For tips on navigating finding aids and the library catalog, visit our Search Special Collections page.
Materials related to Sylvia Plath can be found in the Mortimer Rare Book Collection, College Archives, and the Sophia Smith Collection. This means materials can be found through the finding aids or through the library catalog (Discover Advanced).
For example, typescripts written by Sylvia Plath can be found in the Sylvia Plath collection (an archival collection) and published books with Sylvia Plath listed as the author can be found in the Discover Advanced catalog here*.
*Make sure to set the location to "Smith College Special Collections" to narrow the results.
Finding Aids are guides for collections of archival material. They list material in boxes, usually organized in series of like materials. Materials are most often described at the folder level, not the item level. If you would like to know more about the contents of a folder, you can email specialcollections@smith.edu.
It is essential to read the main page of each individual collection or record group group. In each individual record group you can search the collection using the navigation bar on the right of the screen (or at the bottom depending on your screen size). You can search within that collection using the search bar or you can browse by expanding the different headings (series title) in the navigation bar. To expand a series title, click the arrow next to the title.
You can also search associated names, events, organizations, locations, etc. in the main finding aid page for all Smith College Special Collections (https://findingaids.smith.edu/) navigation bar and see what comes up.
For more tips on navigating the finding aids, visit our Search Special Collections page.
The best place to find information for rare book materials, while finding aids are the best place to find information on archival collections.