Contents of Special Collections

The mission of the Special Collections is to collect, preserve and make accessible unique items of value that reflect the culture and values of SUNY ESF.  To that extent, the Special Collections include the following:

• Rare and unique books on subjects related to those taught at ESF: 261 cubic feet
• Artwork related to SUNY ESF or created by members of the ESF community: 130 items
  (Note: Artwork is housed throughout the ESF campus)
• Fletcher Steele Manuscript Collection: 45 cubic feet
• History of Papermaking: 12 cubic feet

Highlights of the Special Collections

For more information on these and other aspects of the Special Collections, contact archives@esf.edu or call 315-470-6719.

The Fletcher Steele Manuscript Collection

Donated to ESF in 1974, the Fletcher Steele Collection contains drawings, blue prints, photos, client order books, scrapbooks, slides and many more items created by Steele.  The collection also includes works about Fletcher Steele and his various projects.  To help preserve and make more easily accessible, Fletcher Steele’s black and white Lieca negatives are in the process of being scanned into digital format.  For more information on the Fletcher Steele Manuscript Collection, click here.

The Thomas M. Cook Collection

Part of the works on the history of papermaking contained in the Special Collections is the Thomas M. Cook Collection.  Thomas Cook, ESF ’35, donated the works in 1983 in memory of his wife, Mary Gloria Cook.  The collection includes rare books by Dard Hunter, a paper scholar, papermaker and printer from 1927-1952.  Also included are books on Japanese and Chinese papermaking; Mexican and Aztec papermaking; the history of papermaking in the United States and in Great Britain; as well as some works about watermarks.  In total, the Thomas M. Cook Collection contains 145 volumes, 11 prints, and 19 issues of the journal The Paper Maker.