The Rare Book Collection at the Ward M. Canaday Center is focused on several authors and literary genres: William Faulkner, Henry David Thoreau, Eudora Welty, Ezra Pound, T. S.
Eliot, William Dean Howells, Leigh Hunt, the Imagist poets, African-American literature such as Paul Lawrence Dunbar, the history of books and fine printing, and a collection on the stock market and financial speculation. In addition, the Canaday Center also has a large collection of books published in the 19th and early 20th century on women’s social and literary history, as well as a collection on the history of the University of Toledo and the surrounding communities.
The Canaday Center Rare Book collection has been cataloged in the University of Toledo Library Catalog. Materials within the Rare Book Collection do not circulate within the University Toledo Library System and must stay within the reading room area. Researchers wishing to use rare books should request them from Canaday Center staff in the reading room. Depending on the condition of the materials and any applicable copyright codes, photocopies can be made by the staff. The Canaday Center staff reserves the right to refuse to make copies of certain books based on these or other criteria.
The Canaday Center does maintain a basic reference collection related to its primary collecting areas. However, it does not generally collect critical works on authors themselves. Researchers are advised to begin their research using the standard reference and critical works located in Carlson Library’s general and reference collections.
Selected works from the Modernist Literature Collection.