The UH librarians brought a new twist to the term fairy tales at the brown bag lunch  “Once Upon a Time” Tuesday afternoon at the Rockwell Pavilion.

This event was the last of a series entitled “Unique Holdings,” a presentation series that highlights the rare archival items held by Special Collections and available for use by faculty, students and researchers, according to the UH Libraries website.

Faculty, staff and students discussed the evolution of fairy tales and rare books housed in UH Special Collections over lunch at the presentation.

“The purpose of this event was to showcase the valuable and interesting items that we have in our special collections department,” said Andrea Malone, modern & classical languages and ethnic studies librarian. “We really want people to know what’s there and get excited about it.”

Previous themes in the series included science, English literature and the maps housed in Special Collections.

The librarians discussed the origin of these classic fairy tales and how the modern versions differed. Some of the books and stories discussed dated as far back as the early 19th century.

“I thought it might be fun in the middle of the day to hear about fairy tales and the archives,” communications major and attendee Emily Brooks said. “I think most people like fairy tales.”

In the stories most individuals today know, there’s usually some form of magic taking place.

Whether birds and other animals act human or just communicate with humans, the fairy tales of today tend to be more fictitious than when they were originally written, Malone said.

“I would say this event showed people that we have an amazing spread of collections and now people can see it’s not just materials for classes but also things to learn about and enjoy,” Assistant Librarian Lisa Martin said.

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“Librarians showcase UH’s own fairy tales at Special Collections lunch” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar