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Archive: November, 2008

Nicolaus Copernicus

The Associated Press reports today that a team of Polish archaeologists and Swedish geneticists have identified the grave and remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer who first posited that the Sun, rather than the Earth, was the center of the universe.  The Copernican system, as it is known, was a major advancement in the understanding …

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Football at BYU

Football got its start at Brigham Young University in 1896 while it was still Brigham Young Academy. The first team played six games and one of their victims was the University of Utah whom they beat 12-0.  The Academy fielded a team every year until 1900 when football was banned from all Church schools as …

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Family and BYU

One of the core beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the importance of family. Brigham Young University has taken its responsibility to family extremely seriously from its inception. This can be seen in the university’s approach to student housing and in its academic structure. The concept of “in loco parentis” …

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Victorian and Early Science Fiction

Early science fiction novels make up an important part of the literary collections in L. Tom Perry Special Collections.  The Victorian and Rare Book Collections contain first and early editions of science fiction classics like Edwin Abbott’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars Books, and the works of H.G. Wells — …

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In Honorable Remembrance: Thomas L. Kane and the Latter-day Saints

BYU’s L. Tom Perry Special Collections has been gathering Thomas L. Kane family papers into its collections for many years. We now have the largest collection of Thomas L. Kane manuscripts in the world (regarding Kane’s life and work see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_L._Kane). For this Exhibit, we are drawing from this rich archive original manuscripts, rare books …

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What can you learn from an old book?

You may have wondered why the library keeps so many old books in Special Collections. One reason, of course, is because of their rarity or monetary value. But why keep old copies of works by, say, Martin Luther or Aristotle when you can get newer copies online, in your local bookstore, or the library’s general …

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Researching the history of BYU

One of the most frequent questions that I get as the University Archivist is “Where do I start my research into x topic on the history of Brigham Young University?”  This is an excellent question and there are a number of resources available to help you launch into your research project.  I will highlight three …

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