Exploring UC in Photographs

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Iman Said, Archives & Rare Books Library Intern, 2014-2015

Hello, and welcome to my first blog! My name is Iman and I’m a student in the College of Business, studying Operations Management. This year, I am working as a research intern in the Archives & Rare Books Library, a cozy nook on the 8th floor of Blegen Library. The ARB Library is a home to the University’s rare books collection, UC archives, hundreds of archival collections, and texts from all over the world. Just an hour of working in this corner of campus is enough to get a glimpse into the history and traditions that have influenced the way our laws are made, the way we interact with others, even the way our society functions.

UC Football Team 1895

Continue reading →

ARB’s "50 Minutes" Talk for September

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Kevin Grace

The Archives & Rare Books monthly talk returns on Wednesday, September 24, at 12:00 noon with a special presentation on UC’s first female graduate. Like nearly every other institution of its kind, documenting the “firsts” and the significant moments of our history lends context to our heritage, and, reveals some very interesting stories. And for this 50 Minutes talk, we welcome back Greg Hand to campus and to Blegen Library. Greg made some very interesting 50 Minutes talks in the past few years on Cincinnati’s Federal Writer’s project guide to the city; artist, poet, and mystic William Blake; and pioneering cartoonist Winsor McCay. Now he comes with another… Continue reading →

Exhibit Honors Theodore M. Berry – Pioneer. Activist. Leader.

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Melissa Cox Norris

In observance of the 50^th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, UC Libraries have created a display on the 4th floor of Blegen Library celebrating the papers of Theodore M. Berry, noted Civil Rights pioneer, community activist, and elected official from Cincinnati. Ted Berry’s papers represent one of the notable collections in the Archives & Rare Books Library’s Urban Studies Collection.

Continue reading →

Cincinnati’s Bathtub Hoax and a Missing Giant Tub

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Kevin Grace

H.L. Mencken

In 1917, the noted journalist and philologist H.L. Mencken published an article in the New York Evening Mail concerning the history of the bathtub in the United States. According to the Baltimore writer, known as much for his satire and acerbic wit as he was for his political reporting, Cincinnati was home to this tub. Mencken asserted that America’s first bathtub was introduced on December 20, 1842 by Adam Thompson who lived, in all places, Cincinnati, Ohio. Made of mahogany and lined with lead, the vessel was introduced by Thompson to his guests at a Christmas party, described how it worked, and invited the partygoers to take a dip. Four of them took him up on his offer, and the next day the invention was widely reported in the press. Continue reading →

RESCHEDULED – ARB’s "50 Minutes" Lunchtime Series Returns for the 2014-2015 Academic Year

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Kevin Grace

This presentation has been rescheduled for TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25. The series of monthly talks in the Archives & Rare Books Library will return this fall for its fifth year. Each month at noon, ARB holds a casual presentation in 814 Blegen Library with a focus on its collections, local heritage, or book history. In the past, we’ve hosted talks ranging from the Depression-era Cincinnati WPA guide to the smallest book in the world, from Frankenstein to a book bound in human skin, from William Blake to John Milton; and from Don Quixote to the Arabian Nights. Our presentation originally scheduled for Wednesday, August 27 has been rescheduled for Tuesday November 25. This presentation will be about rare books and coffee, looking at how coffee production, trade, heritage, and lore have been portrayed by ethnographers, historians, and explorers.

Please join us for this 50 Minutes-One Book talk. Bring your lunch and your conversation, and of course, coffee will be served! Other upcoming presentations include the first female graduate of UC back in 1878; Irish poetry during the Great War, the Easter Rising, and the Irish Civil War; UC during World War II; the Hellfire clubs of the 18^th century; and fairy tale and fantasy illustrators. We are also open to any ideas or presenters for these talks.

New Material in ARB's Urban Studies Collection Highlights Cincinnati's Culture and History

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Suzanne Maggard

Kennedy Heights Community Council 15th Anniversary Celebration booklet

What do the papers of a local choral director and composer and the records of the Kennedy Heights Community Council have in common? All these records were added to the Urban Studies collection in the Archives and Rare Books Library in 2014. Finding aids are now available for both of the collections and they are open to the public for research.

The Urban Studies collection in the Archives and Rare Books Library holds a vast amount of material related to the history of the city of Cincinnati, the city’s neighborhoods, and the people and culture of the city of Cincinnati. The newest items in this collection help to expand on the history already available within the collection. Continue reading →

“Bitter Bierce”?

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Michael Tipton, Archives & Rare Books Library intern

Shortly after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, a Mr. Myles Walsh of Oradell, New Jersey traveled to Cincinnati for the purpose of visiting his daughter, who at the time worked in the city. While on an extended stay, Mr. Walsh decided to take some coursework in the Classics Department at the University of Cincinnati. So impressed was Mr. Walsh with the courses and the campus of the university that he decided to donate to UC some very rare and unique letters personally written and addressed to him from noted American author and journalist Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?).

Though they were consulted once or twice by scholars over the past half-century, the fifty-nine donated letters have never been generally accessible for research and teaching. In 2011, the letters were digitized and now, with the development of a Bierce presence on ARB’s website, they have assumed their rightful place on the internet for all to study and enjoy. Continue reading →

Summer Issue of Records Quarterly Now Available

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Eira Tansey

Records Quarterly cover Summer 2014 The current UC Records Management newsletter shares information on reducing that hoard of administrative records in your office, tips for how you can organize records through shared drives, information on upcoming workshops, and program news.

Click here for the latest issue and if you have any questions about UC records, just contact me in the Archives & Rare Books Library at 556-1958 or at eira.tansey@uc.edu.

And for more information on the Archives & Rare Books Library and its holdings, please contact us by phone at 513-556-1959, by email at archives@ucmail.uc.edu, or on the web at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/arb.html.

Historic Cincinnati Subway and Street Images Available on New Website

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Melissa Cox Norris

b53_f25_p001 The University of Cincinnati Libraries have created a website and digital archive that provides access to the historic Cincinnati subway and street images, a collection of over 8,000 photographic negatives and prints taken as part of a failed subway development project in the 1920s, and photographs documenting various street projects from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Available at http://digital.libraries.uc.edu/subway/, the “Cincinnati Subway and Street Improvements, 1916-1955” website includes construction images as well as both interior and exterior shots of private residences and city scenes. In addition to providing access to the historic prints and photographs, the website also documents the story of the failed subway project and includes a construction map with linked images.

Continue reading →

Poetry Month and ARB-Dublin's Easter Rising

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Suzanne Reller

By: Kevin Grace

Ninety-eight years ago in 1916, the Irish Republican Brotherhood staged an uprising during Easter Week, the intent being to reclaim Ireland from the British and establish a republic. Though the rebellion failed, as so many others had in the previous two centuries, the rising galvanized the Irish people in a way that would ultimately lead to the country’s independence following a bloody civil war. The Easter Rising and the years following it are complicated ones in sorting out the loyalties and issues, though there has been no shortage of histories and autobiographies and polemics.

In the Rare Books Collection, there is another view of the rising: a poetry chapbook by Maeve Cavanagh. Entitled A Voice of Insurgency, Cavanugh’s collection of verse documents the six days of the rebellion from Monday, April 24 through Saturday,April 29 and the men and women who were in the forefront of it as gunshots and cannon fire reverberated around Dublin. Cavanagh was a dedicated supporter of the republican movement, and friends with many of the leaders of the insurgency. Her poems capture the fear and exhilaration of that Easter week. Continue reading →