Special Collections

Acadiana Collection

This collection contains material relating to all aspects of Acadia University. Publications in all formats by or about the University are included. Serials and newsletters produced by the University are also included.

Annapolis Valley Collection

This is a collection of monographs, serials, newspapers, and ephemera relating to the geographic area known as the Annapolis Valley. It includes items published in the Annapolis Valley or elsewhere relating to the historical, social, economic, literary, and current state of the Valley. This collection does not include provincial or federal government documents. The Annapolis Valley is defined for this purpose as the area extending from the boundary of the Municipality of West Hants in the east to the western boundary of the Municipality of the District of Digby in the west. It therefore includes all of the counties of Kings and Annapolis bounded on the north by the Bay of Fundy, on the south by the Lunenburg and Queens County lines, and portions of Hants and Digby Counties as described.

Baptist Collection

This collection contains published material relating to the Baptist denomination in Atlantic Canada. The Baptist denomination includes all of the former branches of the denomination that presently exist in the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches. Serials, newsletters, and newspapers produced by the denomination and its various agencies are included in this collection.

Eric R. Dennis Collection

A significant collection of mid 18th- to early 20th-century Canadian materials with an emphasis on historical, political, literary, and religious monographs and serials. It was collected by Major J. Plimsoll Edwards and sold to Acadia in 1917. The bulk of the purchase price was subsequently paid by the Dennis family of Halifax on the condition that the collection be renamed to honour their son, Captain Eric R. Dennis, a former Acadia student who was killed at Vimy Ridge. A Catalogue of the Eric R. Dennis Collection of Canadiana in the Library of Acadia University was published in 1938.

John Daniel Logan Collection

This collection was assembled by J.D. Logan and presented to Acadia between 1918 and 1930. It consists of late 19th- and early 20th-century Canadian literature with an emphasis on poetry. In 1923 Dr. Kenneth G.T. Webster, a Dalhousie and Harvard classmate of Logan, began to regularly donate Canadian literature to the Logan Collection to honour his friendship and admiration for Dr. Logan.

William Inglis Morse Collection

A collection of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century works assembled by William Inglis Morse, an Acadia graduate of the Class of 1897, and donated to Acadia between 1926 and 1931. The Morse collection was divided between Acadia, Dalhousie and Harvard. A catalogue for the Acadia portion was published in 1931.

Jarold K. Zeman Collection

This collection, donated to Acadia in 1991, consists of the private library of Jarold Knox Zeman, Professor of Church History at Acadia Divinity College and significant Canadian Baptist leader. It includes monographs, serials and pamphlets relating to the Hussite and Anabaptist movements in Europe, and many works on North American Baptist history.

Watson Kirkconnell Collection

This collection, the private library of Dr. Watson Kirkconnell, ninth President of Acadia University, came to Acadia upon his death in 1977. A Milton scholar and translator of many poetic literatures (Icelandic, Hungarian, Polish, and Ukrainian among them), Kirkconnell was a founder of the Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Baptist Federation of Canada. This collection of monographs and serials exemplifies Kirkconnell’s broad interests.

Haliburton Collection

This collection consists of editions and imprints of the works of the 19th-century Nova Scotia satirist Thomas Chandler Haliburton and biographical and critical material relating to his works. This collection was donated by Robie Lewis Reid (1866-1945), noted historian and jurist in British Columbia. Mr. Reid was born in Steam Mill, Cornwallis Township and collected works of and about Haliburton throughout his life.

Bible and Hymnbook Collection

This collection consists of Bibles and hymnbooks, mainly relating to the Baptist denomination, in various languages and editions.

Historic Textbooks Collection

This collection consists of nearly 300 textbooks used in the public schools of Nova Scotia from the 1860s to the mid-1960s.

Teacher’s College Collection

This collection consists of materials from the Nova Scotia Teachers College, which operated from 1854 to 1997.

Rare Book Collection

This collection consists of rare books that meet any of the following criteria:

1. books bearing a stated print run limitation of less than 500 copies
2. books printed before 1868 in what is now Canada
3. books printed outside Canada before 1850 that are pertinent to the research and teaching initiatives at Acadia and are not available through antiquarian book catalogues.

