Welcome to the FSU Ort Library Dr. David M. Gillespie Special Collections Guide. This LibGuide connects you to a wide variety of materials to aid you in researching regional history, genealogy and history of Frostburg State Universtiy.
If you plan a visit to the Dr. David M. Gillespie Special Collections and the Rare Book Room, please call 301-687-4889 or email Liza Zakharova, Special Collections Librarian/Archivist
ylzakharova@frostburg.edu for an appointment.
Your visit is important and this will ensure that we can provide the best service to you.
email: ylzakharova@frostburg.edu
Maintain materials related to Frostburg State University, Western Maryland and contiguous counties in Pennsylvania and West Virginia
Please contact the Special Collections Librarian/Archivist for information about class instruction. Classes are taught to utilize and comprehend the primary source material found within the Special Collections and are held in the Reading Room or adjacent Pearl F. Ort Center for Western Maryland History. Classes can be adapted for class topics and we can work with faculty and students for access and instruction to the materials. Topics in the past have included: Appalachian geography, 19th Century Literature utilizing original resources in Rare Book Room, and 1960s at Frostburg State College.
The Rare Book Room is located in Room 413 of the Lewis J. Ort Library, Frostburg State University. The room remains secure at all times. All items are non-circulating and must be used in the adjacent Special Collections Reading Room only. Access is by appointment only. The Special Collections Librarian maintains responsibility for the Rare Book Room.
Some items of interest in the Rare Book Room include: Commencement programs from 1904, Nemacolin (University yearbook), Cumberland Brewing history, five (5) original Sanborn maps of area towns, as well as State Lines and The Bottom Line (student newspaper).
Other unique items from the region are housed in the Rare Book Room due to the publication date, unusual printing or binding, and specific content.
The history of the area is steeped in coal and coal mining. Lumbering, railroads, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and economic growth found its beginning in the first lump of coal dug from a farmer's field in the late 1700s.