You’re Going on an Adventure! Explore Middle Earth with Strozier Library’s Tolkien Tour

When Bilbo Baggins first saw the Lonely Mountain from the depths of Mirkwood, he was met with competing feelings of wonder, determination, and terror. You might have similar feelings when you approach Strozier Library, especially if you aren’t used to finding and using our materials.

With our Tolkien Tour, you’re in good hands!  The work of J.R.R. Tolkien is no stranger to adventures in unknown places. Follow along to discover the Tolkien-related gems hidden in Strozier Library, and practice navigating the library in the process.

Unlike the dragon Smaug, we want you to use the treasures in Strozier! All the items below are available for you to peruse or check out.

Image credit to The Tolkien Estate

A journey through Middle Earth often begins somewhere familiar and friendly. Bilbo Baggins’ adventure starts in the cozy Shire. Our Tolkien Tour begins in the Pop Lit section on Strozier’s first floor. Here you’ll find bestselling fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels, including The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Image credit to Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema

Whether your path lies toward Mirkwood or the Emyn Muil, it helps to know where you’re going. The lower level of Strozier houses our map collection, where you can consult a sheet map of Middle Earth. The periodicals, microfilm, government documents, and DVD collections are also on this floor.

• Blackburn, M. Middle Earth : Being a Map Purporting to Trace the Divers Routes Taken by the Companions of the Ring during Their Heroic and Historical Journeys through Middle Earth. Bruin Inc., 1900.
• Jackson, Peter, and New Line Cinema Corporation. The Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers. Special extended DVD ed., New Line Home Entertainment, 2003.

Image credit to Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema

Ancient and ethereal, the elves of Middle Earth hearken back to the origins of their very world. A scholar of language and folklore, one of the first things Tolkien did when imagining Middle Earth was to create the Elvish language. For books related to literature and languages (both real and fictional), head up to the fifth floor.

• Salo, David. A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. University of Utah Press, 2004.
• Tolkien, J. R. R., et al. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
• Day, David. Tolkien : The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Macmillan, 1991.

Image credit to The Tolkien Estate

Alongside creating languages, Tolkien also used art to enrich the world of Middle Earth through illustrations, maps, and calligraphy. The fourth floor of Strozier contains art books, such as the following collections of Tolkien’s drawings.

• Tolkien, J. R. R., et al. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings by J.R.R. Tolkien at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 14th December-27th February, 1976-1977 and at the National Book League, 7 Albemarle Street, London W1, 2nd March-7th April, 1977. Ashmolean Museum, 1976.
• Hammond, Wayne G., et al. The Art of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. First U.S. edition., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.

Image credit to The Tolkien Estate

As any fan of the books will tell you, the Lord of the Rings films made an egregious error by leaving out Tom Bombadil. A whimsical and enigmatic figure, Tom Bombadil rescues the hobbits from the haunted Barrow-Downs. This episode draws heavily from the Bronze Age tombs, or barrows, which dot the landscape of northern Europe. On the third floor, you’ll find research on barrows excavations and Anglo-Saxon grave goods, among other materials on history, geography, and anthropology.

• Needham, Stuart, and George Anelay. Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities: Supplementary Material. Sidestone Press, 2021.
• Fern, Chris, et al. The Staffordshire Hoard : An Anglo-Saxon Treasure. Society of Antiquaries of London, 2019.

Image credit to Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema

To destroy the One Ring, Frodo and Sam must travel through Mordor, the barren domain of Sauron. The depictions of war-torn land, violence, and trauma in this final stretch of Lord of the Rings were shaped by Tolkien’s own experience in World War I. The final stop in our journey is the second floor, where we keep oversized materials, including the following volumes on World War I history.

• Chappell, Mike. The Somme 1916: Crucible of a British Army. Windrow & Greene, 1995.
• Reynolds, Francis Joseph, and C. W. Taylor. Collier’s Photographic History of the European War, Including Sketches and Drawings Made on the Battle Fields. P. F. Collier & Son, 1917.

Image credit to The Tolkien Estate

This brings us to the end of our Tolkien Tour. Now feast, dance, and sing a merry tune! May Eärendil’s Star guide your next foray into Strozier Library.

Special thanks to humanities librarian Kimberly Windham for designing and leading this tour.

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: that there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

(The Return of the King, p.901)