Department Life: Resources
Department Library
The department houses a complete collection of the Loeb Classical Texts, ancient Greek and Roman texts with facing English translations. These texts are available for individual use in the department. The department also maintains a collection of frequently consulted reference works, dictionaries, and texts of Greek and Latin authors which can be borrowed by students. All senior projects are kept on open shelves, so that students who are preparing to write their senior project may get an idea of what former students have done.
The Classics collection in the Library
The Vassar Main Library has an excellent collection of monographs and periodicals on Greek and Roman religion, history, art, philosophy, archaeology and literature. It has been strengthened considerably by an annual contribution to the cost of acquiring books on classical subjects by the Blegen Fund. All permanent and visiting faculty have the opportunity to order any book which they feel it is important for a collection of this quality to have. Over the years, therefore, the collection has grown especially strong in those areas of study which are particularly the focus of the faculty's research and teaching.
Archives and Special Collections
The Catherine Pelton Durrell '25 Archives and Special Collections houses a number of papyrus fragments, manuscripts of ancient texts, early Greek and Latin Bibles, and materials related to the development of writing in antiquity that are available for students and faculty to consult. A class may be conducted in the Special Collections Seminar Room to examine a particular manuscript or book relevant to a class.
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
The art center has a small but rich collection of ancient artifacts - vases, coins, sculpture, and inscriptions. Some objects are part of the permanent collection, while some are kept in storage but may be viewed by a class. Professor Bert Lott has developed a website which puts the college's ancient coin collection on display with images and information about each coin.
Pandora and Perseus
The college subscribes to two searchable databases. Pandora has all of Greek and most of Latin literature in a format which is searchable by individual word or words, or by author. Perseus is a mixed media collection of texts, images of art and archaeological sites, maps, dictionaries, and grammatical explanations linked to particular texts. Both of these databases are accessible by computers in the library and in the department.