Research GuidesResearch GuidesThe Drew University Libraries are made up of the Rose Memorial Library, the Learning Center, Special Collections, University Archives, and the Methodist Archives. The University Libraries hold over 300 electronic research resources, over one million print and electronic books, and over 100,000 print and electronic journals spanning the academic spectrum!
Special Collections at Drew University cover a wide range of materials from the 11th century to the present. Topics include religious materials such as hymnbooks, prayer book, and Bibles, as well as non-religious materials such as witchcraft, literature, graphic novels, and science fiction magazines. The collections include books, pamphlets, magazines, periodicals, personal papers, research works, and much more.
The George Fraser Black Collection on Witchcraft includes reproductions and some originals of 16th- through early 20th-century printed works as well as a variety of other historical works on witchcraft. Highlights of the collection include a 1580 edition of the Mallevs maleficarvm, as well as Dr. Black’s own bibliographic publications on the history of witchcraft and the occult.
This exhibit explores the toxicity of book production. From texts such as the Malleus Maleficarum, Mein Kampf, and the Bible, which have influenced killing, to the chemical make-up of the ingredients used to produce books. This exhibit showcases the artifacts within our collection that possibly contain toxic ingredients. From bookcloths, pigments, parchment, leathers, dust, mold, fungus, and disease this exhibit will have you question the poisonous nature of books.
The Byron Society Collection includes visual representations and portraits, such as Rembrandt Peale’s 1825 lithograph of Byron, as well as busts and Staffordshire figures, medals and plaques, drawings and engravings, and decorative and other material objects that demonstrate the impact of Byron’s life and works on his readers, both past and present. Digitization of the collection is ongoing and additional items will be added as they are processed and photographed.
Drew University Archives holds exciting collections on spiritualism, witchcraft, and the supernatural. This exhibit unveils our Malleus Maleficaum (1580), pamphlets on spirit interaction, and scientific books on beasts and monsters.
The University Archives collects and preserves the historical records of Drew University, and is located in the Rose Memorial Library building, Level G, Room 313. Materials from University Archives collections can be brought over to the Methodist Archives Reading Room for your convenience. Archival collections include, but are not limited to, the non-current permanent records of the Theological School, Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, and College of Liberal Arts; complete runs of Drew publications including the student newspaper The Acorn and the Drew Magazine; a photographic record of buildings, people, and events on campus; and faculty biographies. The University Archives also collects and preserves memorabilia related to Drew University.
The ongoing digitization of the school newspaper is a joint project of the University Library and the Digital Humanities Summer Institute. Currently, PDF copies of issues from 1928 to 1996 are available and full-text searchable
On February 5, 1964, Drew University proudly hosted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a convocation speaker. Dr. King's connection with Drew University was through Dr. George D. Kelsey, Professor of Christian Ethics. Prior to teaching at Drew, Kelsey taught at Morehouse College where he became a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., then a student, and who has credited Kelsey for his motivation to become a preacher. At the time of the event, Dr. King had been recently selected as Time magazine's "Man of the Year" and shared his "The American Dream" speech to over 5,000 attendees. A student reporter for the Drew Acorn noted, "He is unimposing, seems quite ordinary, but, when he speaks, people listen. They tend to forget all else."
The Duck Diaries Collection details the journey of a crew of students with “El Pato Valiente,” a repurposed military vehicle (known as a “Duck”) as part of a goodwill tour of Central and South America. The crew consisted of Dan Twomey, Tom Twomey, George Burrill, Fraser Shaw, Robert Hinds, Walter Kutrieb, Bill Hayes (who returned to America after arriving in Guatemala City), Colin Reid (a New Zealander who joined up with the crew in Oaxaca, Mexico), and Edwin Naylor (who left the group in Panama after the Jungle Cove incident). In addition, they were accompanied by a German Shepherd named Robin. The trip lasted about a year, from July 1961 to July/August 1962, and took the crew from New York to Brazil.
An exhibit highlighting the 150-year history of Drew University. The material in this exhibit will show how Drew began in 1867 and developed into the institution of today.
The United Methodist Archives and History Center is a collaboration between the Methodist Library of Drew University and the General Commission on Archives and History for the United Methodist Church (GCAH). The Methodist Library holds print materials related to United Methodism and related denominations, including over 50,000 books. The GCAH is the official archival repository for The United Methodist Church. Its collection includes records from the various denominational agencies within the United Methodist tradition, and personal papers of several bishops, denominational leaders, and missionaries from the 19th and 20th centuries.
The United Methodist Archives and History Center houses many artifacts from the Methodist tradition, including items from Francis Asbury, a bone from George Whitfield’s hand, a large collection of Wesley busts, and John Wesley’s death mask.
The Methodist Library Image Collection at Drew University includes several thousand photographs, drawings, and portraits of people, places, and events associated with global Methodist history. Images range from the 17th century to present day.
The Mark W. Brown Nestorian Cross Collection at Drew University is the second-largest collection of such crosses in the world. Nestorian Christianity derived its name from Nestorius, a patriarch of Constantinople tried for heresy by the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
This guide features and discusses materials in the collection about Methodism in Africa.
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