Library News

New "souvenirs" in our digital collections

from Andrew Holbrook, Graduate Assistant

Not all souvenirs come on keychains or in the shape of a three-inch-tall Statue of Liberty. We recently digitized two interesting souvenirs from the Edgewood College Archives that highlight notable people and places in our history.

“Souvenir of Edgewood Villa” is a small booklet from around 1910, commemorating Wisconsin governor Cadwallader Washburn’s donation of his Edgewood Villa estate to the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa in 1881. The governor’s former house became home to Saint Regina Academy, a school run by the sisters that had previously been located in downtown Madison. Sadly, the villa burned in 1893, but two years later, a new building arose and the school reopened as Sacred Heart Academy – which eventually evolved into the Edgewood High School and Edgewood Campus School we know today.

The booklet includes hand lettering on the cover and beautiful photographs and engravings inside. There’s also a quotation from Washburn: “I hope that you may find the place as pleasant and attractive to you and your school as I have ever found it.”

Fast-forward more than a century to the dedication of the Henry J. Predolin Humanities Center on September 29, 2000. Our second souvenir is a program from the Predolin dedication that was autographed by distinguished guest and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, who delivered readings in contemporary poetry during the ceremony.

Walcott was a poet and playwright from Saint Lucia. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. The award committee said his works displayed "great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment."

Learn more about Derek Walcott by checking out a book or online resource, and read more about Edgewood history in our digital collections.