Americana Collection, Visiting Scholars

Three Ph.D. candidates recently studied rare primary sources at FAU that tell the story of American life from its earliest days — including some never before seen.

The Marvin and Sybil Weiner Spirit of America Collection, valued at $3.8 million and housed in the S.E. Wimberly Library, contains 13,000 printed items. Scholars consider it one of the nation’s top 10 collections dedicated to American political philosophy and history.

The students’ visit is the result of an inaugural partnership between FAU and the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

While working in the collection, one of the fellows, Jordan Wingate, University of California, unearthed a number of almanacs that changed the direction of his research. The other two fellows were Hannah Jorgensen and Deborah Charnoff.

“The Weiner Collection drew nationwide attention during the fellowship application process, and now as these scholars publish their findings they will continue to turn a spotlight on humanities research at FAU,” said Jason Sharples, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of History.