Special Collections and Archives actively collects books, maps, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and other print materials related to Idaho. All can be found by searching the library catalog.
The Library actively collects books by Idaho authors, including fiction, westerns, science-fiction, literature, poetry, auto/biography, history, the environment, and numerous other topics. Notable authors include Vardis Fisher, Glenn Balch, Clare Jaynes. Idaho publishers include Caxton Press and Ahsahta Press.
Books about Idaho include histories, biographies, reference books, government reports, sound recordings, films, and other works about the people, culture, politics, geography, environment, economics, and cities and counties.
Special Collections actively collections books published by Boise State University faculty, staff, and departments covering a wide variety of disciplines and subjects.
In 2008, the Basque Museum and Cultural Center in conjunction with the University of Idaho, donated more than 3,000 books about local and international Basque culture, people, and history. Books are in English, Spanish, French, and Euskera, the Basque language. The library continues to collect books, journals, and other Basque-related materials.
In 1988, playwright John de Groot donated 130 books that include biographies about Hemingway and books written by his wives and friends, some signed by the authors.
In 2008, the widow of John Robert Bittner, a noted Hemingway scholar, donated 300 research books on Hemingway’s life and writings, supplemented by works on the expatriate life of 1920s Paris, Spanish bullfighters of Hemingway’s era, Hemingway’s editor Maxwell Perkins, and other Hemingway literary associates.
See also:
John de Groot Papers and Collection on Ernest Hemingway’s FBI Files
Dorys Crow Grover Papers and Collections on Vardis Fisher and Ernest Hemingway
Ed Metzger Papers
Clara Spiegel Papers
There is a small number of rare books available. The oldest is an edition of Historia Scholastica, printed in Cologne, Germany in 1479, once owned by the British bibliographer William Blades. Other rare books include 17th and 18th century books about English history donated by Robert Fahringer, and others about United States history, religion, and Idaho history.
Robert Gale donated Western novels by authors such as Matt Braun, Ernest Haycox, Clay Fisher, Zane Grey, Will Henry, Louis L’Amour and Luke Short. There is also a large collection of western magazines.
The map collection includes topographic, street, travel, and other types of Boise and Idaho.