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The David Kirby Rare Book Collection contains literature, poetry, chapbooks, and literary magazines from the 19th, 20th, and 21st century. The collection includes first edition, inscribed, and autographed volumes. Authors and poets present in the collection include Janet Burroway, Rudyard Kipling, H.E. Bates, Bin Ramke, and Thomas Hardy, as well as a run of Apalachee Review (originally Apalachee Quarterly) from 1973-1987. The collection also contains letters written to David Kirby from 1967-2016 by authors and poets including Joyce Carol Oates, Leon Edel, and Bruce Jay Friedman.

The collection includes a variety of cartographic materials, antiquarian book and map dealer records, correspondence, published articles, bibliographic materials, newspaper clippings, and publications. Highlights of the collection include historical materials and correspondence related to early explorers in North America. Cartographic materials included in the collection consist of map facsimiles, slides, and photostatic reproductions.

School records, 1935-1975, of Davis School, Atmore, Alabama including registers of attendance, 1935-1960 which show students attending, addresses, parents' names and occupations; the principal's record and report forms, 1940-1975 giving annual reports of the school; and school bus driver's reports, 1937-1942. Includes some records for Ernest Ward School, Walnut Hill, Florida, and Nakomis School, Nakomis, Alabama.

The Degen Resource Room has an extensive historic playbill collection. The collection consists of playbills of productions from all over the world beginning in 1873. The Degen Resource Room is continuing to catalog this massive collection, so the entire scope of this collection cannot yet be assessed. However, it is estimated that we hold one of the premiere playbill collections in the nation. As cataloging continues to take place, we will be able to ascertain the extent of this very special and unique collection.