McNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
The Frazar Memorial Library at McNeese State University is hosting a Rare Book Petting Zoo on Thursday, Oct. 1, 3 to 7 p.m. for those who want to peruse the peculiar. The event will take place in the Special Collections Reading Room at the library at 300 Joe Dumars Drive in Lake Charles and is free and open to the public.
Stop by to look over first edition books, hand-painted fore-edge illustrations and special art folios featuring the work of creatives like Charles Bukowski and John James Audubon. The oldest book that will be on display is from the 1500s. Folk tales to classical literature, puzzle books to saddle stitches – the librarians have curated a wide array of curiosities!
“These books are really works of art,” says Pati Threatt, archivist and special collections librarian at McNeese. “Usually, students or people from the community would have to make an appointment to view a specific work, so this is an opportunity for people to interact with pieces they might not know about or might not otherwise have the chance to see.”
The McNeese archives contain some materials unavailable anywhere else. The books and other resources were collected by Lake Charles citizens, primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, who decided McNeese should have rare and special editions. They collected them from around the world and brought them to the archives for public use.
The unique opportunity of this event is the ability to freely browse the McNeese Archive’s collection of local history books. With manuscripts, limited print and signed copies in the reading room, it offers new connections to old resources.