Tufts Collection

This collection consists of the monographs, serials, and offprints from the library of Robie W. Tufts (1884-1982) of Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Tufts was a migratory bird officer for Nova Scotia from 1919 to 1946, serving with the federal government for 28 years. Dr. Tufts held honorary degrees from Acadia and Dalhousie.

Silverberg Collection

This collection consists of art and travel books from the library of David Silverberg. Born in Montréal, Silverberg graduated from McGill in 1957. In 1991 and 1992 Silverberg was invited by the Chinese government to travel, work, teach, and exhibit throughout China. Many of the books in this fine collection were acquired on these travels. In 1995, Silverberg became artist-in-residence at Acadia.

Henry Bell Collection

This collection consists of the working library of the Reverend Henry Revel Bell (1881-1961). A native of Scotland, Bell immigrated to Canada. After being ordained in 1918, Bell served the congregation at East Point United Baptist Church, Prince Edward Island as their minister for close to 30 years. Bell was a Maritime Baptist fundamentalist and his library reflects that aspect of the denomination.

Wallace Collection

A collection of French imprints, the majority of which belonged to Sir Robert Wallace (1818-1890), British art collector and philanthropist. The collection was given to Acadia in 1921 by Dr. M.C. Smith of Lynn, Massachusetts. Dr. Smith grew up in Cornwallis Township, Nova Scotia.

Sanatorium Collection

This collection consists of monographs, serials, and offprints from the library of the former Nova Scotia Sanatorium located in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

John Herbin Collection

This collection consists of books from the library of John F. Herbin (1860-1923), jeweller, author, local historian, and promoter of Acadian heritage. Herbin graduated from Acadia in 1890.

Harry Starr Collection

Charles (Harry) Starr (1905-1990) was a member of the Starr family of Cornwallis Township, Nova Scotia. After completing a certificate in Engineering from Acadia in 1929, he pursued a career in Canada and the United Kingdom. Starr was deeply interested in his Planter heritage and his collection reflects that. The majority of this collection came in 1985.

Duncanson Collection

This collection consists of the library of John V. Duncanson (1918-1999), genealogical and historical researcher of Hants County, Nova Scotia. His research resulted in three publications on Falmouth, Newport, Rawdon, and Douglas. Mr. Duncanson was named a Planter Scholar by Acadia in 1995.

John Mockett Cramp Collection

John Mockett Cramp (1796-1881) was a Baptist minister, author, and educator. In 1850 he was selected to succeed John Pryor as Acadia's President and is often referred to as the “Second Founder” of Acadia. His extensive library covers the fields of history, theology, geology, and philosophy.

Frederick C. Burnett, Jr. Collection

Reverend Burnett (1928-2018) was the last surviving Elder of the Free Baptist denomination of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Born in Yarmouth County, NS, he was ordained in 1951. A highly regarded historian, he is best known for his Biographical Dictionary of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Free Baptist Ministers and Preachers (1996). This collection consists of his library of monographs and serials related to his research.

Gaspereau Press Collection

Gaspereau Press is a Nova Scotia-owned and -operated literary press and trade publisher based in Kentville. Founded in 1997, it publishes short-run editions of both literary and regional interest. Through an agreement with Gaspereau Press, the Library acquires all monographs and ephemera that they publish and print.

Acadia Theses

This collection consists of the print copies of Acadia University honours and graduate theses.

Print Artifacts Collection

The Print Artifacts collection contains items with important material value. This includes age (19th- and early 20th-century), limited print run, marginalia (in some cases an author's signature), fragility, illustrations, size, and/or loose parts.

Clara Jefferson Collection

The majority of this collection of cookbooks was donated by Clara (Nowlan) Jefferson, who graduated from Acadia in 1948. The collection includes some rare and very old cookbooks, and is particularly noteworthy for the many cookbooks that were written and published by local churches, Women's Institutes, Ladies' Auxiliaries, and community groups between the end of the Second World War and the early 1970s.