ASERL’s Special Collections Interest Group was established in 2017 to encourage cooperation and partnerships among member libraries. A series of activities was undertaken in 2017 to bring together special collections professionals and libraries, in particular for shared digital collections and expanding professional development. Activities included site visits to 24 member institutions and a professional development survey to inform future webinars.
In 2019, the group offered two webinars on outreach and community engagement and donor relations, a disaster response survey and is planning a Shared digital exhibit to launch in Fall 2019. See the Webinar Archive for recordings of these sessions.
Activities
- COVID19 Resources for Archives and Special Collections
- Collection Profiles gathered from site visits and interviews with administrators of special collections
- ASERL Disaster Response Survey (*.xls format) results from an information gathering survey on disaster supplies and response at member institutions
- Shared Exhibit exploring the history of enslavement in the Southeastern US as part of the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of Africans to the English colonies
Interest Group Leaders
- Cristina Favretto cfavretto@miami.edu (Head, Special Collections, University of Miami Library)
- Brenda Burk bburk@clemson.edu (Head of Special Collections, Clemson University Library)
- Stacey Lavender sl8fw@virginia.edu (Project Processing Archivist, University of Virginia)
Special Collection Profiles
University of Florida Special and Area Studies Collections
University of South Florida Special Collections
University of Central Florida Special Collections
University of Alabama Special
Collections
University of North Carolina-Greensboro Special Collections and Archives
Collections Spotlight

Kenneth Frederick Marsh Photograph Collection — University of South Carolina
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA — The photographs of Kenneth Frederick Marsh (d. 1968) were used to illustrate the following books by photographer Marsh and his wife, Blanche Marsh: Historic Flat Rock (North Carolina), Plantation Heritage, Robert Mills, and The New South, Greenville, S.C. The photographs and negatives depict historic and modern homes, public buildings, textile mills, churches, and scenes of South Carolina and Flat Rock, N.C. Many of the photographs are unpublished.

William H. Scott Family Papers, 1848-1982 — Emory University
EMORY UNIVERSITY — Selections from the papers of William H. Scott, an African American Baptist minister and political activist, and his son William H. Scott, Jr. from 1848-1982, including correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, broadsides, sermons, writings, and other collected material.

John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader Photographs — University of Kentucky
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY — The John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs follows the changing urban landscape of Lexington, the agricultural, tobacco and horse racing industries, key national events such as World War II and Vietnam, as well as notable regional and national figures.

Baptist State Convention of North Carolina — Wake Forest University
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY — This material provides invaluable insight into the American evangelical movement through five decades, including Baptist concerns relating to baptism and dancing at Baptist colleges, the role of the church in an increasingly liberal society, missionaries working abroad, political involvement, and the role of women.