Over the last few months, we’ve been busy adding exciting new items to Gleeson Library’s Digital Collections. From stunning rare books to heartfelt oral histories created by USF students, there’s a lot to explore. Thanks to the hard work of students, interns, librarians, and community partners, these compelling stories and voices are now accessible from anywhere, right on your laptop or device.
First off, we’re excited to announce a new digital collection based on the Casa Hispana de Bellas Artes archive. Founded in 1966 by pan-Latine artists in San Francisco’s Mission District, Casa Hispana promoted Latine and Hispanic culture through poetry, art, events, and community activism. The digital collection includes photographs, event materials, and correspondence that highlight this important history. USF faculty member Amilcar Lobos-Yong, a founding member of Casa, is featured in the collection. These digitized materials offer valuable resources for teaching and research on Latine cultural expression and community history.
We’ve also added newly digitized material to the National Japanese American Historical Society Confinement Sites Collection, which Gleeson Library has hosted since 2011. With funding from the National Park Service, NJAHS interns spent many months digitizing and carefully cataloging materials from their collection. These documents and photographs illuminate historical issues of immigration, identity, and injustice that have a chilling resonance with our own times. Thanks to the work of NJAHS staff and interns, this important documentation is now accessible online, offering a powerful window into this chapter of American history.
Another collection getting a fresh new look is the Black Student Union Digital Collection. In Spring 2025, the Black Scholars Class of 2025 took the lead in clarifying and reimagining this collection as Black Identity at USF: The Black Student Experience. They created and contributed oral histories, published a magazine for incoming Black students, and shared valuable feedback about the collection. Some of their stories are already online, with more coming soon.
And as always, our digitized Rare Book Collection continues to grow. We continuously select books from the Donohue Rare Book Room for digitization based on their instructional use, unique visual qualities, cultural significance, and research interest. Two notable new additions illustrate this approach. The first is a manuscript copy of Vesperale Romanum, a liturgical choir book containing songs and chants for evening prayers. Written by John Francis Wade in 1764, it is among the earliest known manuscript copies of the hymn Adeste Fideles. The second example, entitled Manual para administrar los Santos Sacramentos, is a bilingual manual from 1760, printed to assist Catholic missionary priests who were administering the Catholic sacraments within Indigenous communities in what is now northern Mexico and southern Texas.
These are just a few highlights of some of the new content available online. Expanding Gleeson Library’s Digital Collections supports our mission in Special Collections and University Archives to collaborate with faculty, students, and staff in creating unique learning experiences while preserving USF history. We strive to put one of a kind and rare collections in the hands of students through visits to the Donohue Rare Book Room and our online digital collections. Contact us to arrange a class visit, schedule a research appointment, or ask a question about our collections. We look forward to seeing you on campus this semester!