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From the Vice Provost and Dean - Spring 2016

125 years of U.S. government publications: celebration and exhibit

For 125 years, the UW Libraries has been a depository for publications from the United States government.

In the Government Publications Collection, part of the Government Publications, Maps, Microforms & Newspapers unit in Suzzallo Library, you wouldn’t be surprised to find information on U.S. agriculture, census and population, employment and labor, patents, trademarks, treaties and records of U.S. Congress.

But the collection also includes information on gays in the military, the recent Oso landslide and Hanford. You'll find illustrated vintage brochures on Minnie Spotted Wolf (1923–1988), the first Native American woman to serve in the United States Marine Corps, along with descriptions of “sword exercise”—or fencing—in the 1850s, stuffed possum recipes and a comic book introducing Smokey Bear.

On display through June 11 on the ground floor of Suzzallo Library is an exhibit called “Information for All,” featuring one item for each of the 125 years of the Government Publications Collection.

Come and browse through these books, maps, posters and brochures—and be surprised at what we hold in our collection, and what we all hold in the collective history of our country.

- Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson

Spring 2016