Vanderbilt University Libraries

Today, Mountain Dew is America’s sixth most popular carbonated soft drink by total sales volume – but do you know about its origins in Knoxville, Tennessee? Learn about the making of Mountain Dew, the graphic design behind the brand, and its connection to Appalachian culture on the latest episode of “Made in Tennessee,” available now!

This episode of the podcast, which celebrates the everyday art and craft objects used, loved and handed down through generations of Tennesseans, will also delve into the collectibles market for older bottles and signs.

Hosted by Vanderbilt Special Projects Librarian Celia Walker and Tennessee-based appraiser Sarah Campbell Drury of Case Auctions, “Made in Tennessee” is supported by a Tennessee 250 grant and recorded at the Heard Libraries’ Studio 608.

🎧Listen now: madeintennessee.org

📷: Smithsonian Institution

The first three episodes of “Made in Tennessee,” a new podcast celebrating the everyday art and craft objects used, loved, and handed down through generations of Tennesseans, are now available for listening. 🎧

Hosted by Vanderbilt Special Projects Librarian Celia Walker and Tennessee-based appraiser Sarah Campbell Drury of Case Auctions, “Made in Tennessee” is supported by a Tennessee 250 grant and recorded at the Heard Libraries’ Studio 608.

Check out the first three episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify:

1. Tracey Parks on Tennessee Furniture 🪑

2. Cynthia Stow on Art Conservation and Tennessee Portraiture 🖼️

3. Jennifer Core and Julia Doyle on Tennessee Samplers 🪡

Learn more: madeintennessee.org

Join Curator of Rare Books Teresa Gray for an online discussion about the exhibit “Infinite Worlds: Science Fiction and the Future of Humanity,” currently on view in the Central Library 4th-floor lobby through May 2026. 🤖🧬👽🛸

Gray will discuss the importance of science fiction as a literary genre and the significance of several authors included in the exhibit. Her talk is on Friday, May 1, from 1 to 2 p.m. via Zoom.

Learn more and register: vu.edu/sci-fi-curators-talk

As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding this year, the Heard Libraries are marking a 250 milestone of their own. 🎉

Special Collections and University Archives recently wrapped a two-year project to digitize, describe, link and preserve 250 “small” collections—those that fill a few folders but not an entire box—everything from a handful of photographs each to a single diary to archival manuscripts and letters.

These small collections represent approximately 20 percent of the archives’ total number of collections and showcase the breadth of distinctive items in Vanderbilt’s holdings. Here are just a few:

1. Photograph of the Memphis and Nashville pavilions along Lake Watauga during the 1897 Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition. (MSS.0959, 1897 Centennial Exposition Collection, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

2. Poetry book in French inscribed with “Constance Riveau,” c. 1853–54. (MSS.1037, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

3. 1828 diploma purportedly from the University of Nashville, though the “recipient” does not appear on any official graduation rolls. (MSS.0979, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

4. Letter handwritten by Peabody College student Mabel Beck, 1910. (MSS.0803, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

5. Promotional broadside for Tennessee magician Fetaque Sanders, c. 1930s–1950s. (MSS.1130, Fetaque Sanders Collection, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

To learn more about Special Collections or to schedule a visit: vu.edu/scua.

Students from the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt visited the Divinity Library on March 30 for a lesson about cuneiform, the world’s oldest writing system. Cuneiform originated in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and used wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets to record economic and administrative data as well as letters and literary texts.

Annalisa Azzoni, senior lecturer in Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt Divinity School, led nearly 30 Metro Nashville Public Schools ninth graders in a discussion that featured Vanderbilt’s collection of 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets from the library’s James H. Stevenson Collection. Divinity librarians Charlotte Lew and Keegan Osinski assisted with the hands-on lesson and immersive activity.

The students gave the experience rave reviews, including the following:

“I learned so much about the history, meaning and sheer impact of ancient forms of communication, such as cuneiform tablets. By being able to observe and hold these tablets in person, it revealed to me how artifacts of communication can illustrate the lifestyles, personal experiences, hierarchies and beliefs of society back then. I also found the craftsmanship of these (tablets) to be very impressive because of the amount of precision and patience needed to carve such intricate symbols onto such a small surface.”

📷: Harrison McClary/Vanderbilt

The Heard Libraries honor two remarkable women on April 1: Delia Zapata Olivella (1926–2001) and her daughter, Edelmira Massa Zapata (1953–2024).

April 1 marks the centenary of Delia Zapata Olivella’s birth. Delia committed her life’s work to performing, promoting and preserving Colombian dance traditions, folkloric culture and the performing arts. Edelmira continued her mother’s work as a choreographer, dancer and “La Maestra” of Colombia’s Fundación Instituto Folklórico Colombiano Delia Zapata Olivella and the acclaimed dance group El Palenque de Delia.

