When you picture a library or archive, what comes to mind? Probably rows of dusty books and important historical documents, right? While that’s often true, some of these venerable institutions hold collections that are far stranger than fiction. Get ready to peek into the hidden corners of libraries and archives, where the truly unexpected resides. Here are 10 of the weirdest things you might find!
10. A Preserved Mole
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the U.S. is famous for safeguarding crucial documents like the Declaration of Independence. But it also houses a tiny, preserved mole skin! This unusual artifact was discovered in 2005 within Civil War Widows Certificate Approved Pension Case Files.
The story goes that Union soldier James J. Van Liew caught the mole in his tent and sent its skin in a letter to his “Dear Wife,” Charity Snider. Years later, in 1900, Charity needed to prove her marriage to James to claim her widow’s pension. Official records were scarce back then.
Though Charity had lost the letter addressing her as “Wife,” she had shown it and the mole skin (which she’d kept!) to friends. They testified to seeing the letter, and Charity submitted the mole skin as part of her evidence. It’s unclear if the mole tipped the scales, but she did receive her pension.
9. A Book Made of Cheese
Artist Ben Denzer’s creation, 20 Slices, pushes the boundaries of what we consider a “book.” Instead of paper pages, its traditional hardback cover contains 20 slices of Kraft cheese. Though you can’t read it in the usual sense, it’s officially cataloged as a book. Several libraries, including the University of Oxford and Tufts University Library in Massachusetts, own a copy.
Darin Murphy, head of Tufts University Library’s fine arts branch, notes that the cheese book sparks conversations among students. They often ask, “You spent my tuition money on cheese?” He considers it a provocative and excellent teaching tool. While the plastic-wrapped cheese slices are surprisingly durable, they won’t last forever like paper, making this edible book a limited-time exhibit.
8. The Hair of Notable Historical Figures
Finding a stray hair in a book isn’t too unusual, but some archives intentionally preserve locks of hair from famous people. For example, the British Library in London possesses a manuscript featuring a decorative lining with hair from Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, and her poet husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
In Washington, the Folger Shakespeare Library has a bracelet woven from the hair of Edwin Booth. Booth was a renowned Shakespearean actor, though his fame was somewhat eclipsed by his younger brother, John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.
At Union College’s Schaffer Library in New York, a lock of George Washington’s hair was found inside an envelope within an almanac. The book belonged to Philip Schuyler, and the envelope noted it was “from James A. Hamilton given him by his mother, Aug. 10, 1871.” James was Alexander Hamilton’s son, and such hair keepsakes were common in that era. Though not DNA tested, it’s widely believed to be authentic.
7. Death Masks
State Library Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, holds a collection of death masks—plaster casts made of a person’s face shortly after their passing. Their most well-known mask is that of Ned Kelly, the infamous bushranger. Created soon after Kelly’s hanging on November 11, 1880, it was publicly displayed both to satisfy public curiosity and as a warning to other criminals. The mask was also studied using phrenology, a now-discredited pseudoscience, to see if his skull’s shape indicated criminal tendencies.
Other libraries worldwide also house death masks. The New York Public Library, for instance, has masks of poets E. E. Cummings and James Merrill.
6. A Spirit Trumpet
Most items at Cambridge University Library in England are, predictably, paper-based. However, one peculiar object is a cardboard spirit trumpet. These trumpets were used during séances. Placed on a table, they would supposedly levitate and channel spirit voices or emit ectoplasm.
Cambridge’s spirit trumpet was manufactured in the 1920s by The Two Worlds Publishing Co. Ltd of Manchester. It’s part of the Society for Psychical Research archive, which also contains a (fake) photo of ectoplasm captured during a séance led by medium Helen Duncan. In 1944, Duncan was among the last individuals convicted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.
