Brett Shingledecker GLBT Collection
The Rare Books & Manuscripts Library's (RBML) Brett Shingledecker GLBT Collection documents Shingledecker’s work as cofounder of People Like Us, Chicago’s first exclusively gay and lesbian bookstore, as well as his activism during the 1980s and 1990s. The collection contains materials ranging from the mid-1970s to the present and includes correspondence, zines, publications, flyers, buttons, t-shirts and other materials chronicling GLBT history and culture. The collection also contains more than 800 cataloged volumes, including books and magazines. Click the link above to explore the archival collection's finding aid. Published materials may be found in the Library catalog by searching for "Brett Shingledecker GLBT Collection."
Talfourd P. Linn Cervantes Collection
RBML holds the Talfourd P. Linn Cervantes Collection, one of North America’s most significant collections of works by Miguel Cervantes, ranging from a 1605 printing of Don Quixote and other 17th-century editions of his works through modern editions, adaptations, and translations from around the world. RBML actively acquires any editions not already owned, and also seeks out materials revealing how Cervantes and his works have been adapted and repackaged for new purposes and audiences (such as advertising ephemera, the performing arts, and select examples of merchandising and realia). Click the link above to explore the collection's holdings in the Library catalog. To see items from this collection that have been digitized, visit the Library's Digital Collections.
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
RBML holds one of the largest collections of manuscript fragments in North America, as well as a substantial collection of codices and diplomatics. RBML collects across national, genre, and linguistic boundaries in this area, with particular emphasis on items that contribute to active international fragmentology reconstruction programs; manuscripts of pastoral care; and fragments and codices offering useful and compelling opportunities for classroom teaching and outreach (odd or unique formats and layouts, evidence of direct reader interaction with texts, vernacular texts, and unusual scribal and codicological features). To see items from this collection that have been digitized, please visit the Library's Digital Collections.
RBML Zine Collections
RBML actively collects zines—self-published, inexpensively made, small circulation publications. RBML has particular strengths in: LGBTQ zines from the 1980s-present; 1970s-1980s punk zines; Riot Grrrl zines; and COVID-19 and quarantine zines. We are actively collecting zines with a local or regional focus (especially by OSU students or central Ohio creators); by LGBTQ writers or with an LGBTQ focus; by women writers; about women’s, gender, sexuality studies, including feminism and activism; and by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) or with a BIPOC focus. Click the link above to explore zine collections in the Special Collections Registry. Additional holdings may be found in the Library catalog.