Where do rare and unusual materials come from, and how do they end up at Stanford? Join the Stanford curators who were involved in the acquisition and the rare book dealer who acquired this collection, David Rueger of Editio Altera, who will be on hand to display and discuss this and other fascinating research materials.  

The Edith Anna Strauss papers, 1921-1942 (Stanford MSS 2845) consist of 484 items, mainly letters and postcards, documenting daily life as a Jew in Germany during the pre-war and early war periods and Jewish refugee life in New York City during the same period. Edith Strauss was born in Frankfurt in 1917 and emigrated to the US in 1937, and she corresponded frequently with her mother, who remained in Germany, and other family members and friends. One striking feature of the archive is the bizarre standards of "normalcy" faced by Jews during this period: for example, several of the postcards sent from Edith's mother feature images of Hitler – presumably simply because these were the only available postcards to hand. 

Materials on display will also include a wide range of material on the antiquarian market today, from a 1485 "Encyclopedia of Everything" to mid-15th century vellum passports for travel to Persia, rules and regulations for 18th century women's clothing; a secretly-published list of banned books; and a set of travel guides aimed at gay men in 1980s Germany. 

David will also represent the antiquarian book world and its professional organizations, including the rigorous process for accreditation through the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), and he is looking forward to learning more about the researcher perspective and the library point of view.