“A Tribute to Edelmira Massa Zapata/Un Tributo a Edelmira Massa Zapata,” an online exhibit in both English and Spanish created by Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives, honors their lives and legacies through a selection of writings, art, presentations, dance performances and photographs. The images are from El Palenque de Delia’s 2024 visit to Vanderbilt, and the exhibit highlights materials from Vanderbilt’s Delia Zapata Olivella Papers. View the exhibit:

• vu.edu/edelmira
• vu.edu/edelmira-spanish

📷 1: Delia Zapata Olivella (1926–2001) and Edelmira Massa Zapata (1953–2024)

2: Delia Zapata Olivella (Delia Zapata Olivella Papers, Vanderbilt Special Collections and University Archives)

3: Edelmira Massa Zapata (right) performs with El Palenque de Delia at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music in 2024. (photo by Timothy J. Gollins)

4: Edelmira Massa Zapata (standing, center) and members of El Palenque de Delia at the Blair School of Music, 2024. (photo by Timothy J. Gollins)

5: Edelmira Massa Zapata discusses the Delia Zapata Olivella Papers at a Vanderbilt workshop in 2024. (photo by Paula Covington)

6: Edelmira Massa Zapata and members of El Palenque de Delia at Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives Library, 2024. (photo by Timothy J. Gollins)

Vanderbilt’s Barnard telescope has a new home in Central Library. ✨🔭

This six-inch aperture refracting telescope, built by the firm of Thomas Cooke of York, England, was housed inside the large central dome of the university’s first astronomical observatory when it opened on campus in 1876.

In 1883, the university placed Nashville native Edward Emerson Barnard, a prize-winning amateur astronomer, in charge of the observatory. Along with taking his first courses in mathematics, physics and foreign languages at the university, Barnard furthered his astronomical research and made several key discoveries during his Vanderbilt career, including seven comets. Barnard would go on to become one of America’s most noted astronomers for his discovery of 16 comets, the fifth satellite of Jupiter, and Barnard’s Star.

In 1942, Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust named the campus observatory in Barnard’s honor. It was razed in 1952 to make way for Rand Hall, and its telescopes were put in storage. The Barnard telescope was eventually mounted on top of the Stevenson Science Center then later moved to Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory in southern Davidson County.

With Dyer Observatory currently undergoing renovations through June 2026, the Barnard telescope has returned to Vanderbilt’s main campus and can be found in the Central Library Reading Room, directly off the fourth-floor lobby.

📷: The Barnard telescope in the Central Library Reading Room.

📷: Barnard Observatory on the Vanderbilt campus. Opened in 1876, it was razed in 1952 to make way for Rand Hall.

📷: E.E. Barnard, who used the Vanderbilt telescope that now bears his name from 1883 to 1887.

Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for an introduction to Overleaf Professional, the collaborative, cloud-based LaTeX editor available to all Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff. The online webinar will be from 2 to 3 p.m.

Overleaf streamlines the writing and publishing process, making it easy to collaborate in real time with track changes, unlimited co-authors, and integrations with tools such as GitHub and leading citation managers. During this session, you will learn how to start a project, navigate the code and visual editors, insert images and tables, track changes, add comments, and manage references efficiently.

This webinar is open to all Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff. Register on Anchor Link: vu.edu/overleaf-webinar

Please join us for the 2026 Southern Library Support Staff Conference May 27–29 in Nashville, Tennessee! This year’s theme is “From the Heart of the Library: Stories of Engagement, Innovation and Leadership.”

Opening keynote:
Cathy Farley
Executive Director, Tennessee Library Association
“Lead From the Heart, but Don’t Forget Your Medication”

Closing keynote:
Elaina Norlin
Professional Development Coordinator, Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
“The Emotional Economics of Libraries: Why Human Connection is our Greatest ROI”

Now in its seventh year, SLSS is designed as a professional development and continuing education opportunity for staff who support academic, school and public libraries nationwide. The 2026 conference is supported by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, as well as the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt.

• Call for proposals open through Feb. 15
• Scholarship applications due Feb. 27

To learn more: slss.library.vanderbilt.edu

Registration is open for the 2026 Southern Library Support Staff Conference! 🌟 Scholarship opportunities are available!

Vanderbilt University will host the conference May 27–29 in Nashville, TN. Now in its seventh year, SLSS is designed as a professional development and continuing education opportunity for staff who support academic, school and public libraries nationwide.

With the theme “From the Heart of the Library: Stories of Engagement, Innovation and Leadership,” this year’s gathering invites library professionals at all stages of their careers to explore personal narratives that illustrate the transformative power of libraries within communities.

✅ Call for proposals open through Feb. 15
✅ Scholarship applications due Feb. 27

To learn more: slss.library.vanderbilt.edu

The 2026 SLSS Conference is supported by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, as well as the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt.