Working for a Living. New online exhibit features Labor Collections in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Labor history concerns the lives of workers and their various and diverse struggles for workplace democracy, improved working conditions, collective bargaining, and their relationship to changing forms of work and economic production. A new online exhibit features the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library labor collections. Part of the Urban Studies Collection, the labor collections include records from Cincinnati’s AFL-CIO Labor Council, the Regional Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing & Textile Workers, the Barbers’ Union Local 49, International Brotherhood of Painters & Allied Trades Local 308, and others.

The Working for a Living exhibit was curated by Eira Tansey, digital archivist and records manager in the Archives and Rare Books Library. It was designed by Emily Young, library communication design co-op student, and Melissa Cox Norris, director of library communication.

Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

source headerRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang writes about how a digital core is part of a 21st-century liberal education.

Two exhibits that highlight women who fought for equality are featured in this issue along with an article by Kevin Grace, university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library, who writes of Mark Twain’s relationship with Cincinnati, including that quote attributed to Twain about where he hopes to be when the world ends.

This issue announces the exciting comeback of the former popular Authors, Editors & Composers exhibit that will combine with the current Life of the Mind lecture to form one event that will celebrate the achievements of UC’s artists, authors, editors & composers. We announce the 5th University of Cincinnati Libraries Annual Progress Report – A Year of Reflection.

Lastly, we announce two upcoming events – the second Hidden Treasures: An Adopt-A-Book Evening on March 12 and the upcoming annual Cecil Striker Lecture to focus on Dr. Christian R. Holmes and scheduled for May 7.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights

women of the movement graphic
The exhibit, Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights, currently on display on the 4th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library, profiles female leaders of the fight for civil and voting rights. Beginning with Sojourner Truth, former slave and abolitionist, and including contemporaries Diane Nash, a key player in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Cincinnati’s Marian Spencer, a champion for Civil Rights both locally and nationally, the exhibit spans history into current times.

Included in the exhibit are women instrumental to the Suffrage fight – Sojourner Truth who worked closely with Susan B. Anthony; Mary Church Terrell, founder of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 as part of the Suffrage Movement after black women were excluded from the Women’s Suffrage Movement; and Mary McLeod Bethune who led voter registration drives following passing of the 19th Amendment.

Civil Rights activists on display include Fannie Lou Hamer, who famously said, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired;” Daisy Bates, an integrated schools advocate; and Ida B. Wells, a journalist, educator and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The exhibit’s design is inspired by a recently created ArtWorks mural in Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood honoring Louise Shropshire, composer of the hymn, “If My Jesus Wills,” that became the well-known mantra “We Shall Overcome” during the Civil Rights Movement. Louise Shropshire’s papers are located in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights was curated by June Taylor-Slaughter, public services supervisor in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library, and was designed by Michelle Matevia, UC Libraries communication design co-op student. A handout is available at the exhibit with more information on the women featured in the exhibit.

Bibliography:

  • Alexander, Shawn Leigh. An Army of Lions : The Civil Rights Struggle Before the NAACP. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012. Print. LANGSAM; CLERMONT E185.61 .A437 2012
  • Bracey, Earnest N. Fannie Lou Hamer: The Life of a Civil Rights Icon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2011. Print. LANGSAM E 185.97.H35 B73 2011
  • Brooks, Maegan Parker. A Voice That Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom
    Movement. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Print. LANGSAM E 185.97.H35 B76 2014
  • Harwell, Debbie Z. Wednesdays in Mississippi: Proper Ladies Working for Radical Change, Freedom Summer 1964. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Print. LANGSAM E185.93.M6 H37 2014
  • Christenson, Dorothy H, Keep on fighting: the life and civil rights legacy of Marian A. Spencer. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2015. LANGSAM  F499.C553 S643 2015
  • Frontline feminism 1975-1995 : essays from Sojourner’s first 20 years / edited by Karen Kahn ; foreword by Robin Morgan. San Francisco : Aunt Lute Books, c1995. LANGSAM. HQ1402 .F76 1995

New Library Exhibit Showcases Artful Books

“Artful Books,” on display now through the end of fall semester on the 4th and 5th floor lobbies of the Walter C. Langsam Library, features books created by members of the Cincinnati Book Arts Society (CBAS) inspired by and in celebration of UC and UC Libraries.

