Elisabeth Ball Collection

The Elisabeth Ball collection consists of rare and valuable books, manuscripts, and posters acquired by Elisabeth Ball, and in some cases passed down from her father, George A. Ball. Items in the collection include illuminated manuscripts, fine bindings, fore-edged, and extra-illustrated volumes. Highlights of include collection of 48 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, Poor Richard's Almanac (1735 edition), a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible (Hosea, chapter 8), Keats' Lamia (jewel-encrusted copy), Biblia Sacra (13th century illuminated manuscript), and a Catholic breviary (late 16th century illuminated manuscript).Titles are available in University Libraries' CardCat.

This collection also includes more than 2000 World War I posters. Slides have been prepared of the posters and a guide is available in Archives and Special Collections. 200 posters from the collection have been digitized and are available online through the Ball State University Libraries' Digital Media Repository.