Recently, I got the chance to speak with Tara Maharjan from Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) about their resources that our science students may find useful or interesting. After sitting down (virtually) with Tara, it was clear that she has a wealth of information to offer students on the SCUA library.
Now, at first glance these resources may seem unconventional for science. While we do focus on currency for science resources (and rightly so), I think it is also important to recognize and study the history of science. From my perspective, we should reflect on the issues of the past in order to help inform our future. Aren’t the philosophers always saying we need to learn from our past?
In addition to their historical and informational value, the resources Tara shared with me are also just straight up cool. Take for example, the oral history of Mary Lou Norton Busch, a Douglass alum who worked as a chemist in a Manhattan Project Plant. We also got to have some fun talking about the SCUA Coloring Book Pages. The coloring book pages are converted from images in the collections and are freely available online for printing as part of #colorourcollections. Subjects include occult, feminist, and botany pages.
While we did touch on some of the resources in their physical collection, we mostly focused on resources available online, given our current situation. However, I encourage everyone to check out SCUA and any physical resources you are interested in once they are open to the public again.
Check out the full interview here.