Earlier this year, CBAS members visited the Archives and Rare Books Library where they researched and reviewed various collections for inspiration – the results of which are now on display in two cases with over 15 artists’ books covering a wide range of subjects, forms and mediums. Select highlights of the exhibit include:

shooting star artist book

Jan Thomas, “Shooting Star”

Jan Thomas, “Shooting Star.” In 1952, Marian Spencer, along with her sons, was not permitted at segregated Coney Island, Ohio, Amusement Park. This singular event became the catalyst for a life of public service as a civil rights advocate, community leader and champion.

Marguerite and Doug Katchen, "Bearcats and the Past,"

Marguerite and Doug Katchen, “Bearcats and the Past”

Marguerite and Doug Katchen, “Bearcats and the Past.” Bearcats have been symbols of UC at least since the early 20th century. Wooden plagues of the map of Ohio were used as pages on which was described a brief history of the University of Cincinnati and on which were displayed Bearcat and Ohio patches.

queen's icons artist book

Beth Belknap Brann, “Queen’s Icons”

Beth Belknap Brann, “Queen’s Icons.” This hand-drawn book is a celebration of Cincinnati’s architectural gems of the late 19th century. It was inspired by the historic photo archives in UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library.

Smruti Deoghare, “200 Years of Red, Black (and White)

Smruti Deoghare, “200 Years of Red, Black (and White),” the University of Cincinnati colors are more than just college colors. This bold palette of tricolor represents unity in diversity. Over the last 200 years, the University has provided education to people from all walks of life and colors – red, black, white, and all shades in between. The artist feels Tangeman University Center is the ideal architectural symbol of inclusivity on campus.

A brochure describing all of the books on display is available at the exhibit and online.

“Artful Books” was curated by Jessica Ebert, conservation technician in the Preservation Lab and CBAS member, and was designed by Michelle Matevia, communication design co-op student.

The Cincinnati Books Arts Society began in 1998 and is a non-profit organization comprised of professional and amateur book artists, paper artists and creators. Their membership includes bookbinders, print makers, paper marblers, book artists, archivists, conservation professionals and book enthusiasts interested in learning more about books and how they are created. Interested in learning more about CBAS? Check out their website and follow them on Facebook (Cincinnati Book Arts Society).

UC Clermont Exhibit Explores Historic Angles of Modern Architecture

Collecting Space and Form Exhibit

Collecting Space and Form Exhibit

Modernist architecture is on full display at UC Clermont College now through Dec. 13 as part of “Collecting Space and Form: Ideas of the Modern,” featuring exhibits from the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Art, Architecture and Planning at the University of Cincinnati’s Uptown campus.

In the mid-20th-century, Cincinnati architects created buildings and planning of local, national and international importance. Cincinnati played a significant, but largely unrecognized, role in the introduction of International Style Modernist architecture to the United States.

The DAAP library has been collecting and archiving drawings, photographs and other materials related to Cincinnati Modernist architecture since 2008. This exhibit focuses specifically on Cincinnati Modernist architect Woodie Garber, who had an important though sometimes tense relationship with the University. In the late 1960s-70s, Garber created a master plan and designed several buildings for UC. Two of his buildings were built: the Sander Hall dormitory complex and Procter Hall for the College of Nursing and Health. Sander Hall dormitory was demolished (though its adjacent cafeteria building survives, repurposed for new uses) and Procter Hall has been re-clad and remodeled. Garber also interacted with UC by employing many DAAP architecture students as cooperative education interns in his office and hiring some after their graduation.

Further emphasizing the breadth of UC’s collection are artists’ books from the DAAP Library focusing on the link between art and language. This selection of modern works from UC’s vast collection links the ideas of space and form, from the archival aspects of architecture, to the collecting of the three-dimensional as it meets in the two-dimensional within artists’ books.

The show was curated by Patrick Snadon, UC professor emeritus, design and architectural historian; Elizabeth Meyer, DAAP librarian; and Carla Cesare, assistant professor of art history.

The Park National Bank Art Gallery is located in the Snyder Building on the UC Clermont College campus in Batavia at 4200 Clermont College Drive. Gallery summer hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. For more than 20 years, the spacious 1,000-square-foot gallery has offered visual art exhibits open to UC Clermont students, faculty, staff and the general public.

200 Years of Curation Exhibit – DAAP Library Highlight

DAAP Library Portion of Two Hundred Years of Curation Exhibit

DAAP Library Portion of Two Hundred Years of Curation Exhibit

Women Directed, Women Curated

The Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning has been collecting artists’ books since 1970, and a portion of these books are on display at the Two Hundred Years of Curation exhibit. Artists’ books come in many forms, among them: a traditional codex, a stack of playing cards, a flip book, a tunnel book, and a scroll. Some forms toy with the boundaries of how a book is read, inviting more active participation by the reader than reading alone and some forms cross the boundaries into a more sculptural realm. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects.

The DAAP Library’s collection includes works by many famous artists: Sol LeWitt, Edward Ruscha, Dieter Roth, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono and others. The collection also comprises several hundred hand-crafted books, many of which serve as excellent examples of fine binding and book illustration and reflect a focus on the artistic movements of the 1970s and 1980s. Recent efforts in collecting reflect the collectors’ interests in sculptural form, identity politics in relation to race and gender, and other recent artworld trends.

In celebration of the centennial of woman’s suffrage, all of these selections on display were created by women artists, and selected by women librarians.

Another view of DAAP Library Portion of Two-Hundred Years of Curation

Another view of DAAP Library Portion of Two-Hundred Years of Curation

Read Source to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

sourceRead Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.

In this issue of Source, Dean Xuemao Wang writes about his new role as vice provost for digital scholarship, which ties in with the article Introducing the Research @ Data Services Team.

The Libraries special collections are featured prominently in this issue with news of an exciting, surprise gift to the Neil Armstrong Commemorative Archives, promotion of a lecture series celebrating the digitization of the Albert B. Sabin Research Notebooks, and an announcement of a new UC exhibit featuring the Special Collections of four UC Libraries.

This fall brings new faces and new publications from the University of Cincinnati Press, along with the conclusion of the university’s Bicentennial celebration, which university archivist and head of the Archives and Rare Books Library Kevin Grace uses as the occasion to recount a gift from William A. Procter that was instrumental to the libraries.

Lastly, we announce that the Cecil Striker Society Annual Lecture is now our first fully endowed annual lecture.

Read these articles, as well as past issues, on the web at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/ and via e-mail. To receive Source via e-mail, contact melissa.norris@uc.edu to be added to the mailing list.

Shepard Fairey Showcase

Fairey Showcase outside the DAAP Library

Fairey Showcase outside the DAAP Library

The Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning presents an exhibit highlighting the works of Shepard Fairey.

Best known for his iconic “HOPE” portrait utilized in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and the equally striking “OBEY” poster inspired by 1988 classic, They Live, Shepard Fairey has established a sterling reputation as one of the most influential street artists of the century.  Debuting in 1984 detailing skateboards and creating t-shirt prints, Fairey graduated with a Bachelor in the Fine Arts in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992 and founded his company, OBEY Clothing, in 2001.  Since 2002, Fairey has bent his talents toward a number of charitable and political causes, making substantial donations to organizations such as the ACLU and Feeding America in addition to creating the OBEY Awareness line of clothing, the proceeds of which are entirely donated to relevant causes.

