By: Sydney Vollmer
In our present time, it seems stories are constantly being changed or redone to make them more applicable to our lifestyle. This certainly isn’t an entirely new phenomenon in the course of literature, but the frequency seems to be picking up. Like any other content, fairytales are not excluded in this world of remakes, but how much are we allowed to change things? How does it impact the future generations who are learning these stories for the first time? Continue reading
By: Sydney Vollmer
A few weeks ago, Kevin walks into my office and tells me that word on the street is people want me to write about the Jacobins. After reading about the difference between Jacobites and the Jacobean Era, some people wanted to know if Jacobins had anything to do with either one of those. It all has to do with the recent donation of over 500 rare books on the Jacobites in Britain, providing a little context on what we have in the Archives & Rare Books Library and who all these Jackos or Jamesies are. Continue reading
By: Sydney Vollmer
On August 17, 1866, Sarah Frances “Fanny” Frost was born in Caldbeck, England to John and Sarah Frost. As Julia Marlowe, she died at age 84 in New York City’s Plaza Hotel. Between those two events, she discovered passion, love (multiple times), and fame.
The future Shakespearean actress was born into a relatively normal family. She had four siblings, three sisters and a brother and her parents owned a general store while also working in the trades of needlework and boot making. Her father sometimes got drunk and her mother always got frustrated with him. At the age of 5, though, all of that “normalcy” changed for Marlowe. It was the year that her father whisked the family away to America. Plenty of people were immigrating to America during the 1870s, but Marlowe’s father did so to stay out of trouble. During an impromptu horse race between her father—where he was most likely drunk— and one of their neighbors, Mr. Frost allegedly took out his competitor’s eye with his whip. Knowing that he would surely face prosecution if he stayed, he immediately took his wife and children to America. Once arrived, they first settled in Kansas, but soon moved to Portsmouth, Ohio with the new surname “Brough,” which was the maiden name of Julia’s mother. Later on, the family would find out that the competitor had been playing a cruel joke and there had not been any reason to leave so urgently. Continue reading
By: Sydney Vollmer
You know by now that 2016 the year of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and that the Archives & Rare Books Library is celebrating it in a big way by highlighting their Shakespeare holdings. BUT it’s also Women’s Week at the University of Cincinnati! Surprisingly, the two have something in common, but we’ll get to that. For the next few days, the topic of feminism will be spread 
across Main Street all the way from TUC to the Rec Center. Women’s Week is a nice enough concept. I believe in strong females, and I certainly consider myself worthy of any opportunity a man is given. There’s always that stigma about feminism though…a stigma that being feminist means triumphing over men. And that’s where my problem lies both with feminism and with Women’s Week because last night, I saw a picture of a girl on Main Street holding a chalkboard that referred to boys as stupid. My definition of feminism has a lot more to do with mutual respect and a celebration of differences rather than drawing a line between the two sexes and saying one is better than the other.
Read Source, the online newsletter, to learn more about the news, events, people and happenings in UC Libraries.
This latest issue of Source includes interviews with Xuemao Wang upon his reappointment as dean and university librarian as well as with Mark Konecny in the newly created position of scholarly communications and digital publishing strategist. Other articles include the announcement of UC’s first Digital Scholarship Center, and features of two new websites – one about the Jacobite Collection in the Archives and Rare Books Library and the other highlighting the book Looking East: William Howard Taft’s Diplomatic Mission to Asia. Speaking of journeys, there’s an article about librarian Rosemary Franklin’s recent trip to Cuba. Read these articles and more.
Source is available 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.
By: Bridget McCormick
Hans Christen Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark on April 2, 1805. Hans Andersen Sr. died in 1816, leaving his son and a wife, Anne Marie. While Andersen was not born into wealth, he was finely educated, which has led to speculation that he was secretly an illegitimate child of the Danish royal family. These rumors have never been confirmed.
By 1819, Andersen returned to school supported by a benefactor named Jonas Collin. At the time, he was working as an actor. However through Collin’s encouragement, Andersen began to write. Despite the support, during this period of Andersen’s career, his work was often discouraged by teachers. Continue reading
By: Kevin Grace
The Archives & Rare Books Library will usher in its 7th year of the “50 Minutes” lunchtime talks this August with “A Skeleton, Some Lions, Pigeons, and Gods! The Seldom-Noticed Art in UC Architecture.”
The talk is scheduled for Thursday, August 25, at 12 noon in 814 Blegen and as always, the “50 Minutes” presentations are very informal and conversational. Bring your lunch, relax, ignore the clock on the wall which is invariably an hour behind (though we may climb on top of the piano beneath it and change the battery this year), and enjoy a look at the history and culture of the “hidden” campus. Not advertised in the title, we will also be looking at semi-naked people in the architecture.
The Archives and Rare Books Library will be closed on Friday August 19 for a library event. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please contact us with any questions or to schedule a research visit, we can be reached by phone at 513-556-1959 or by email at archives@ucmail.uc.edu
By: Kevin Grace
As part of its work in documenting the heritage and ongoing changes at the University of Cincinnati, the Archives & Rare Books Library maintains a number of useful lists on its University Archives page in addition to finding aids and exhibits, http://www.libraries.uc.edu/arb/collections/university-archives.html. We keep up with the heritage of deans in our various colleges, http://www.libraries.uc.edu/arb/collections/university-archives/deanslist.html, as well as annual reports, the Board of Trustees, UC presidents, and campus history.
With the recent resignation of President Santa Ono, who became the new president of the University of British Columbia, there were a number of changes as Provost Beverly Davenport became UC’s interim president and CCM dean Peter Landgren became Interim Provost. We’ve added to our lists with one of the University of Cincinnati’s provosts and chief academic officers throughout UC’s history, http://www.libraries.uc.edu/arb/collections/university-archives/provosts.html. Continue reading
By: Sydney Vollmer
We all remember Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What a little imp. Well, actually, he isn’t quite an imp. He’s more of a hobgoblin. In fact, Puck is less a name than a species. Throughout mythology, “Puck” is interchangeable with “Robin Goodfellow.” The names come in different forms among various languages, but they all translate roughly to either “pixie” or “hobgoblin.”
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, poor Puck is given orders to put spells on people he doesn’t recognize and things go awry. His willingness to perform, and then correct, shows his true obedience to King Oberon. However, if you aren’t King of the Fairies, a puck may not be as obedient. Pucks have a knack for being temperamental. It’s said that they’ve been known to do some minor household chores if they take a liking to you, but the helpfulness stops as soon as you offend them. Continue reading