The MIT Libraries Department of Distinctive Collections collects, preserves, and makes available the Libraries’ unique and rare materials. Our collections range across disciplines, time periods, and formats and include faculty research and personal archives, Institute records, student and community life materials, Institute publications, the Aga Khan Documentation Center, and rare book collections on various topics of science, technology, engineering, architecture, and the humanities — just to name a few.

Here are new acquisitions brought into the collections from September through December 2023. Some materials are accessible today, while others are being processed and cataloged and will be available soon.

Available now

• Additions to the Emily Wick papers
• September Theses 

Coming soon

• Lisa Steiner personal archives (Professor of Immunology and Biology)
• ChoKyun Rha ‘62, SM ‘64, SM ‘66, ScD ‘67 personal archives (First woman of Asian descent to receive tenure at MIT, professor of biomaterials science and engineering)
• Additions to the Collection of Student Life at MIT  (Roy Roth correspondence and scrapbook)
• Additions to the MIT Hillel Foundation records
• Additions to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science records 
• Additions to MIT Office of the President, L. Rafael Reif records

• Additions to the Judith Wechsler personal archives
• Early editions of Our Bodies Ourselves
• Addition to the Sloan School of Management Oral History Project (Interviews with Thomas Kochan)
• Early course 6 notebooks (1930-1933)
• Uthman Wahaab, Luck and Fortune Slate (2022)
• Quranic writing tablet rom the  Hausa Peoples, Nigeria (dated 1970s) 
• Arthur Rhoné, L’égypte; a Petites Journées Études Et Souvenirs. Le Kaire Et Ses Environs. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1877.
• Insiya Dhatt. Dreams (2023). Artist’s Book.
• Fal-e Hafez Omens Cards with English Translations
• Falnama Oracle Cards (2018). Aslı Canpolat, author, designer.
• Baht-ul Divane Tarot Deck (2023). Istanbul, Turkey : Hatice Gül and Can Cankatli
• Talisman Booklet with Petitionary Sufi Prayers. Manuscript in Arabic, ca. 19th c. from the Maghreb
• Niyazi Dede, Sheikh of the Mevlevi Monastery in Salonika. Complete autograph copy of Anthology featuring İlm-i Cifir (The Science of Onomancy, including illustrations on Evocation/Spirit Conjuring), written in 1260 H. [1844 AD], Manuscript in Ottoman Turkish
• Portfolio `ALGERIE ET TUNISIE’ (1886). Travel account with views of Algeria and Tunisia, Albumen photos with original case.
• Abu al-Qasim Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Iraqi AL-SIMAWI. Kitab Uyun al-Haqa’iq wa Idah al-Tara’iq. Likely Bombay, circa 1880. Lithograph of medieval Arabic grimoire.
• Beldan Sezen. I Kill You in Dreams (2023). Artist’s Book.
• Fatima El Hajj. Storm and You are Free: Antarah in Black on White. (2019-2020). Artist’s Book.
• Haji Noor Deen. Peace Be Upon You, Salam (2011). Calligraphy.
• Haji Noor Deen. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Surat Al-Fatiha. Ayat Al-Kursi. Surat Al-Asr, Surat Al-Kafirun. Surat Al-Ikhlas. Surat Al-Falaq. Surat Al-Nas. The Most Beautiful Names of Allah (2007). Calligraphy.
• Georges Tchalenko, Eglises syriennes à Bêma + Eglises de village de la Syrie du Nord, Planches & Album. 3 volumes. Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique, Tome 105. IFAPP, Beirut, 1979-90.

To see any of these collections or items (even the items coming soon), follow the instructions on our website or fill out our contact form with any questions. Please note that some records may be closed for a set time frame due to Institute access restrictions.