz de Sagaceta)
The current spotlight exhibits are Social media networks in the 19th and 20th centuries/ Las redes sociales de los siglos XIX y XX, curated by the students (Bella Barraza, Isabella Cioffi, Ryan Farrell, Meghan Garrity, Luke Grantz, Sophia Hohman, Marshall Horton, Ella Johnson, Kate Kirwan, Elizabeth Larsen, Felipe Nino, Thomas Phillips, Monica Schleg and Jhoseline Trejo) enrolled in ROSP 40790, Women’s Culture in 19th-Century Latin America, taught by Vanesa Miseres Ph.D., and Bibliomania: The Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, curated by Anne Elise Crafton (2024-2025 Rare Books and Special Collections Postdoctoral Research Fellow).
All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.
RBSC will be closed December 2 from 11:00am–2:30pm for the Hesburgh Libraries and ND Press Christmas Luncheon, and during the University of Notre Dame’s Christmas Break, December 24, 2025–January 2, 2026.
This exhibit traces the global journey of Dante’s masterpiece through rare and valuable printed editions, highlighting how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Commedia. These volumes reveal a dynamic dialogue between Dante’s poetry and the world. A global literary perspective transforms Dante from a monumental yet isolated figure of the European Middle Ages into a central presence in the ongoing international conversation about humanity, the universe, time, eternity, and the power of literature.
Drop in to one of this month’s Exhibit Open Houses to meet and speak informally with one of the curators of the fall exhibition, Mapping Global Dante in Translation. Learn how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Divine Comedy over the centuries and across the world and discover the Library’s many Dante editions.
This exhibit is curated by Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate), and co-curators Giulia Maria Gliozzi (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); Inha Park (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); and Peter Scharer (Yale, Comparative Literature doctoral candidate). Theodore J. Cachey Jr. (Notre Dame) and Jacob Blakesley (Sapienza Università di Roma) served as consultants on the exhibit.
Opening November 5, our next spotlight exhibit will feature several friendship albums being studied this semester by Notre Dame students in a class taught by Vanesa Miseres (Romance Languages & Literatures).
Please join us for the following public events and exhibits being hosted in Rare Books and Special Collections:
Drop in to one of this month’s Exhibit Open Houses to meet and speak informally with one of the curators of the fall exhibition, Mapping Global Dante in Translation. Learn how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Divine Comedy over the centuries and across the world and discover the Library’s many Dante editions.
This exhibit traces the global journey of Dante’s masterpiece through rare and valuable printed editions, highlighting how translators, artists, and printers have popularized and reshaped the Commedia. These volumes reveal a dynamic dialogue between Dante’s poetry and the world. A global literary perspective transforms Dante from a monumental yet isolated figure of the European Middle Ages into a central presence in the ongoing international conversation about humanity, the universe, time, eternity, and the power of literature.
This exhibit is curated by Salvatore Riolo (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate), and co-curators Giulia Maria Gliozzi (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); Inha Park (Notre Dame, Italian Studies doctoral candidate); and Peter Scharer (Yale, Comparative Literature doctoral candidate). Theodore J. Cachey Jr. (Notre Dame) and Jacob Blakesley (Sapienza Università di Roma) served as consultants on the exhibit.
