The Rare Book Collections are featured as a top story in Continuum, The University of Utah’s alumni magazine.

Stories Within Stories: The U has one of the top, and most accessible, rare book collections in the West.

“She [Luise Poulton] wants everyone to have the sensory experience of holding a centuries-old book—to not just touch it while leafing through pages but to inhale the mustiness of a book’s scent, to hear the thick rustle of pages made from rag paper, to see the fine craftsmanship of books that were early printers’ pride and joy, to handle ideas that were revolutionary.

‘To hold a copy of Common Sense, printed in 1776, that was held by hands in 1776, and most likely read out loud to other people in 1776, that’s a connection. That’s a very physical and visceral connection,’ Poulton says.”