5. A Booklet Encased in Concrete
Books are meant to be read, but Wolf Vostell’s Betonbuch (Concrete Book) deliberately challenges that idea. Vostell created 100 copies of this concrete-encased book in 1971. Copy number 83 is held at the University of Chicago’s library. Inside the concrete, there’s supposedly a 26-page pamphlet titled “Betonierungen” (“Concretifications”), detailing his other concrete art projects—some realized, others impossible.
Patti Gibbons, from the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, mentions that Vostell “wanted to concretify the city of West Berlin. He wanted to concretify clouds.” The library also has a loose copy of the pamphlet. However, Vostell was known for his sense of humor, so the concrete block might contain something entirely different, or perhaps nothing at all. Despite attempts to non-invasively scan the concrete, its contents remain a mystery.
4. An Elephant’s Tail
The most frequently requested item at Tufts Digital Collections and Archive is an elephant’s tail. It belonged to Jumbo, a famous circus elephant whose stuffed hide was donated to Tufts University by P. T. Barnum, one of the university’s founding trustees. Jumbo, standing 11 feet tall and weighing 5 tons, became the university’s mascot. This explains why current students are eager to see his tail, the only part of him that remains.
When Jumbo was still intact, Tufts students would tug his tail and place pennies in his trunk for good luck. Eventually, his tail was accidentally pulled off. This mishap is the sole reason any part of Jumbo still exists today. While the tail was safe in the university archives, the rest of Jumbo’s body was destroyed in the Barnum Hall fire of 1975.
Although Jumbo’s tail is the only complete part left, someone from the Athletics Department managed to scoop some of his ashes into a peanut butter jar. This jar is now part of a ceremonial “passing of the ashes” whenever a new athletics director is appointed.
3. Jack Kerouac’s Blood
Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, best known for On the Road (1957), made a rather unusual commitment to his literary ambitions before writing his iconic novel. While living with his parents in Queens, New York, Kerouac wrote “The Blood of the Poet” on an index card, referencing Jean Cocteau’s 1930 film. He then cut his finger and wrote the word “BLOOD” in his own blood on the card, which he hung above his desk.
Kerouac reportedly performed this act “as a notice of his vocation.” He also wrote, “Blood-stained string used as tourniquet for finger, Nov. 10, 1944” on the card. This bloody card, still attached to its string, is now housed in the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library.
This wasn’t an isolated incident; Kerouac also wrote “BLOOD” on the first page of his then-unpublished novella I Bid You Love Me, later renamed Galloway.
2. Charles Dickens’s Cat Paw Paper Knife
Another peculiar item in the New York Public Library’s Berg Collection is an ivory paper knife with a handle made from a cat’s paw. This unusual knife belonged to Charles Dickens, the author of many Victorian classics like A Christmas Carol (1843). Engraved near the cat paw hilt are the words: “C.D. in memory of Bob 1862.” Bob was, of course, his beloved deceased cat.
Dickens’s daughter Mamie said that Bob would follow her father “about the garden like a dog and sit with him while he wrote.” This affection was mutual. When Bob passed away, Dickens had his paw stuffed and attached to the blade as a decoration. While pet taxidermy wasn’t entirely uncommon in the Victorian era, fixing a stuffed paw onto a knife was definitely a unique choice.
1. KKK Robes
Cushing Memorial Library & Archives at Texas A&M University holds Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods embroidered with names linked to the university. One prominent name is Dana X. Bible, who served as the university’s head football coach in 1917 and again from 1919–1928. He was also the head basketball coach for most of this period and briefly coached baseball.
The university’s digitized yearbooks also show pictures of students and staff in KKK robes, alongside racist caricatures. David Carlson, the dean of the library, emphasizes their refusal to conceal the university’s historical ties to racism: “Mistakes of the past, even though they may be mistakes, they’re mistakes that we can learn from. If we hide them, we never learn from them.”
Libraries and archives are truly treasure troves, but sometimes those treasures are stranger than we could ever imagine. From scientific curiosities to deeply personal mementos and unsettling historical artifacts, these institutions preserve a wide spectrum of human experience and history, quirks and all.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever heard of being kept in a library or archive? Leave your comment below!
