Due to renovations in Blegen Library, reference service in the Archives and Rare Books Library may be disrupted from Tuesday December 1 through Friday December 11. Please call 513-556-1959 or email archives@ucmail.uc.edu prior to your visit to make an appointment.
Author Archives: Suzanne Reller
Cazden German-Americana Collection Now Catalogued and Onsite
In 2002, the University of Cincinnati Libraries was bequeathed an outstanding collection of books from the personal library of Robert E. Cazden, professor emeritus of library science at the University of Kentucky and a noted scholar on German-American history and literature. The portion of these materials that pertain to German-American studies – more than 1400 volumes – has now been fully catalogued and added to the German-Americana Collection in the Archives & Rare Books Library at the University of Cincinnati. This acquisition maintains the position of the German-Americana Collection as one of the premier libraries on this subject in the world. Continue reading
Who were UC's Former Presidents?
A page from Raymond Walter's 1949 diary in which he describes his trip to Hiroshima.
As the University of Cincinnati welcomes it 27th president, Gregory Williams, it seems appropriate to look back on the previous 26 UC presidents. A list of former presidents and their photos appear on UC’s Office of the President website, but if you are wondering what Raymond Walters was doing in 1949, what Nancy Zimpher did on her first day as UC President or similar information on UC’s former presidents, then the Archives and Rare Books Library is the place to go. Continue reading
Frankenstein!
Artwork by Barry Moser from the Pennyroyal Edition of Frankstein
What better time of year to celebrate one of the greatest horror stories in world literature than now? Since its publication in 1818, the tale of the man-made monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus has captivated readers and caused no small stir of debate on the creation of life and the egotism of mankind. In fact, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster has been re-created time and again in film and literature, sometimes as an awful and terrible creature and occasionally as a poor wretch who desperately tries to break free of man’s cruelty. The Archives and Rare Book Library hold some electrifying editions of Mary Shelley’s famous work. Continue reading
Bearcat Bands in the University Archives
Image from the 1958 Band Camp welcome flyer
The Archives and Rare Books Library recently processed a new collection of records documenting activities of the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Bands from 1954 to 1996. The records are part of the University Archives through the UC Band Alumni Association. Operating as a department within the Division of Student Life, UC Bearcat Bands provides students of all majors with opportunities for performing musically while obtaining fine arts credit. The UC Band Alumni Association provides alumni opportunities to stay connected with UC Bearcat Bands and other alumni after graduation. Alumni members can also participate in the Community/Alumni Band. Continue reading
First German Baptist Church Records Finding Aid Now Available
The Constitution of the Synzygus Verein of the First German Baptist Church, which appears to have been adopted prior to 1915.
The records of the First German Baptist Church or Deutsche Baptisten-Kirche of Cincinnati have been fully processed and a finding aid is now available on the OhioLINK Finding Aid Repository. The collection holds various records for the church between 1880 and 1991 including church meeting minutes, financial records, and Sunday school attendance sheets. The material in the collection prior to the 1930s is primarily in German.
The records of the First German Baptist Church illustrate a small, but significant religious movement among Cincinnati Germans in the late nineteenth century. The First German Baptist Church was founded in Cincinnati in 1857, with the assistance of the Ninth Street Baptist Church, whose congregation saw the need for a Baptist missionary movement among German immigrants. Continue reading
Camp Washington Chili in the Urban Studies Collection
This past summer, Lilia Walsh, who is the 2009-2010 intern in the Archives & Rare Books Library, took an Honors Seminar at the University of Cincinnati entitled Envisioning the City. The focus of the course was how artists, writers, cartographers, photographers and others have visually portrayed cities from the 15th century to the present, using the holdings of ARB’s rare books collection and its Urban Studies Collection. One of the experiential assignments given to the students in the seminar involved the practice of “lurking.”
ARB Celebrates Ohio Archives Month
Since 1993 the Society of Ohio Archivists has been promoting awareness of the state’s archives and archival material through a week-long, later to become a month-long, celebration of Ohio’s historic and cultural resources. Archives throughout Ohio are invited to contribute to the promotion of Archives Month by mounting theme-related exhibits, displaying posters, and publicizing the month’s events through local government and organizations. This year’s theme is “Documenting the Path to Freedom: Abolition and Anti-Slavery in Ohio.” Continue reading
UC Libraries Awarded a LSTA Grant to Digitize Cincinnati Birth and Death Records
One of the many filing cabinets filled with birth and death records.
Genealogists, social historians, epidemiologists, and public health historians will soon have a new extensive, online resource to assist them in learning about birth and deaths in the City of Cincinnati. The University of Cincinnati Libraries have been awarded a $140,437 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the State Library of Ohio to digitize 340,000 birth and death records of the City of Cincinnati prior 1908. The records will be available on OhioLINK’s Digital Resource Commons beginning in August of 2010. Continue reading
Book of Mormon Conservation Completed
The Archives & Rare Books Library’s first edition copy of The Book of Mormon recently underwent conservation treatment to clean and repair its binding and text block. The work was undertaken as part of the University of Cincinnati Libraries’ larger preservation efforts for special materials.
ARB holdings include many sacred texts, from Qur’ans and Bibles to Buddhist leaf books. Its copy of The Book of Mormon receives a great deal of use, so it is important that it be preserved for future students and scholars. This first edition of the book was published in 1830 in Palmyra, New York by Joseph Smith, and is considered one of the primary books of faith by the Latter Day Saints.