Langsam Exhibit Celebrates the History of UC Women’s Lacrosse

lacrosse exhibitIn 2007, the University of Cincinnati’s women’s lacrosse team, coached by Lellie Swords, played its first game. While they lost that game, in the 12 years since they have had many notables to celebrate including a player named All American and current coach Gina Thomas playing for Team USA. in 2018 they joined the American Athletic Conference (AAC), and in 2019 won AAC Freshman and Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

A new exhibit on display on the 5th floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library celebrates the accomplishments and athletes of UC’s women’s lacrosse. Profiles of former players Jessica Kazaks, Michelle Platz, Kelsey Conway, Jen Mott, Meagan Gulmi and Coach Thomas speak on the impact lacrosse has had on their lives – both on and off the field. Books from the collections of UC Libraries highlight lacrosse as well as women in sports and leadership. A bibliography is available at the exhibit and online.

The exhibit was curated by Amy Koshoffer, lacrosse fan and science informationist in the Geology-Mathematics- Physics Library, and was designed by Michelle Matevia, UC Libraries communications department co-op design student.

New Langsam Library Exhibit – “Animals in Antiquity” as Reflected through Books and Artifacts in the John Miller Burnam Classics Library

animals in antiquityOn the fifth floor lobby of the Walter C. Langsam Library is the exhibit “Animals in Antiquity: An exhibition from the collections of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library.”

Curated by Rebecka Lindau, head of the John Miller Burnam Classics Library, and Michael Braunlin, assistant head of the  Classics Library, and designed by Michelle Matevia, library communication design co-op student, the exhibit highlights the role and importance of animals in Antiquity.

Bastet the Cat

Cats were sacred in ancient Egypt. There was even a cat goddess, Bastet.

Animals were divinities, especially in Egypt.  In Ancient Greece and Rome they were the companions or theomorphic stand-ins for gods and goddesses. Many animals were considered sacred to the ancient Greeks and Romans. However, as humans went from a nomadic existence to one of settlers and farmers, they began taming and using animals for their own purposes and so the status of animals began to decline.

After their domestication, bulls, cows, horses, donkeys, pigs, sheep and goats were used to plow fields, to provide milk and meat, transportation, and clothing. Wild boars were hunted for food and for “displays of manhood” by well-to-do young men as were various birds, deer, hares and even lizards.  Some animals were made companions or pets such as sparrows, pigeons, doves, dogs, cats, monkeys and even wild animals, gazelles and cheetahs. Animals in Greece, rabbits, dogs, roosters and doves, were given as presents, also in courtship as “love gifts.”

Foxes were wild and often considered a nuisance for wine growers because they liked eating the vines.

Various kinds of fish were eaten in antiquity, but they, too, could be pets and were sacred to the gods. Animals such as horses and elephants were used in war and as entertainment, for example, among the Romans at the Colosseum where lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, bears, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, wild donkeys, hyenas and ostriches were forced to fight to their deaths. Greek and Roman authors such as Plutarch, Aelian and Pliny the Elder wrote about animals in works on ethics, morals and natural history and prose, poetry and history writers such as Homer, Aesop’s Fables, Lucretius, Ovid, Seneca, Dio Cassius, Diodorus Siculus frequently used animals to tell stories and to illustrate the human experience.

Sections of the exhibit inform how animals were used as entertainment, as companions, for ritual sacrifice, even in war. In addition, the exhibit features animals in art, displayed on coins, vases and statues. A bibliography of resources used in the creation of the exhibit is available on site and online as a PDF.

To learn more about Animals in Antiquity, read about or visit the Classics Library located on the fourth floor of Blegen Library where the books and artifacts featuring the texts and images in this exhibition are housed and where the librarian is happy to answer questions and offer research advice on this or any other topic concerning classical antiquity.