Lafayette Special Collections & College Archives project recognized at PACSCL Awards

Original leather valise bearing Lafayette’s name that held the letters when they arrived on campus. | Photo courtesy of Special Collections and College Archives

The Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries, Inc. (PACSCL) recently awarded prizes in recognition of late chair Will Noel’s focus on open access. Lafayette College Special Collections and College Archives (SCCA) was recognized with one of three runner-up prizes for its project digitizing the Hubbard Collection of Letters from the Marquis de Lafayette to George Washington. SCCA recently completed the digitization of the 201 letters spanning the years 1777 and 1792, allowing details of the letters (such as Washington’s wax seals on the envelopes) to come alive without risking harm to the source material. The digital collection can now be accessed through the Library’s website.