This week, we were able to visit something a part of our library I did not know existed: the MASC. The MASC stands for Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections—and it contains exactly that. At first, I was not too excited about visiting the MASC. I had envisioned over the entire weekend that we were going to a museum sort of place where we could not touch anything or look through any of the books. I thought the whole experience would be dull and boring, however, I was pleasantly surprised how much I learned while in the MASC for only about a half an hour.
While in the MASC, we were paired into groups and were assigned to look through the books presented on the tables and pick out what we thought were the most popular. This was especially fun because we actually got to look through the books. Although they were old and had to be rested on pillow type things on top of the tables, it was so interesting to see pieces of our history that we have free access to. I was very impressed by the amount of original books there are in the MASC. Some of the books were tearing, some had pages ripped off, and some were in decent condition for their age. My favorite part of the older books was the colorful pages. Some of the books had a pretty design on the edge of the pages so when the book is closed it was fun to look at. In my spare time I believe I will make a trip to the MASC. I was so busy doing the assignment that I would like to go back and look at all the books on the shelves.
Another fun part about the library visit was the activity we did in the classroom after our visit to the MASC. We were to go find a book in the library, and that is something I also do not do enough as a college student. My partner and I had picked the question that asked us to get an edition of Punch published in Charles Dickens’ lifetime. That was harder than we thought, because there were so many editions of Punch! I had no idea such a book existed, it was a lot of fun to look through an edition dated in the 1870’s. Punch seemed to be political comics and news stories from London all compiled into a whole book.
Overall, the experience was very worth it. I now know where I can go to find first edition books, and I am very excited to explore the MASC in my spare time.
Did anyone else learn something from the MASC? Does anyone plan to go back some time?
--Tara Nolan
First, i enjoyed the activity in MASC and found the information we learned about literature from years before fascination. I had actually never visited the MASC in person before that , and so i hadn't know how to use it properly. Thanks to this, i can use the MASC fully without needing to ask for help. I actually have to go back in a couple weeks for another class, so this helped me prepare for that class.
ReplyDeleteCorinna, Holly, and Floricel.
I hope that more people chime in and say they want to go back to the MASC, Tara!
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