U of T libraries are the home of global discovery
It takes a university to preserve knowledge and make it accessible for today’s talented researchers and future generations.
Every day, the University of Toronto libraries provide critical information and resources to talented students and leading researchers—including Tracy L. Spurrier.
Tracy, who is working toward her PhD studying Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, was able to use U of T’s rare books collection to discover a long-lost Mesopotamian queen.
A few years ago, she came upon a volume that was brought to U of T from Baghdad, Iraq by a professor. With the aid of additional materials from our collection, Tracy discovered Queen Hama hidden in a photograph of a tomb inscription depicted in the book.
Were it not for the preservation of this rare book and the wealth of supporting resources here at U of T, Queen Hama may have been lost to history.
Not only did Tracy publish her findings in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies in 2017, but she was a recipient of the inaugural Graduate Student Exhibition Award, awarded by the U of T Libraries.
It’s this kind of research that exemplifies the importance of our libraries preserving these rare materials for the future cultural and scholarly record—and why your support is so vital to safeguarding one of the largest collections of research materials in the world.
Please give to the University of Toronto today, and help provide researchers like Tracy the resources necessary to make meaningful discoveries with lasting impact.